Aileys then to Freightroute
TBL:
classicman:
Do you run out of Pack’s old yard at Cranford now?That’s correct
God, whatever happened to Pack’s■■? I went to school in the late 70’s with one of his Son’s (Alistair). I recall neither of them were really interested in taking the haulage business over; though one of them did a lot of driving in the mid-80’s period. When I finally passed my Class 1 I was advised to avoid them, which I did, but I remember a few Saturday’s in the mid-80’s where I went along as passenger just for the experience.
volvo runner:
Aileys then to Freightroute
One of the first jobs I had on leaving school in 1987, was with Ailey’s when they were in Raunds (not driving, but sack barrowing parcels around). Then when they moved to Chowns Mill, Irthlingborough. Some great characters then. Pete and ■■■■ Grant were ok blokes in my book.
Nowadays in Northamptonshire, the adage is of course, ‘if you have worked for Budgen’s for more than a year, you can do pretty much anything!’. One of the worst things that happened there was the franchising of stores from corporate ownership. All volumes fell off and my nice little agency job 10 years ago of delivering (nights) to the likes of rural Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Sussex, Wiltshire and Somerset has long since passed. Though I thank Budgens for the experience it gave me over and above sterile ‘supply chain’ work…
sdg1970:
volvo runner:
Aileys then to FreightrouteOne of the first jobs I had on leaving school in 1987, was with Ailey’s when they were in Raunds (not driving, but sack barrowing parcels around). Then when they moved to Chowns Mill, Irthlingborough. Some great characters then. Pete and ■■■■ Grant were ok blokes in my book.
i still have my sack barrow from when i did after school and saturday mornings for my dad on the bank at NSM in finedon. that was when i was 16 , 57 this year and its still working well after over 40 years. I’ll never part with it.
volvo runner:
Aileys then to Freightroute
Wasn’t there Parcelroute in between that they sold to Blue Band before concentrating on Freightroute.
sdg1970:
Nowadays in Northamptonshire, the adage is of course, ‘if you have worked for Budgen’s for more than a year, you can do pretty much anything!’. One of the worst things that happened there was the franchising of stores from corporate ownership. All volumes fell off and my nice little agency job 10 years ago of delivering (nights) to the likes of rural Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Sussex, Wiltshire and Somerset has long since passed. Though I thank Budgens for the experience it gave me over and above sterile ‘supply chain’ work…
Budgens opened there RDC at Wellingboro’ in 89 , TNT ran the transport & bought a fleet of cream G reg Fodens - anyone got any pics ?
I’d forgotten those Foden’s. Did a couple of days there on agency, the only time I ever drove a Foden. If I remember right it was delivering to the back of a little shop in Ingatestone with not very helpful staff.
classicman:
I’d forgotten those Foden’s. Did a couple of days there on agency, the only time I ever drove a Foden. If I remember right it was delivering to the back of a little shop in Ingatestone with not very helpful staff.
Weren’t alot of their stores [zb] for access - for artics anyway , another store delivery that was a [zb] job was 7-11 ( NDC was in Corby )stores in London & south, nearly all double parking jobs , near zig zags etc & most shop staff non brits & VERY unhelpfull 
yes there was a rebrand going to parcelroute.then sold to blue band
classicman:
volvo runner:
Aileys then to FreightrouteWasn’t there Parcelroute in between that they sold to Blue Band before concentrating on Freightroute.
Has anybody got any pictures of Carrington distribution
I remember the Clarks fleet in 1969 I worked at the Croda plant at Mkt HarboroughWhich processed waste from Luton and bermonsey plants
If my memory is correct one driver John had a Guy Big J with a RR Eagle 220 in it I also remember few other drivers Tony&Gordon Limmidge
Bob Roy &Hans( Happy Days)
For TBL - hope you enjoy these Simon.
As a teenager I used to visit the yard most Saturday’s…
went to Portugal in WBD 969S
went to Spain in the Globetrotter with Norman Gell. Terry ■■ WAS DRIVING THE 112
Simon - have you any idea who owned this Mack? Often saw it in the yard.
hi,
l remember Royal Blue as my late father drove for them during the 1980s, he drove many of the trucks from a old 6x4 bison, a 8x4 scammell routeman, a 8x4 Y reg leyland constructor (bulk body), and finally he finished on a F reg 6x4 volvo F7 just before they shutdown and sold most of the fleet apart a couple of trucks. l know they were still going up to a few years ago, they were running a leyland daf unit out of a flour mill at corby.
