Green road was a great road for truck spotting , I could face the other way to the traffice3 and tell you want wagon was a longside me , sad I know but its true .
Another thing was I could lay in bed in the mornings and hear the brs roadtrains going round the by pass , it was then time to get up .
adr:
kingswinford kit:
adr:
BJ Henry, Cowley, Oxford.Hi Chris, they had some nice J units . Seem to remember they did a lot of export work to the ports including Newport . regards Keith
Hi Keith, I grew up by the Green Rd roundabout, virtually every heavy that went through Oxford used this route, the wagons were in & out of Leyland Cowley night & day, with car-transporters some of the main fleets to be seen! Brilliant
Regards Chris
Hi Chris,
Who and where was the steel coming in from at that date ? Seem to think quite a lot was coming down from Shotton and the West Mids .regards Keith
Hi Chris hows things? Now Bj Henry thats a real blast from the past i can remember going with my dad when it was in transport way opposite Dykse’s, well the car park was cuz thats where we had to hide when he was loading, could you imagine me & Boris also hiding in the footwell of the ol’mans Albion if he thought a boss was about lol happy days eh?? i didn’t realise your dad worked there as well?
adr:
BJ Henry Ltd, Oxford.
Muckaway:
What was the pub called at what is now McDonald’s on the Green Road roundabout? Talking of the old fire station on George Street and with Halloween approaching;
In Rewley Road fire station, there was (might still be there) a photograph taken around the back of the old fire station from the days of brass helmets and steam pumps of some firemen; At the back stood beside one of the fire horses, is a misty figure of a fireman who apparently had died not too long before. He was actually identified by his colleagues when the photo was developed.
Also heard during my time as a fire cadet in the md '90s that Slade fire station is haunted by a fireman killed in the '60s…
The pub was the Shotover Arms . Spent many an hour in there on a Saturday (well, any day/night of the week really 
), on a Saturday we used to run back up from Southampton (later Portsmouth) on Luker Bros having come over on the Night ferry from Le Havre, usually 5-6 wagons together, some good nights on those ferries having been charging about over there all week !
kingswinford kit:
adr:
kingswinford kit:
adr:
BJ Henry, Cowley, Oxford.Hi Chris, they had some nice J units . Seem to remember they did a lot of export work to the ports including Newport . regards Keith
Hi Keith, I grew up by the Green Rd roundabout, virtually every heavy that went through Oxford used this route, the wagons were in & out of Leyland Cowley night & day, with car-transporters some of the main fleets to be seen! Brilliant
Hi Chris,
Who and where was the steel coming in from at that date ? Seem to think quite a lot was coming down from Shotton and the West Mids .regards Keith
Hi Keith, we used to bring the Steel up from Llanelli, seat frames too they were loaded in 30’ long containers on single axle skelly trailers. We had a shunter/loading who was based down in the Steel works all week, Owen’s of Llanelli & Morgan’s used to bring it up to Cowley too!
Regards Chris
oiltreader:
adr:
toshboy:
adr:
One of my Dads old wagons, the Depot was down Botley Road but as you can just make out on the cab door, the offices were in Gloucester Street at the time. Looks like John Farmer taking part in the LDOY heats at Oxford, he went on to be Depot Manager.Hi Chris, a nice original shot .can make out John -that would be from his early days as driver ,i remember the fuel depot was next to Laytons the the main dealer for Bedfords in Botley road --working for Ameys i was a regular in there for spares for our numerous Bedfords —regards ivor
Hi Ivor,
Can you remember, were Laytons taken over by City Motors, or was it some other kind of merger or buy-out? As the workshops etc stayed Bedford all the way through the years! Also, do you remember down by Gloucester Green (Buses), where Home Counties had their office at the time, my Mum says there was a City Motors Garage (Car Sales) there on the corner? Or maybe if Eddie (Oiltreader) reads this he will know from when he was on the Oxford Buses with my Dad, as they were round the City Centre all the time.
