MAT
MAT
None of the above photos belong to me & i intend no copyright over them.
cartran:
MAT
Out of Zeeb depot. Must have been the last motors they had before Mr Rosier took over. 
great pics cartrans.we had 5 fhs on a p reg .i had p142 sat mat 72. trying to see reg to see if its my old girl.
cartran:
MAT
They are the ones I remember MATDAMAR Services
Evening all,
I stumbled across this forum just by doing a search for MAT Transport, as my dad used to be the depot manager at Childerditch, and later West Thurrock. Having stumbled across this forum, I immediately told dad about it, and he’s since had a read through and won’t be at all surprised if he soon joins and makes a posting or two.
Memories I have of MAT at “the Ditch” were the greasy spoon cafe opposite the main offices, and at the age of 8 was when I first met Chris Newman (absolute top bloke - made my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary a dream come true, but that’s another story) along with some other guys who worked at Childerditch/West Thurrock like Brian Maile, as well as Dave the foreman (his surname escapes me at the moment). Some of these memories transferred over to West Thurrock in the quarry owned by Lafarge right next to the QEII Bridge (aka Dartford crossing).
I also had my work experience up at Arnold House, working in BAGS under Adrian Nicholls, right smack bang in the middle of Euro 96, and the only name I can really remember is ■■■■ Johnson (sorry if I’ve spelt it wrong) who had a quality sense of humour.
Incidentally, I’ve noticed a lot of comments on here relating to Chris Newman - I saw him walking through Ilford a few years ago, and before he worked for MAT Transport, he worked for London Transport as a driver at Barking Garage, the same garage that I’ve ened up working at as a supervisor.
And just in case you’re wondering who my dad is, he’s Sid Woolhouse, and for any drivers who delivered to or collected from West Thurrock in the 90s, in particular during the school holidays, if you remember a teenage kid who often used to help out with the booking desk, that was me!
Andy Woolhouse aka “Little Sid”
Suttons Tony:
When I was a Trailer Mate on Suttons at their London Depot, I had for a time a Driver named Sean Venables, whose brother was Danny Venables who was the Manager at Archibalds of Leeds, London Depot, anyway Sean who was a lovely bloke and a real character left Suttons and became the manager at Barking for awhile before getting the push for it is said some dodgy business, I have subsequently heard that Sean was killed in his cab in Austria or germany when a gas ring which he was useing to keep warm while he slept went out and he was gassed, a tragedy. Later when I was at the BRS at Hampstead Depot we had a Bristol unit on contract to MAT Barking and I remember loading a container for Denmark at Mars of Slough, I hasten to add the old Bristol never went abroad even in those crazy days…Tony.
High Tony,ive just seen this post so hope you don,t mind my late responce.I meet Sean Venables when he worked for a company in harlow called G Parkes,it was run by a Derek Best an another guy called Roger.They had at the time a couple of black scania 110 sleepers doing belgium and holland.Sean was loading at a place called nevielle in belgium at a firm called reddiracks,it was in the middle of winter and he left his gas stove on which blew out in the night.It was a terrible thing as he was a really lovely bloke,i think it must have been around 1974/5 time.
Seans son ( also Sean) was Trp Manager at Roba Harlow for many years. Also a good bloke.
harry:
Seans son ( also Sean) was Trp Manager at Roba Harlow for many years. Also a good bloke.
Hi Harry,do you remember Harry Evans? (Harry the hat) who worked on Roba.Harry worked for a subby Albert Warren who pulled for Howe european doing swiss with a green 110 scania.I knew him through my dad when they both were on Davis bro,s in solebay street in mile end.As far as i remember when Howe,s finished he went on to inco trans then Roba.I did some traction for Howe,s,Incotrans,and Roba with yarn to wales.
Found this whilst browsing around.
boyzee:
harry:
Seans son ( also Sean) was Trp Manager at Roba Harlow for many years. Also a good bloke.Hi Harry,do you remember Harry Evans? (Harry the hat) who worked on Roba.Harry worked for a subby Albert Warren who pulled for Howe european doing swiss with a green 110 scania.I knew him through my dad when they both were on Davis bro,s in solebay street in mile end.As far as i remember when Howe,s finished he went on to inco trans then Roba.I did some traction for Howe,s,Incotrans,and Roba with yarn to wales.
I would have to see a snap of H before I could say I knew him. There was Fred,Yap-Yap ,Eugene,Johnny Smith, Mcoy ,Gordon [ Last two RIP] …
PS. When I started for the Swiss regular Howe had packed up & the trp manager had gone with Leggets .
Hi, just writing to mention my dad who was on for MAT, probably 1978 ish. I know Archie knew him as we’ve spoke ( on here). My dad was Big John Ward from York. I remember some of the stories about Dave Clark in the workshop, in fact dad got a written warning , something he did to Dave!
I sometimes picked my dad up in my Austin A60 van, helped wash the unit once, even though I wasn’t supposed to be on site. I remember MAT were quite strict about passengers and going on site…didn’t bother my dad that much.
He usually had a Scania 110 but I do remember him getting a plain F10 to do an urgent run over the Christmas period and my mum was allowed to go with him. I seem to recall MAT paying for hotel rooms as my mum was with him.
I believe dad was let go because he didn’t conform lol .
Regards Chris.
does anybody remember john hornsby used to pull 4 mat and took his son everywhere {louis} ■■?
Archie Paice:
Dieseldogsix:
Cliff Leader went to run Leamans from Denmark out of Transflash at Bradford, I pulled for him for a while 78/79, until we had a fall out, nice bloke till you didn’t agree with him.Hullo “Diesledogsix”
That,s it Leamans. at Transflash Mcgreggor, I always found him to be a good bloke, he was a driver through and through, and cetainly knew the game. I wonder where he is now. He had a son that was in the workshops in Hull, Gary Leader, and a lovely daughter, Carol, who was a pretty good grasstracker.
Cheers, Archie.
Yes Archie, he was a good bloke that knew the game, I got on with him so well to start with that he put me up at his house in Keighley, when my truck broke down. however, due to the way I was paid at the time and that fact he expected me to work weekends, when I was only paid Mon to Fri, we parted company. Cliff
dessie hornsby:
does anybody remember john hornsby used to pull 4 mat and took his son everywhere {louis} ■■?
I knew John Hornsby very well. He ran an old Merc and was ex RAF during the war. I was fasinated by his tales and some of the quotes he made. I hope I have got the same guy.
Cliff
When I was a kid in the 70’s I seem to remember that MAT ran a Crusader with a polished ally box van trailer, Doe’s anybody know if this is the same company as this MAT and if so are there any pictures out there?
Thank you.