Unimog that was used in Shotton paper mill
pete smith:
A couple of cuttings from motor transport,to get this back on page 1
Hiya…Pete Smith…any info on the Colas lorries. i worked out of Chester on Colas Building products.
i had a silver 3300 B reg space cab Daf there was a D reg 3300 spacer a 350 Daf 95 and a 380 space cab 95
there was some Y reg lorries. all the lorries was silver with black chassis. i worked there for 18 years
and never knew about the Red colas lorries. we changed to Laybond after a buy out. i know of the
yellow Colas roads lorries as we run from depot to depot. its just as i,ve never seen or heard of the
red lorries before where was they based . what did they make any idea please
cheers John
3300John:
pete smith:
A couple of cuttings from motor transport,to get this back on page 1Hiya…Pete Smith…any info on the Colas lorries. i worked out of Chester on Colas Building products.
i had a silver 3300 B reg space cab Daf there was a D reg 3300 spacer a 350 Daf 95 and a 380 space cab 95
there was some Y reg lorries. all the lorries was silver with black chassis. i worked there for 18 years
and never knew about the Red colas lorries. we changed to Laybond after a buy out. i know of the
yellow Colas roads lorries as we run from depot to depot. its just as i,ve never seen or heard of the
red lorries before where was they based . what did they make any idea please
cheers John
I was as surprised as you to see them John, because I thought they were a French firm as there are many of them round here, but more orange than red.
Hi John,rescanned it with text,not much info i’m afraid.There was a firm in Cakemore road Rowley Regis called Colcon,in the old Shell depot-think shell owned them at one time,early '90’s Colas bought them out and as David said they are a french company. ps.bit of a strange comment about the 8 legger “hub reduction axles to give better cruising”!?
Hiya pete… yes Colas was Shell (loads of dosh) at Chester there was a management buy out when
Shell was dumping us. we still got the same pay though.we still did Colas roads work(blending bitumen)
Colas roads still belonged Shell until about 2000 when the roads was moved to French ownership.
Warrington is still busy. Exeter has closed. Laybond was bought by Bostick and has now gone.
as far as i know Shell still owns Colas France a huge outfit.from 1984 until 2003 i was doing Colas/laybond
work. we traveled from Chester as far as inverness(colas) to Exeter (colas) to Falmouth and Dover to Marley
.Chester to Hull and never saw one of the Red Colas lorries. i just can’t believe it.i was talking with a tar sprayer
2 weeks ago saying i worked at Colas. the chap said they did all Colas contract work…
i don’t know if Rowley Regis is still operating as i,ve retired now and only travel by motorhome and see no one.
cheers John
3300John:
Hiya pete… yes Colas was Shell (loads of dosh) at Chester there was a management buy out when
Shell was dumping us. we still got the same pay though.we still did Colas roads work(blending bitumen)
Colas roads still belonged Shell until about 2000 when the roads was moved to French ownership.
Warrington is still busy. Exeter has closed. Laybond was bought by Bostick and has now gone.
as far as i know Shell still owns Colas France a huge outfit.from 1984 until 2003 i was doing Colas/laybond
work. we traveled from Chester as far as inverness(colas) to Exeter (colas) to Falmouth and Dover to Marley
.Chester to Hull and never saw one of the Red Colas lorries. i just can’t believe it.i was talking with a tar sprayer
2 weeks ago saying i worked at Colas. the chap said they did all Colas contract work…
i don’t know if Rowley Regis is still operating as i,ve retired now and only travel by motorhome and see no one.
cheers John
Hi John,Rowley still open and was’nt there a depot at Crawley as well,hidden down a lane? Last time i went past Rowley there where some T45 roadtrains up back of the yard think they were multidrives,but as you say i cannot remember any red trucks just yellow with red stripe and writing
pete smith:
Sed Atki’s
Pete it’s one of these in that video .
Hi Flourpower,RHM foods,used to do bit of work for them in late '90’s,Robertson jams Droylesden,Bisto/Saxa salt Middlewich,Wythenshawe,they were trading as Grocery Logistics and their main depot was Eccles.Got a few more cuttings but gotta find them
Hi Dan,just viewed video,whats the chances of that then?! Looking at my scrawl on scrapbook that were operated by Browns of Ash near Gravesend,fitted with E320’s collect sugar products from Roquete(spelling) they had 12 4x2 and 2 6x2 sed atki’s and 84 trailers some being run by French subby’s,which goes to show i don’t make anymore sense now as i did back in 1986!!
pete smith:
3300John:
Hiya pete… yes Colas was Shell (loads of dosh) at Chester there was a management buy out when
Shell was dumping us. we still got the same pay though.we still did Colas roads work(blending bitumen)
Colas roads still belonged Shell until about 2000 when the roads was moved to French ownership.