Regards ChrisHi Chris,
A few memory joggers there, start with Laytons, the only Laytons Garage (cars) I remember was in Pusey St off St.Giles , didn’t have a garage frontage as such more of just a yard, the reason I know this is that in 1959 I was in digs in Morrell Ave and my landlord (semi retired) worked there.
I do remember the City Motors having a showroom, (Vauxhall) and offices, this was in St Georges Place and part of a larger building called Threeways House, opposite the cinema, Odeon I think.
Other bits I remember at Gloucester Green were the Fire Station, also fronting on to George St, also the Municipal Restaurant,( there was another one in York Place off St Clements) good wholesome food at a very reasonable price, also Boffins Bakery was in the Green and of course the Thursday Market, talking markets, Gloucester Green was originally the livestock and produce market in the 1800s until the move to Oxpens.
City Motors (cars) were also on the Iffley Road by Iffley Turn, City Motors Commercials were off Botley Rd, Lamarsh Rd maybe. I did have a picture of he original City Motors 1930s which was on the Botley Rd, can’t find it
Couple of bits more, the Oxford BRS Head Office was in George St. and there was also a Laytons garage on London Rd Bicester, lefthand side going out.
Oily
A few memory joggers indeed! got me thinking a bit! some of it I may have mentioned before, but here goes. I was going to say, I remember BJ Henrys using platers in the early days, so maybe they used J Hardings when trying out transporters, don’t know, just a hunch. My dad worked for a good few car delivery firms, but he always said he wouldn’t want to go to Henrys, not sure why though. 
one he did work for , that I haven’t heard mentioned was Car Collection.
City motors Iffley road, I went to see about an apprenticeship as a mechanic there when I was leaving school, but it was only a shilling an hour & a new 40 hr week, so I pursued my first love & went to work on a farm for £3, though it was a 49 hr week. 
Funnily enough, the man who got me the job was a Mr Mills, who was the auctioneer at the Oxpens cattle market.
Sweet memories of the Municipal Restaurant in St Clements, I went there a few times with a couple of older school mates. Like you say good grub, reasonably priced, but my pocket money was a bit hit & miss, so I couldn’t keep up with them for very long! 
Another garage that were taken over by City Motors in later years were Coxeters in (I think) Park end street, anyone remember them. One of my brothers in law served his apprenticeship there, on the spanners & stayed with them until he retired! Don’t think there would be that sort of security in many jobs today ay! 
Andrew Morrison:
Hi Chris hows things? Now Bj Henry thats a real blast from the past i can remember going with my dad when it was in transport way opposite Dykse’s, well the car park was cuz thats where we had to hide when he was loading, could you imagine me & Boris also hiding in the footwell of the ol’mans Albion if he thought a boss was about loladr:
BJ Henry Ltd, Oxford.
Hi Andy, not bad this end mate, hope you OK . I did my 5 year apprenticeship on Leyland Transport in BJ Henry’s old yard, we had the trailer park too behind the yard on the right as you followed the road round towards the low bridge that led onto Roman Way! You’d have a job hiding anywhere now mate, be a tight squeeze in a footwell now , & with Boris in there too, it’s your worst knightmare isn’t it .
BigG-Unit:
oiltreader:
adr:
toshboy:
adr:
One of my Dads old wagons, the Depot was down Botley Road but as you can just make out on the cab door, the offices were in Gloucester Street at the time. Looks like John Farmer taking part in the LDOY heats at Oxford, he went on to be Depot Manager.Hi Chris, a nice original shot .can make out John -that would be from his early days as driver ,i remember the fuel depot was next to Laytons the the main dealer for Bedfords in Botley road --working for Ameys i was a regular in there for spares for our numerous Bedfords —regards ivor
Hi Ivor,
Can you remember, were Laytons taken over by City Motors, or was it some other kind of merger or buy-out? As the workshops etc stayed Bedford all the way through the years! Also, do you remember down by Gloucester Green (Buses), where Home Counties had their office at the time, my Mum says there was a City Motors Garage (Car Sales) there on the corner? Or maybe if Eddie (Oiltreader) reads this he will know from when he was on the Oxford Buses with my Dad, as they were round the City Centre all the time.
