Spardo:
mushroomman:
Star down under.:
That’s done by my disappointingly low standard.Have another Star for making me chuckle.
Weren’t ERF associated with Western Star before being gobbled up by MAN?
ERF were owned by Western Star at one stage.
They tried selling them here, with a Star badge, but few were sold.
I don’t know which company would be more ■■■■■■ off with the reg no
gazsa401:
The top picture to compare the difference in sizes of lorries
My Dad ( in the blue jacket) is stood next to Ted Thornhill (RIP) my Dad worked at Stirlands for 37 years he had to take early retirement due to health issues
Ted worked at Stirlands for 47 years
The bottom picture shows another comparison of sizes
Thanks mate, I never noticed that before, though Bewick once took umbrage when I expressed surprise at how small one of his Atkis looked in between 2 of Mike’s Scanias. 
I don’t recognise either your Dad or Ted but that is not surprising as I spent just 12 months there (as Buzzer will tell you I am forbidden by law to stay longer than that in one place and had to become a refugee here to break the spell 
) exclusively on Bristol night trunk. Also my time there was a little later than those photos as my Atki was an L reg. The only names that (partly) come back to me are my old mate George Milner, Geoff Stanley and Colin(?) who was the manager. It was the latter who tried to tempt me back later but all I would accept was the occasional run some days with a Seddon (the only time I have ever driven one), still in primer and on trade plates, to fetch new trailers from somewhere.
The cafe name or location I can’t place either. 
@Dennis Javelin.
I don’t know which company would be more ■■■■■■ off with the reg no
I don’t know either but I once shared a memorable and interesting lunch with Peter Foden (would it be Peter, around 1990 or so?) of ERF and the relatives from the other side of Sandbach were never mentioned.
@Buzzer. Someone has tried hard to make a lonely bog in a cold place a little more comfortable to sit on for a while.
Buzzer:
It was alright Dennis, they were brothers were they not, Buzzer
So were Cain and Abel
Spardo:
gazsa401:
The top picture to compare the difference in sizes of lorries
My Dad ( in the blue jacket) is stood next to Ted Thornhill (RIP) my Dad worked at Stirlands for 37 years he had to take early retirement due to health issues
Ted worked at Stirlands for 47 years
The bottom picture shows another comparison of sizesThanks mate, I never noticed that before, though Bewick once took umbrage when I expressed surprise at how small one of his Atkis looked in between 2 of Mike’s Scanias.
I don’t recognise either your Dad or Ted but that is not surprising as I spent just 12 months there (as Buzzer will tell you I am forbidden by law to stay longer than that in one place
The cafe name or location I can’t place either.
@Dennis Javelin.
I don’t know which company would be more ■■■■■■ off with the reg no
I don’t know either but I once shared a memorable and interesting lunch with Peter Foden (would it be Peter, around 1990 or so?) of ERF and the relatives from the other side of Sandbach were never mentioned.
@Buzzer. Someone has tried hard to make a lonely bog in a cold place a little more comfortable to sit on for a while.
Good morning
I’ve just spoken to my Dad Pype Hayes it was in Birmingham
I can remember George Milner and Geoff Stanley both sadly no longer here
Colin Bullock was the transport manager I still see him now and again
Hi Buzzer. That S Jones 5MW-cabbed ERF had an interesting history. It was LHD and had a ■■■■■■■ NTC 335 with 9-sp Fuller in it. Eventually, it ended up doing ‘internals’ in Saudi for Trans Arabia, which was part-owned by S Jones of Aldridge.
gazsa401:
I’ve just spoken to my Dad Pype Hayes it was in Birmingham
I can remember George Milner and Geoff Stanley both sadly no longer here
Colin Bullock was the transport manager I still see him now and again
George was a long time mate of mine, way back to about 1970 or maybe even earlier. I met him when we both drove for Wimpey, building the M1 past Nottingham and both signed on for Shaw’s of Stapleford one rainy day when we were rained off due to mud. He was my mentor in long distance tramping, introduced me to Headlight for the back loads and the digs and was there with advice as I taught myself how to reverse my first artic which was given to me out of the blue one Saturday morning when I went in to wash my Albion 4-wheeler.
We worked many places together, Shaw’s, Ilkeston Haulage, Rodney Closs, Midland Storage and the last being Stirlands and, when I became a manager said hello to him on the CB as I headed home each evening and he was on his way out on the Stainmore trunk changeover. When I started to do continental work he, who never wanted to do it but was fascinated and asked to come with me when he had the time off, but we never made it.
My wife knew him too, when she was a care assistant he used to visit the home she worked at to visit his Mum. Later, when the 2 of us were back on a visit we visited his 2nd wife who had a flat nearby and asked where George was as she was in on her own. ‘Up there’ she said, pointing to an urn on the mantlepiece. A great mate and sadly missed.
Geoff Stanley had a brother, Johnny. I knew him at Bulkliners and later when he had his own business running light haulage with a ■■■■■■ van. Once, when my brother and I had ours, he subbed a load to us for a regular customer who he was too busy to accommodate on that day. A load of gearboxes I think it was, and as he gave me the details he said darkly, ‘don’t you go pinching my customers now’
George was a long time mate of mine, way back to about 1970 or maybe even earlier. I met him when we both drove for Wimpey, building the M1 past Nottingham and both signed on for Shaw’s of Stapleford one rainy day when we were rained off due to mud. He was my mentor in long distance tramping, introduced me to Headlight for the back loads and the digs and was there with advice as I taught myself how to reverse my first artic which was given to me out of the blue one Saturday morning when I went in to wash my Albion 4-wheeler.
What a numpty, how could I only have known George since 1970, when I had been driving road trains before that so could hardly have been learning how to handle an artic then. I reckon it must have been in '65 when I came back home after a spell in the MN. Spent hours awake this morning trying to work it out, but I’m like Eric Morecambe, all the right names, just not necessarily in the right order. 
Buzzer:
Buzzer
Looks like Nullabour Roadhouse, Buzzer.
Only instant coffee there, as they’re too remote to have fresh milk.
Lime Street Station area in the centre of Liverpool in the early 1960s. In the first picture is a
Leyland PD2 bus of Ribble Motor Service, and an Austin or Morris LD 1 ton van. The artic lorry
in the 2nd picture is an AEC, about to head down St Johns Lane, perhaps to the docks area.
The bus in the queue at the traffic lights is a Bristol/ECW of Crosville Motor Services.
Ray.
