carryfast-yeti:
hello Rog…it was late '79 when i started there.my first unit was an Albiona white one if you can remember that? i was hoping for a 141
I was out in a Dodge 7.5 rented from BRS by that time - was doing the Peak district 2 day run with it
TIDDERSON:
BRS was mentioned earlier, and I have a black and white photo of one of their vans taken in London 1973… could it be the same make (Leyland?) as the blue van from N.Francis & Co. Ltd. of Dalston, S London? Another question is which year they were made, they looks a bit old in the early seventies.[The Austin VA van was designed by BRS engineers and Star Bodies who made them. They came out in about 1958 as Austins with an Austin “wing” on top of the bonnet. They were built till 1976 changing to BMC and then Leyland badges. At one time BRS had about 2,700 mainly at Parcels depots but a few worked on general haulage replacing the old Austin WE seris Regards Peter
Bit of a long lost post, but that top black and white picture of the noddy van is two digits away from my one’s registration. Mine’s JOY430D!
9ball:
Hello All
My dad worked for national carriers at temple meads Bristol in the late 70 early 80 would any one have any pictures of seddon Atkinson’s with 33ft tidd trailers or any of there fleet thanks John.
I’ve just come across this
We used to do a trunk in the 70s and 80s on nights and days down to Boots in Aldershot we often had to run in to National Carriers yard in Aldershot to pick up return trailers back for Nottingham
They’re night shift foreman was a bloke called Alan he was a cracking bloke always made you a cuppa happy times
Hi Guy,s
I stared my lorry driving life at National Carriers in 1975, after I left the Royal Navy, aged 18,
I went to Glasgow Sighthill Depot for my test drive,it was a Bedford TK, I had driven a couple times before,
I worked out of Salkeld St Depot Glasgow then when I was 21 passed my class1 at the Cathcart Training School,
I used to practice with the wee carrier unit,s and short trailers then when I passed got to drive the Ford D Series unit,s happy day,s
Cheer,s Owen.
my dad use to work for these 1977-1980 in Basingstoke… only trouble was he was not 21 so he did not get his class one…
TIDDERSON:
BRS was mentioned earlier, and I have a black and white photo of one of their vans taken in London 1973… could it be the same make (Leyland?) as the blue van from N.Francis & Co. Ltd. of Dalston, S London? Another question is which year they were made, they looks a bit old in the early seventies.[The Austin VA van was designed by BRS engineers and Star Bodies who made them. They came out in about 1958 as Austins with an Austin “wing” on top of the bonnet. They were built till 1976 changing to BMC and then Leyland badges. At one time BRS had about 2,700 mainly at Parcels depots but a few worked on general haulage replacing the old Austin WE seris Regards Peter
Hi all,
I am new to this forum, but I had googled N Francis Parcels and found this.
I drove for this company in the 1970’s up until they acquired Tartan Arrow and moved to Kentish Town.
They only had the one depot in London based at No. 5 Parkholme Road, Dalston E8. The fleet then consisted of 1 Transit swb van, Thames Traders, Leyland FG’s and of course the famous Noddy Vans with Zetters Pools advertised on the sides. The N Francis fleet of Noddy Vans ranged from H to K registrations 1970 to 72. They were all badged as BMC and had 4 speed gearboxes with a crash on 1st, which was never used. All the Traders were 1968 F regs,
They all seemed to have a maximum speed of 45 - 50 mph regardless of whether they were loaded or empty.
The parcel business in that era was a bit cut throat, with lots of companies out there chasing work. N Francis came under the same umbrella as BRS which was the NFC (National Freight Corporation) when transport was still nationalised. I remember NCL, Plaxtons, Pickford, and a company from Aylesford called SE Thomas which got swallowed up by United Carriers.
Alan
Wheel Nut:
We also had the competition in the noddy vans. A real piece of city centre history.
spotted the Wilkinsons Noddy van at it’s home on the Isle of Wight yesterday.i was looking for a Noddy van thread,but couldn’t find it 
ACC:
TIDDERSON:
BRS was mentioned earlier, and I have a black and white photo of one of their vans taken in London 1973… could it be the same make (Leyland?) as the blue van from N.Francis & Co. Ltd. of Dalston, S London? Another question is which year they were made, they looks a bit old in the early seventies.[The Austin VA van was designed by BRS engineers and Star Bodies who made them. They came out in about 1958 as Austins with an Austin “wing” on top of the bonnet. They were built till 1976 changing to BMC and then Leyland badges. At one time BRS had about 2,700 mainly at Parcels depots but a few worked on general haulage replacing the old Austin WE seris Regards Peter
Hi all,
I am new to this forum, but I had googled N Francis Parcels and found this.
I drove for this company in the 1970’s up until they acquired Tartan Arrow and moved to Kentish Town.
They only had the one depot in London based at No. 5 Parkholme Road, Dalston E8. The fleet then consisted of 1 Transit swb van, Thames Traders, Leyland FG’s and of course the famous Noddy Vans with Zetters Pools advertised on the sides. The N Francis fleet of Noddy Vans ranged from H to K registrations 1970 to 72. They were all badged as BMC and had 4 speed gearboxes with a crash on 1st, which was never used. All the Traders were 1968 F regs,
They all seemed to have a maximum speed of 45 - 50 mph regardless of whether they were loaded or empty.
The parcel business in that era was a bit cut throat, with lots of companies out there chasing work. N Francis came under the same umbrella as BRS which was the NFC (National Freight Corporation) when transport was still nationalised. I remember NCL, Plaxtons, Pickford, and a company from Aylesford called SE Thomas which got swallowed up by United Carriers.