Regards ChrisHi Chris,
A few memory joggers there, start with Laytons, the only Laytons Garage (cars) I remember was in Pusey St off St.Giles , didn’t have a garage frontage as such more of just a yard, the reason I know this is that in 1959 I was in digs in Morrell Ave and my landlord (semi retired) worked there.
I do remember the City Motors having a showroom, (Vauxhall) and offices, this was in St Georges Place and part of a larger building called Threeways House, opposite the cinema, Odeon I think.
Other bits I remember at Gloucester Green were the Fire Station, also fronting on to George St, also the Municipal Restaurant,( there was another one in York Place off St Clements) good wholesome food at a very reasonable price, also Boffins Bakery was in the Green and of course the Thursday Market, talking markets, Gloucester Green was originally the livestock and produce market in the 1800s until the move to Oxpens.
City Motors (cars) were also on the Iffley Road by Iffley Turn, City Motors Commercials were off Botley Rd, Lamarsh Rd maybe. I did have a picture of he original City Motors 1930s which was on the Botley Rd, can’t find it
Couple of bits more, the Oxford BRS Head Office was in George St. and there was also a Laytons garage on London Rd Bicester, lefthand side going out.
OilyA few memory joggers indeed! got me thinking a bit! some of it I may have mentioned before, but here goes. I was going to say, I remember BJ Henrys using platers in the early days, so maybe they used J Hardings when trying out transporters, don’t know, just a hunch. My dad worked for a good few car delivery firms, but he always said he wouldn’t want to go to Henrys, not sure why though.
City motors Iffley road, I went to see about an apprenticeship as a mechanic there when I was leaving school, but it was only a shilling an hour & a new 40 hr week, so I pursued my first love & went to work on a farm for £3, though it was a 49 hr week.
Sweet memories of the Municipal Restaurant in St Clements, I went there a few times with a couple of older school mates. Like you say good grub, reasonably priced, but my pocket money was a bit hit & miss, so I couldn’t keep up with them for very long!
Another garage that were taken over by City Motors in later years were Coxeters in (I think) Park end street, anyone remember them. One of my brothers in law served his apprenticeship there, on the spanners & stayed with them until he retired! Don’t think there would be that sort of security in many jobs today ay!
Hi BigG-unit, Coxeters in Park End St was next to Wards Furniture Store (says my Mum). There was also a Eyles & Coxeters/Mobil garage on the London Road in Headington, next to St Andrews School, that was a very busy garage, Dad used to deliver Fuel there, my Mum worked in the office there, 1 of my brothers had a School job there as a pump-attendant (who remembers them?), they had car sales/showroom, workshops etc!
Here’s one for you, when my Dad first moved to Oxford from London after the War, he worked for a Removals Firm (Mum can’t remember their name), they were in Mayfield Road in Summertown, behind Marks & Spencer, can anyone remember what they were called?
Regards Chris
Ah! that’s sod’s law Chris, my brother in law was born & bred in Headington, lived there all his life, but had to cycle all the way to town to work. Well 'til he could afford his first Morris eight!
Could that removal firm have been Humphries, as I think they had a few vans, but also did chauffeur car hire. I had some discussion some time back about a firm up there who were taken over by BRS. Think it might have been with TIDDERSON, or Toshboy, can’t remember now, but bet they will know. 
BigG-Unit:
Ah! that’s sod’s law Chris, my brother in law was born & bred in Headington, lived there all his life, but had to cycle all the way to town to work. Well 'til he could afford his first Morris eight!
Could that removal firm have been Humphries, as I think they had a few vans, but also did chauffeur car hire. I had some discussion some time back about a firm up there who were taken over by BRS. Think it might have been with TIDDERSON, or Toshboy, can’t remember now, but bet they will know.
