Old companys from stoke -on trent

John Maunders you have pm regarding bunchy

hi all

anyone know owt about this company.

cheers
gaz

I know quite a bit, what do ur want to know ! Went bump in a big way, good bunch of lads and a good bloke but circumstances and the law seemed to see them off.

Telekonsteve:
I know quite a bit, what do ur want to know ! Went bump in a big way, good bunch of lads and a good bloke but circumstances and the law seemed to see them off.

hi steve

just wanted to know what happend to em mate as i can remember doin some brick nets &/or sheets for them back in 87/88 time.

are you still running your own.

cheers
gaz

Telekonsteve:
I know quite a bit, what do ur want to know ! Went bump in a big way, good bunch of lads and a good bloke but circumstances and the law seemed to see them off.

was it run by a bloke named mark ? cooper by any chance

No I got rid about 3 years ago now,too much effort for little reward and yes bds was owned by mark cooper, last time I saw him he was selling cars on that garage just up from where vantage used to be

Ringrose:
Great pictures Relluf…did you ever have a tilt loaded with JCB’s, Dover always had their fair share of beresford going out on a Sunday afternoon with the diggers squeezed in!

Hi Ringrose,We used to take the JCBs down to Novara in tilts.They were just fractionally too high to fit inside the tilt so they were partially stripped,we’d tip out and rebuild them only to find we were reloading in the Steel factory at Osnago(CO).We mostly used used flatbeds on the Le Havre run reloading boxed rubber compound for Michelin at Stoke.Jimmy Stubbs and I taught a French driver how to do a dolly hitch.After he fell on his arse a couple of times he got the hang of it,he went away chuffed to bits.

3300John:

bestbooties:

3300John:

f troop:
Any of you lads knew Turnocks Transport from Brick Kiln Lane Etruria in Stoke.

Hiya …wow a few pages back we posted a list of stoke hauliers and i think we all had forgoten turnocks
and turner roadways…i’ve just thought of another ERF haulier but the name has gone into the grey matter…
was it Lovatts transport from Mow cop or biddulph area they ran some well used light green erf units.

Is that the same Lovatts that runs out of the Fenton Industrial estate on Dewsbury Road in the black and white livery same as E & E Transport
Hiya ian…no i don’t think so. this firm had very pale green erf’s with red chassis and i think a white roof…i’am going back to the mid70’s
i think they did some bagged salt…i remember they always had a trailer flap missing or a tractor mudguard fastened up with rope
and very often a hudseal on the drive axel spinning black oil in the drive wheel…how silly to remember little things.
i think they worked hard but never had new lorries…i think they return loaded steel plate from london area.
John

Hi John,you got me thinking of old Stoke companies.Does anyone remember Supreme Salt out of Cobridge.They had immaculate ERFs with,I think,a blue livery.

John Maunders:
Joined this site yesterday, having seen a few bits about Turners from Bucknall.
Turner Brothers as it was initially called was started by my Grandad, Albert Turner and his brother and was based at Foundry Garage, Bucknall. My Dad, “Big” Geoff Maunders owned/ran Turners in the 70’s and 80’s with my Uncle “Little” Geoff Hodgkiss. The firm was then called Turner Roadways Limited. Dad and Geoff Hodgkiss married the Turner twins; Rosemary, my Mum and Yvonne my Aunty.
My Dad grew up in Bucknall and Phil Bunch was a good childhood friend. I can vaguely remember Phil visiting in between driving to, what seemed at the time, the other side of the world. He always had this huge smile on his face, a proper ‘cheeky chap’, and quick witted to boot.
My Uncle, Len Dale, who drove for them ( as did most of the Dales) used to take me to Fort Dunlop as a kid, to collect scrap tyres in a rack sider. We would then go to a big tip out towards Tissington, where they were dropped into a disused quarry. These were some of the happiest times i ever had. I believe this quarry caught fire some years later and burned for weeks.
I remember some of the blokes who worked there; a big bloke from Wales worked in the office. He was named Howell i think. Micker Matthews was a general handyman and always used to knock screws in with an hammer when no one was looking whilst repairing flatbeds!!. Kenny Platt was a mechanic there, as was Don Allman,Gary Parsons and Paul Oliver who has supplied some pictures earlier in the thread. There were two Pauls who were mechanics if i remember rightly; one was an apprentice so to speak. One day a lorry made its own way down the yard onto Dividy Road where it ended up on its side; Paul ‘the apprentice’ jumped into the cab and trapped his hand on something; i remember thinking how much it must have hurt.
The site consisted of an office, next to the garage. Opposite was the body shop and uphill on the left was the top shed. There was a big crane in the yard, that i dont ever think i saw move once.
The business moved to a site in Fenton, the land being sold for housing, before moving to Chemical Lane in Longport. In the early 1990’s it was bought by Ellis Fellows from West Bromwich who was part of the Keltruck empire. Dad when to work with Ellis as his transport manager until he retired five or six years ago.
I do hope this rings some bells for someone on here. If anyone is still in touch with Phil Bunch remind my Dad to him; if he wants any contact details please get back to me.

Hello John,welcome to nostalgia fest.I met your dad and your Uncle while I worked for Beresford in the eighties.I remember Bunchie from the same time period but I THINK he was working for Moorlock or Moorcap at the time.Enjoy this site,your Dad and Uncle were well known and respected in Stoke haulage.