My father also drove for a lot of years at a kettering company called CROSBY AND BEAL, driving allsorts of trucks from, thames trader, ford d series 4x2, L reg leyland albion 4X2, S reg leyland bison 6x4 (new), V reg leyland octopus 2 (new). He worked out of a lot of quarries in the area, cliff hill (tarmac) leicester, mountsorrel (redland), bardon hill, croft, shotley & banbury (peter bennies), earls barton & nuneaton (mixconcrete).
He also drove for a short while at peter bennies of northampton, driving volvo F86s, F7s 6x4 and 8x4s
Finally he drove for WRIGHTS & SONS of rushton were he mainly drove a H reg leyland constructor 8x4 also running out of many of the above quarries.
Regards Kerry
telecom:
I remember the Clarks fleet in 1969 I worked at the Croda plant at Mkt HarboroughWhich processed waste from Luton and bermonsey plants
If my memory is correct one driver John had a Guy Big J with a RR Eagle 220 in it I also remember few other drivers Tony&Gordon Limmidge
Bob Roy &Hans( Happy Days)
Clarks was my first job when i left school .‘trainee traffic clerk’.one of the first jobs, tyre recutting in that wretched shed full of tyres, followed by changing oil , changing wheels , steam cleaning, driving the loader,shunting, everything except any actual traffic office work.I went to Croda at Harborough with Hans one night , bit of an eyeopener seeing all that dead flesh and bone, we tipped scutch , dont know what it was , but it surely smelt bloody awful. and changing the rear spring on a bulker loaded with fleshings with the liquid stuff coming out the back door and down your neck wasn’t very pleasant. Went with a quite a few drivers to Bermondsey Bone to load, poking at the stuff when it stuck in the shute resulted in one unfortunate getting buried up to his waste in crushed , dried bone.
When i started there, it was all Guy Big J with mk1 ,2 or 3 RR eagle (non of them any bloody good) and Gardner 180’s with a single Seddon 32:4 220 mk3 RR eagle,
Dad yanked me out of there after 6 months when he found me in the yard with a pick axe and shovel doing some tarmac repairs, gave Harold a piece of his mind and put me to work in his bodyshop on truck resprays and body repair.
certainly was a drop in the deep end first job
tony
t
kezzer:
hi,l remember Royal Blue as my late father drove for them during the 1980s, he drove many of the trucks from a old 6x4 bison, a 8x4 scammell routeman, a 8x4 Y reg leyland constructor (bulk body), and finally he finished on a F reg 6x4 volvo F7 just before they shutdown and sold most of the fleet apart a couple of trucks. l know they were still going upto a few years ago, they were running a leyland daf unit out of a flour mill at corby.
My father also drove for a lot of years at a kettering company called CROSBY AND BEAL, driving allsorts of trucks from, thames trader, ford d series 4x2, L reg leyland albion 4X2, S reg leyland bison 6x4 (new), V reg leyland octopus 2 (new). He worked out of a lot of quarries in the area, cliff hill (tarmac) leicester, mountsorrel (redland), bardon hill, croft, shotley & banbury (peter bennies), earls barton & nuneaton (mixconcrete).
He also drove for a short while at peter bennies of northampton, driving volvo F86s, F7s 6x4 and 8x4s
Finally he drove for WRIGHTS & SONS of rushton were he mainly drove a H reg leyland constructor 8x4 also running out of many of the many of the above quarries.
Regards Kerry
To the best of my knowledge Royal Blue are still running a Scania 8legger with a hi-ab on machinery removals (last seen June/July time) but I haven’t seen the artic tipper around for a while now. Their yard at Pytchley is now the home of RB Travel coaches and what looks like a few owner drivers.
Crosby and Beal, thats a blast from the past. I well remember them from my schooldays, late 50’/early60’s, running their green little 4 wheel tippers,mainly Fords and Commers from a small yard in Buccleuch St in Kettering. I went past a while back and the yard was still there.
