I remember Parkway Haulage well, when i started with them they ran a Guy,volvo F86 and F88 from Bolcow Road (then itwas just a bit of land with a portakabin and just a water pipe and tap out of the ground).When a second F88 was bought it was given to me.
We did a lot of work for Chevron Oil running from Thornaby to Aberdeen (meeting the supply boats at Mathews Quay). I was given the first new MAN to arrive ,other MANs arrived also a Transcontinental,AEC rigid (ex forces) and lastly an ERF.
Myself and Big Geoff (who had the Transcontinental)were the first drivers to go abroad, that was to Italy (Milan) with loads of pipes in tilts rented from Renco(all tilts were hired from them).We had three freezer trailers with the Parkway name on but no tilts with the name.I got my long and wide load (and there were some wide loads) experience from Parkway and enjoyed the job with a great bunch of lads.
And not forgetting Al who kept the fleet running(I dont know anybody who worked the hours and as hard as him.)
Ex driver Tommy 2.
Hope this is what your looking for .
They were owned by Tony Keeley who used to drive for Stevens of Gt Ayton, he started at Readmans at Cargo Fleet then moved to the Old Grangetown Fire Station before moving to Bolcow Road. Alan was Tony’s brother in law and I agree he was a hard worker. It was thought at the time of his demise that his trouble was he got too big too quick.
I remember an old haulier from Middlesbrough called R Durham & Son, does anyone remember them?
I worked for Bobby Durham from about 1974 until 1983 then I subcontracted for him until 1988. I was based at the Morpeth depot but did a lot of work around Tees side, ICI ,and Lackenby steelworks.
McWilliam:
I remember an old haulier from Middlesbrough called R Durham & Son, does anyone remember them?
Durhams did a lot of chemicals , would see them at Courtaulds Flint , as well as Ellesmere port , they may have had a base there , thank you Trevor .
hI Trevor, his main contracts at the time were with ICI and British steel. He had quite a few tankers on the road at the time covering the UK and Europe
macg:
hI Trevor, his main contracts at the time were with ICI and British steel. He had quite a few tankers on the road at the time covering the UK and Europe
Hello marcg , i believe some of his tankers were in ICI colours , thank you Trevor .
A ONE TRANSPORT had a dept in Middlesbrough,in the 80s,did any of you lads remember them,thanks keith
Hi Trevor ,at the time he was changing the livery of the fleet. The Durhams wagons went from maroon ,to a red cab with orange and yellow bands and the Arthur Sanderson wagons (a company he bought from Great Broughton) to blue with a green and purple band. he had wagons on internal work at ICI ,memory’s not what it was, I think they were in orange livery.
macg:
Hi Trevor ,at the time he was changing the livery of the fleet. The Durhams wagons went from maroon ,to a red cab with orange and yellow bands and the Arthur Sanderson wagons (a company he bought from Great Broughton) to blue with a green and purple band. he had wagons on internal work at ICI ,memory’s not what it was, I think they were in orange livery.
Were they a large fleet with lots of depots?
The main depot was Cowpen Bewley at Billingham and they had depots at Gt Broughton, Morpeth, West Bromwich, and Newport South Wales,(cant think of the name of the company they took over) probably 100+ motors at the time.
Did Durhams run vans as well?
We used to load crisps from Cowpen Lane, Billingham in the early seventies and I have a memory of Durhams loading there as well, seem to remember red wagons? Or would that be a false memory?
John
Main depot is still at Cowpen lane although they were taken over by P D Logistics a good few years ago now, only run about 6 artics now, the rest of its made up of smaller trucks working on the pallet network job, the crisp factory is next door to Durhams old yard but the red trucks in there would probably have been Deverauxs as there yard is also next door
Thanks for the replies, I also remember another firm called Prestons.
Prestons of Potto?
chaversdad:
Main depot is still at Cowpen lane although they were taken over by P D Logistics a good few years ago now, only run about 6 artics now, the rest of its made up of smaller trucks working on the pallet network job, the crisp factory is next door to Durhams old yard but the red trucks in there would probably have been Deverauxs as there yard is also next door
Think you’re right with Deveraux now that you’ve said it. The memory may just have been seeing Durhams because they were so close.
Cheers!
John
Don’t think we ever did any crisps, Devereux had it pretty much ■■■■■■■ although we were just over the road.
macg:
Don’t think we ever did any crisps, Devereux had it pretty much ■■■■■■■ although we were just over the road.
I was subbing from Pritchett Brothers of Ashton in Makerfield at the time. I think Pritchett’s were in direct rather than subbing from Devereux (apologies for the earlier spelling error!) I may be wrong.
We were in there regularly, that was where we loaded from in the North East (but I’m aware that I should never call you a Geordie!) had many a good night out with the girls and guys from the crisp factory.
I think Pritchett’s advantage was that the vans were very tall, so we could load bulky light loads as well as the heavier loads of Stork from Bromborough etc.
Another firm which others from Middlesbrough may remember was G & G Autotransporters.
G & G stood for Geoff and Ginger. I didn’t know them at the time. I met them out in Saudi, when they started pulling for SeaLand in Dammam.
They worked for Nissan, the original company run by the famous Octav Botnar. I remember Geoff telling me he was so rich he replaced his electric curtain openers in his house because the originals were ‘too noisy’.
Geoff and Ginger used to collect cars as well as load them on their transporters. Geoff said that after complaints from members of the public that they’d been overtaken by a Nissan on trade plates doing 90 or more ( this was in the days of ‘running in’) they got number plates made up with ‘on test’ on and put them in the rear windows!
These two great characters are both still alive and I see Geoff irregularly when I go over on my motorbike.
John.
macg:
The main depot was Cowpen Bewley at Billingham and they had depots at Gt Broughton, Morpeth, West Bromwich, and Newport South Wales,(cant think of the name of the company they took over) probably 100+ motors at the time.
When I moved to Birmingham I worked for them in the 90s out of Hill Top, West Bromwich on a Volvo with a single axle tanker collecting photo chemicals from Kodak Photo processing labs all over the UK and taking it to St Helens.