Alan
This is an interesting thread. I started a Facebook page for United Carriers which has been infiltrated by depot and area managers, it makes for interesting reading about some of the buyouts and takeovers
Wheel Nut:
ACC:
TIDDERSON:
BRS was mentioned earlier, and I have a black and white photo of one of their vans taken in London 1973… could it be the same make (Leyland?) as the blue van from N.Francis & Co. Ltd. of Dalston, S London? Another question is which year they were made, they looks a bit old in the early seventies.[The Austin VA van was designed by BRS engineers and Star Bodies who made them. They came out in about 1958 as Austins with an Austin “wing” on top of the bonnet. They were built till 1976 changing to BMC and then Leyland badges. At one time BRS had about 2,700 mainly at Parcels depots but a few worked on general haulage replacing the old Austin WE seris Regards Peter
Hi all,
I am new to this forum, but I had googled N Francis Parcels and found this.
I drove for this company in the 1970’s up until they acquired Tartan Arrow and moved to Kentish Town.
They only had the one depot in London based at No. 5 Parkholme Road, Dalston E8. The fleet then consisted of 1 Transit swb van, Thames Traders, Leyland FG’s and of course the famous Noddy Vans with Zetters Pools advertised on the sides. The N Francis fleet of Noddy Vans ranged from H to K registrations 1970 to 72. They were all badged as BMC and had 4 speed gearboxes with a crash on 1st, which was never used. All the Traders were 1968 F regs,
They all seemed to have a maximum speed of 45 - 50 mph regardless of whether they were loaded or empty.
The parcel business in that era was a bit cut throat, with lots of companies out there chasing work. N Francis came under the same umbrella as BRS which was the NFC (National Freight Corporation) when transport was still nationalised. I remember NCL, Plaxtons, Pickford, and a company from Aylesford called SE Thomas which got swallowed up by United Carriers.
Alan
This is an interesting thread. I started a Facebook page for United Carriers which has been infiltrated by depot and area managers, it makes for interesting reading about some of the buyouts and takeovers
as NCL eventually turned into part of DHL…after 40 years driving HGV’s i’ve ended up turning full circle!
carryfast-yeti:
Wheel Nut:
ACC:
TIDDERSON:
BRS was mentioned earlier, and I have a black and white photo of one of their vans taken in London 1973… could it be the same make (Leyland?) as the blue van from N.Francis & Co. Ltd. of Dalston, S London? Another question is which year they were made, they looks a bit old in the early seventies.[The Austin VA van was designed by BRS engineers and Star Bodies who made them. They came out in about 1958 as Austins with an Austin “wing” on top of the bonnet. They were built till 1976 changing to BMC and then Leyland badges. At one time BRS had about 2,700 mainly at Parcels depots but a few worked on general haulage replacing the old Austin WE seris Regards Peter
Hi all,
I am new to this forum, but I had googled N Francis Parcels and found this.
I thought NCL is now UPS ?
I drove for this company in the 1970’s up until they acquired Tartan Arrow and moved to Kentish Town.They only had the one depot in London based at No. 5 Parkholme Road, Dalston E8. The fleet then consisted of 1 Transit swb van, Thames Traders, Leyland FG’s and of course the famous Noddy Vans with Zetters Pools advertised on the sides. The N Francis fleet of Noddy Vans ranged from H to K registrations 1970 to 72. They were all badged as BMC and had 4 speed gearboxes with a crash on 1st, which was never used. All the Traders were 1968 F regs,
They all seemed to have a maximum speed of 45 - 50 mph regardless of whether they were loaded or empty.
The parcel business in that era was a bit cut throat, with lots of companies out there chasing work. N Francis came under the same umbrella as BRS which was the NFC (National Freight Corporation) when transport was still nationalised. I remember NCL, Plaxtons, Pickford, and a company from Aylesford called SE Thomas which got swallowed up by United Carriers.
Alan
This is an interesting thread. I started a Facebook page for United Carriers which has been infiltrated by depot and area managers, it makes for interesting reading about some of the buyouts and takeovers
as NCL eventually turned into part of DHL…after 40 years driving HGV’s i’ve ended up turning full circle!
I thought NCL is now encompassed into UPS
National Freight Corporation- Exel - BRS - Pickford - Tankfreight - DHL
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I got a job at a Seddon Atkinson dealer (Francis Commercials) in about 1983 to find that just about everybody there had come from NCL Tonbridge depot. The only names I can recall are Alan Creswell, Nigel North, Len ? and Larry? Len, a Korean war veteran, with a sharp tongue and a mischevious sense of humour was to become a particular mate for my time there.
I assume Tonbridge depot had fairly recently closed?
Hello All
My dad worked for national carriers at temple meads Bristol in the late 70 early 80 would any one have any pictures of seddon Atkinson’s with 33ft tidd trailers or any of there fleet thanks John. 
Hi 9ball,
Marc Bubbleman with his huge scrapbook thread is your best bet to find some pics of National Carriers,also he’s from the Bristol area. Welcome to the Forum.
Cheers Dave.
Thanks Dave
I will try to find him and have a look
Hello all
still no luck with finding any pic’s. Also trying to find pic’s of scaina tractor 92m D663 EWS based lynx express avonmouth. It was sent to scania leeds in 1990 would love to see it again
I have this out of the BRS /Exel magazine
my dad drove for ncl oldhamroad depo and then fashionflow and then marks&spence for exel he is call mike obrien