Hi Big G, All this memory searching -im not Oxford bred but arrived there in 1939 as an avacuee and not until my working life started after Army service in 1949 did i get to know Oxford courtesy of BRS. I joined them at SCOTTS Mayfield road ,it was a large garage and possibly the ex removal firm you are talking about it was our workshops and also a small traffic office.we couldnt park there overnight just street parking in the day to get orders,our parking yard was at the University Press next to the golf club kidlington road. I had a 1939 Albion petrol - hand starting-ex Wellers- Marston stalling was prohibited !! the fleet was nationalised old stuff with the odd new lorries arriving slowly.
Eventually we moved to Sandy lane Littlemore where HARDINGS BRS were. we had our own part of the yard separate traffic office and parking sharing only the fuel stand and canteen .Hardings only done PSCO body shells 24/7 to the Midlands at that time. We done general and Prestcold work -a high proportion of work was Nuffield Exports to all the docks -Liverpool was a daily one-- tip and over to Shotton for steel back to psco.We slowly had replacement trucks mainly Morris saurer and Seddons , artics and the big ALBION groundnut ang drags .
H
toshboy:
BigG-Unit:
Ah! that’s sod’s law Chris, my brother in law was born & bred in Headington, lived there all his life, but had to cycle all the way to town to work. Well 'til he could afford his first Morris eight!
Could that removal firm have been Humphries, as I think they had a few vans, but also did chauffeur car hire. I had some discussion some time back about a firm up there who were taken over by BRS. Think it might have been with TIDDERSON, or Toshboy, can’t remember now, but bet they will know.Hi Big G, All this memory searching -im not Oxford bred but arrived there in 1939 as an avacuee and not until my working life started after Army service in 1949 did i get to know Oxford courtesy of BRS. I joined them at SCOTTS Mayfield road ,it was a large garage and possibly the ex removal firm you are talking about it was our workshops and also a small traffic office.we couldnt park there overnight just street parking in the day to get orders,our parking yard was at the University Press next to the golf club kidlington road. I had a 1939 Albion petrol - hand starting-ex Wellers- Marston stalling was prohibited !! the fleet was nationalised old stuff with the odd new lorries arriving slowly.
Eventually we moved to Sandy lane Littlemore where HARDINGS BRS were. we had our own part of the yard separate traffic office and parking sharing only the fuel stand and canteen .Hardings only done PSCO body shells 24/7 to the Midlands at that time. We done general and Prestcold work -a high proportion of work was Nuffield Exports to all the docks -Liverpool was a daily one-- tip and over to Shotton for steel back to psco.We slowly had replacement trucks mainly Morris saurer and Seddons , artics and the big ALBION groundnut ang drags .
H
Hi All, SCOTTS, that’s the kiddies, thanks for that Ivor, just couldn’t remember their name but as soon as I saw your post it came back! Dad told/showed me so many names/faces/wagon’s/ places/ (fiddles ) etc etc over the years, I had a job remembering it all then, but now the big 50 is nearly upon me the memory is fading a bit already .
Regards Chris
Ivor, you mentioned the canteen at BRS Sandy Lane , I was wondering if it was still in the same place as when we used to use it when I was on Leyland Transport? When you pulled in the main gate there were some buildings/offices? using a clock at about 2 o’clock up the yard on the right hand side, when you walked in the door the serving hatch was on the left hand wall with the rest of the room just tables & chairs, Jakey you know doubt remember too! 2 women ran it when I went in there, can’t remember their names! I remember one time shortly after I started on Leyland going in there for breakfast with Jim Gray (RIP), I was sat eating my fry-up & there was a bloke sat a couple of tables away from us, big old boy he was too 
, he kept staring at me, after a bit I looked at him & nodded (always best to be friendly when they are twice as big as you ), he said “Are you Charlie’s boy?”, I said “Yes, do you know Dad?”, he said “Yes, I was his trailer boy on BRS long time before you were born”, he told me a few things, said some nice stuff about the Old Man & told me if I turned out half as good-wagon driver as Dad then I would be alright! Can’t remember his name at all now, but he always used to have a chat when I saw him from then on
Regards Chris
adr:
kingswinford kit:
adr:
kingswinford kit:
adr:
BJ Henry, Cowley, Oxford.Hi Chris, they had some nice J units . Seem to remember they did a lot of export work to the ports including Newport . regards Keith
Hi Keith, I grew up by the Green Rd roundabout, virtually every heavy that went through Oxford used this route, the wagons were in & out of Leyland Cowley night & day, with car-transporters some of the main fleets to be seen! Brilliant
Hi Chris,
Who and where was the steel coming in from at that date ? Seem to think quite a lot was coming down from Shotton and the West Mids .regards KeithHi Keith, we used to bring the Steel up from Llanelli, seat frames too they were loaded in 30’ long containers on single axle skelly trailers. We had a shunter/loading who was based down in the Steel works all week, Owen’s of Llanelli & Morgan’s used to bring it up to Cowley too!