Wrights run quite a fleet of 8 wheel tippers now, a mix of DAF,Scania and Volvo from a yard near the railway bridge in Rushton.
tonyj105:
telecom:
I remember the Clarks fleet in 1969 I worked at the Croda plant at Mkt HarboroughWhich processed waste from Luton and bermonsey plants
If my memory is correct one driver John had a Guy Big J with a RR Eagle 220 in it I also remember few other drivers Tony&Gordon Limmidge
Bob Roy &Hans( Happy Days)Clarks was my first job when i left school .‘trainee traffic clerk’.one of the first jobs, tyre recutting in that wretched shed full of tyres, followed by changing oil , changing wheels , steam cleaning, driving the loader,shunting, everything except any actual traffic office work.I went to Croda at Harborough with Hans one night , bit of an eyeopener seeing all that dead flesh and bone, we tipped scutch , dont know what it was , but it surely smelt bloody awful. and changing the rear spring on a bulker loaded with fleshings with the liquid stuff coming out the back door and down your neck wasn’t very pleasant. Went with a quite a few drivers to Bermondsey Bone to load, poking at the stuff when it stuck in the shute resulted in one unfortunate getting buried up to his waste in crushed , dried bone.
When i started there, it was all Guy Big J with mk1 ,2 or 3 RR eagle (non of them any bloody good) and Gardner 180’s with a single Seddon 32:4 220 mk3 RR eagle,
Dad yanked me out of there after 6 months when he found me in the yard with a pick axe and shovel doing some tarmac repairs, gave Harold a piece of his mind and put me to work in his bodyshop on truck resprays and body repair.
certainly was a drop in the deep end first jobtony
Were you there when a chap called Alan Dyke was fitter there.
t
sorry been 41 years , so names are a bit hazy , hans obviously once seen never forgotten,
Heres mine when i drove for Paul Binns Haulage - It had just been repainted from blue & white EVS colours
classicman:
kezzer:
hi,l remember Royal Blue as my late father drove for them during the 1980s, he drove many of the trucks from a old 6x4 bison, a 8x4 scammell routeman, a 8x4 Y reg leyland constructor (bulk body), and finally he finished on a F reg 6x4 volvo F7 just before they shutdown and sold most of the fleet apart a couple of trucks. l know they were still going upto a few years ago, they were running a leyland daf unit out of a flour mill at corby.
My father also drove for a lot of years at a kettering company called CROSBY AND BEAL, driving allsorts of trucks from, thames trader, ford d series 4x2, L reg leyland albion 4X2, S reg leyland bison 6x4 (new), V reg leyland octopus 2 (new). He worked out of a lot of quarries in the area, cliff hill (tarmac) leicester, mountsorrel (redland), bardon hill, croft, shotley & banbury (peter bennies), earls barton & nuneaton (mixconcrete).
He also drove for a short while at peter bennies of northampton, driving volvo F86s, F7s 6x4 and 8x4s
Finally he drove for WRIGHTS & SONS of rushton were he mainly drove a H reg leyland constructor 8x4 also running out of many of the many of the above quarries.
Regards Kerry
To the best of my knowledge Royal Blue are still running a Scania 8legger with a hi-ab on machinery removals (last seen June/July time) but I haven’t seen the artic tipper around for a while now. Their yard at Pytchley is now the home of RB Travel coaches and what looks like a few owner drivers.
Crosby and Beal, thats a blast from the past. I well remember them from my schooldays, late 50’/early60’s, running their green little 4 wheel tippers,mainly Fords and Commers from a small yard in Buccleuch St in Kettering. I went past a while back and the yard was still there.
Wrights run quite a fleet of 8 wheel tippers now, a mix of DAF,Scania and Volvo from a yard near the railway bridge in Rushton.
thanks for that, l wasnt born when crosby and beal were running their fleet in green colours (though my father was in his thames trader), l came along after they changed their fleet colours to yellow and black (yellow cabs and tailboards, with black bodies), they ceased trading in 1983 ! 
their last vehicle was a W reg 4x2 long wheelbase clydedale dropside tipper, used for tipper and normal haulage work). The former owner a Mr Tony Hague was restoring a commer truck. l also remember other companies in the area like yarrows of rothwell, joyces (brothers) of burton latimer (had blue cabs running 6x4 leyland reivers, a 6x4 leyland constructor and a 8x4 scammell routeman) and brian bailey of broughton (whom ran an old x reg crosby and beals leyland bison 2). good memories !