Hiya relluf…if you go to Bill Clowes truck photos theres a supreem salt ERF ec to look at.
i think some of that salt work was done by arclid tankers not sure about the bag work…
a chap who was the sign writer at beeches went working at supreem salt many years ago
i think he was somthing to do with the painting of the trucks after his shift.
a chap i know from leek had a seddon 13 four on contract at supreem salt then later a
spanish dodge unit.
John

3300John:
Hiya relluf…if you go to Bill Clowes truck photos theres a supreem salt ERF ec to look at.
i think some of that salt work was done by arclid tankers not sure about the bag work…
a chap who was the sign writer at beeches went working at supreem salt many years ago
i think he was somthing to do with the painting of the trucks after his shift.
a chap i know from leek had a seddon 13 four on contract at supreem salt then later a
spanish dodge unit.
John

Relluf,
This is the only supreme salt photo I have , taken at Beeches in about 2000

Regards
Ant

Willie Roadstar:

3300John:
Hiya relluf…if you go to Bill Clowes truck photos theres a supreem salt ERF ec to look at.
i think some of that salt work was done by arclid tankers not sure about the bag work…
a chap who was the sign writer at beeches went working at supreem salt many years ago
i think he was somthing to do with the painting of the trucks after his shift.
a chap i know from leek had a seddon 13 four on contract at supreem salt then later a
spanish dodge unit.
John

Relluf,
This is the only supreme salt photo I have , taken at Beeches in about 2000

Regards
Ant

Hiya Ant,thanks for the pic.I remember people trying to get on Supreme as,after Beresfords,it was one of the best jobs in Stoke allegedly.

relluf:
Hello John,welcome to nostalgia fest.I met your dad and your Uncle while I worked for Beresford in the eighties.I remember Bunchie from the same time period but I THINK he was working for Moorlock or Moorcap at the time.Enjoy this site,your Dad and Uncle were well known and respected in Stoke haulage.

Thank you for your kind comments Relluf. My Dad started as a driver, so he always had a grasp of what was achievable during a day or a week out. He was a Grafter, still doing 15 hour days when he was well into his fifties. Hopefully theres some old Turners photos tucked away somewhere that he can dig out for the Forum.

Afternoon drivers and ex drivers, apologies for jumping on your thread. Im a photojournalism student at staffordshire university currently undertaking a project about lorry driving as a community in the Stoke-on-Trent area. Iv been down to Beechs garage to speak to one of the bosses there about my intentions, he was extremely friendly and welcoming, a quality ive noticed you all have for each other. The end product will be an article which i want to touch upon the new legislation of the hightened prices on fuel and what its going to mean for haulage businesses. Another interest of mine is the personalisation of the cabs you kind of live in for long hours. Im looking to meet up with some of you for a chat or a pint or something. If any of you fancy it you can get in touch with me on 07928 328980, or email daniel.rowlands@hotmail.com.

Cheers
Dan

Hello everyone just been looking at the ford transcontinental thread, on the first page to my suprise was a photo of a transcon in berresfords colours, I couldnt remember them having any of these can anyone shed any light on this, was it a demonstrator or did they have more than this one? Also i never saw it but someone told me they had an f10 volvo as a one off, why didnt they have more did they have a bad experience with it, and finally the volvo f88 was a popular motor for continental at their peak time , did they ever own any of these? cheers chris.

chrisv:
Hello everyone just been looking at the ford transcontinental thread, on the first page to my suprise was a photo of a transcon in berresfords colours, I couldnt remember them having any of these can anyone shed any light on this, was it a demonstrator or did they have more than this one? Also i never saw it but someone told me they had an f10 volvo as a one off, why didnt they have more did they have a bad experience with it, and finally the volvo f88 was a popular motor for continental at their peak time , did they ever own any of these? cheers

Hiya chris…i think you’ll find that some of the one off lorries in berresfords colours was subbies.Albert dale always(nealy)had ERF’s but with
bigger engines than the normal fleet. gardner engines was tried(i said tried not tired)and tested so gardners it was.
i have a mate who had one of the 88’s at shirleys. old mr shirley said why have all them gears, 5’s enough and why have 290 bhp.
my mate said to him after a days work in a 88 you can walk home, in a erf/180 you dog tired and knackered out.
i also think berresfored was loyal to the british maker, like gentalmans agreements was at one time.now lloooonnnngggg gone.
John

hiya john, thanks for the reply I didnt realise berresfords had subbies, always used to seeing fodens erfs and sed atks, thanks for sheading some light on the subject, cheers chris.

chrisv:
hiya john, thanks for the reply I didnt realise berresfords had subbies, always used to seeing fodens erfs and sed atks, thanks for sheading some light on the subject, cheers chris.

Hiya i worked for harrisons of bucknell… i used to do trailers into dover and tip out incoming trailers.
cooke and copestick from smallwood area had a couple doing trailers ,Berresfords had a scania that pete stevo drove
then later some MAN’s dave scarlet had the first of berresfords… after albert dale had given up with ERF and had the first MAN 362
on contract in berresfords livery.
John

Heres some old photos my Dad Geoff dug out for the Forum. The quality of the photos are as per the era im afraid.
There should be some really old ones knocking about somewhere; Turner Brothers were originally ‘carters’, as were a couple of other Bucknall firms, shifting stuff about quite literally by horse/mule power.

Hi John
Nice pics of Turners, I think Don Allman drove the Leyland in the pictures you posted.I remember because he had the 290 volvo previously but I think it had too many problems so I think your dad geoff got rid a bit sharp.I used to work for Turners quite a bit as I worked for Mountfords till they closed.
They used to send me up to work for them when we weren’t very busy ie potts holls etc. You must remember me to both Geoffs as they did look after me well & treated me as if I worked for them full time.When Mountfords closed Geoff was strait on the phone to offer me a job which I accepted to do temporary as I did have a job to go to about 6 weeks after & in all that time both geoffs kept trying to keep me there with them down at Bucknall
it was hard work but very happy days
Kind Regards to all
Duls