Regards Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks for that ,Wm morgan from the Swansea Valley had a nice fleet of Atkis , whilst John Evans from Llanelli did alot of Pressed steel Fisher to both Cowley and Swindon And in their early days T D Williams did similar .Cheers Chris i take it you were a BRS driver . regards Keith
adr:
Ivor, you mentioned the canteen at BRS Sandy Lane
Regards Chris
Chris, The location of the canteen was as you described and it was a good one too .traffic was right next door and handy for them to come and drag you out! , I would have known the trailer boy ,that would be with the big Albions ex ministry failed groundnuts Africa scheme fleet . At that time there was a night trunk to Gorsignon Swansea from Osberton radiators Woodstock rd using Welsh Thorneycrofts --drivers slept days whilst we shunted, later we shared with them and used Seddon artics and changed trailers in lay by at Raglan . Regards
kingswinford kit:
adr:
kingswinford kit:
adr:
kingswinford kit:
adr:
BJ Henry, Cowley, Oxford.Hi Chris, they had some nice J units . Seem to remember they did a lot of export work to the ports including Newport . regards Keith
Hi Keith, I grew up by the Green Rd roundabout, virtually every heavy that went through Oxford used this route, the wagons were in & out of Leyland Cowley night & day, with car-transporters some of the main fleets to be seen! Brilliant
Hi Chris,
Who and where was the steel coming in from at that date ? Seem to think quite a lot was coming down from Shotton and the West Mids .regards KeithHi Keith, we used to bring the Steel up from Llanelli, seat frames too they were loaded in 30’ long containers on single axle skelly trailers. We had a shunter/loading who was based down in the Steel works all week, Owen’s of Llanelli & Morgan’s used to bring it up to Cowley too!
Regards ChrisHi Chris,
Thanks for that ,Wm morgan from the Swansea Valley had a nice fleet of Atkis , whilst John Evans from Llanelli did alot of Pressed steel Fisher to both Cowley and Swindon And in their early days T D Williams did similar .Cheers Chris i take it you were a BRS driver . regards Keith
Hi Keith, I was on British Leyland’s own Transport fleet, Cowley, here’s some of our wagons at the time.
Regards Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks for posting your pics did not realise that cowley had an in house fleet . Did this apply to Swindon PSF as well ? regards Keith .
kingswinford kit:
Hi Chris,
Thanks for posting your pics did not realise that cowley had an in house fleet . Did this apply to Swindon PSF as well ? regards Keith .
Hi Keith, no Swindon didn’t have their own wagons that I can remember, we had 2 wagons that did 2 loads a day each between Cowley & Swindon every day, they were driven by Barry Harper & Les Jackman, steady little job if that’s what you wanted! Regards Chris
Hi Chris , didn’t Oxford depot have BL transport and drivers before Wincanton took over / must of ben early 80s .Yes the Brs Canteen was fun on tea break , I had the ■■■■ ripped out of me on many times . If you were lucky I would sneak off at lunchtimes and wash the neariest truck parked by the canteen . 
, it bought many smiles to the drivers face when he came back . , Fred holiday use to give me a apple if I washed his unit .