Warrington is still busy. Exeter has closed. Laybond was bought by Bostick and has now gone.
as far as i know Shell still owns Colas France a huge outfit.from 1984 until 2003 i was doing Colas/laybond
work. we traveled from Chester as far as inverness(colas) to Exeter (colas) to Falmouth and Dover to Marley
.Chester to Hull and never saw one of the Red Colas lorries. i just can’t believe it.i was talking with a tar sprayer
2 weeks ago saying i worked at Colas. the chap said they did all Colas contract work…
i don’t know if Rowley Regis is still operating as i,ve retired now and only travel by motorhome and see no one.
cheers JohnHi John,Rowley still open and was’nt there a depot at Crawley as well,hidden down a lane? Last time i went past Rowley there where some T45 roadtrains up back of the yard think they were multidrives,but as you say i cannot remember any red trucks just yellow with red stripe and writing
Hi Pete,
Yes you are right they had a depot along Wallage Lane Rowfant near Crawley,we used to go there with Esso product from Port Jerome Le Havre on a regular basis. Here’s a pic of one of the trucks en route there.
Regards
Richard
Hiya yes the place at Crawley was later called imprint or similar.(still Shell)the chap who set Laybond
(Devendra Pratap) really nice and clever Indian chap moved down to Crawley to run that outfit
they made that anti skid stuff they put on bends. they make some kind of bitumen surface you put down then
press a pattern into it that had a finish like block paving hence imprint(thats not right but near)Colas roads had
a place just outside Grantham. It was near a stately home you could see deer in the grounds of this house it was about
a mile up the road from that firm who had the green Magnums on continental…Colas also owned a felt firm in Crigglestone
(nr Wakefield) we at Chester worked close with Crigglestone as Chester also made felt.Chester made Carpet Adhesive and
the famous Gripfill. Gripfill is what Bostic was after they dropped a lot of other products we made like solar paint and colour wash
that we exported to hot climate countries.i think Gripfill is now made in Ireland.its not as good as it was due to the restriction
of solvents you can use. I,ve got a photo of a silver 3300 Colas Daf but can’t just find it.
John
Very interesting John. I had no idea they were so widespread, Colas. Round here they are much in evidence but usually on road building/mending jobs I think and I always thought that not only were they just French but just local. I suppose this thought came into my head because the local MP here (or perhaps the equivalent of a UK county councillor) is called George Colas. He has been around for a long time and I just put 2 and 2 together. If I see one of their lorries and can ‘snap’ it we can compare logos etc. 
Hiya… we travel to France sometimes twice a year. this year we’ll be off to Spain for part of winter.
i did in fact look up where you are(was going to pop in for a 45 min) we have traveled quite close to where you live
about 3 years ago…yes the Colas outfit was quite big in the UK in the late 80,s Colas did all the tar dressing(posh name)
where they spray them put chippings on. that is why they had the multi drive artics. when they was spraying with tar
on steep hills the bitumen would run to the back of the tank take the weight of the drive axle. result was spinning and
going nowhere. so Colas roads had a few multi dive outfits. i don’t know if you’ve been to the UK in the last couple of years.
the Shell refinery at Stanlow now belongs to the Indian SR brothers as in Chorus steels and Landrover. Shell haven on the thames
is mothballed and Colas roads is French/Dutch. We saw the new motorway been built from the middle of France running to
Spain last year. we noticed Colas was involved big time on that job. anyhow lets see what else we can find. cheers
John
If you have a camping car or caravan there is a stopover site in the village (no elec. or water in the winter though) so give us a call if you are this way. Make sure you give me a few days notice as I am often away for a few days at a time. Was in England a month ago. 2 cats from Bergerac to Stratford on Avon and then a leisurely tour round friends and family back to catch the night ferry from Newhaven.
Bludgers at the M5 service area tried to charge me £19 to park the car and my little Teardrop overnight. 
Told them to stuff it and parked in a lay-by near Chipping Sodbury. Nice and quiet and very handy for Waitrose’s washroom and cafe in the morning. 
well upset the other day(thursday) a mate said are you doing anything for a few days. why i asked.
he said i want a caterham sports car taking to south of France. yes no problem on the trailer behind
the Adria i have a tow bar. its got to be there on Saturday dinner £1500 we’ll pay the ferry. thats a
jolly i thought…then it fell through the car wasn’t ready on time.nice run out at someone elses expense.
John
3300John:
Hiya… we travel to France sometimes twice a year. this year we’ll be off to Spain for part of winter.
i did in fact look up where you are(was going to pop in for a 45 min) we have traveled quite close to where you live
about 3 years ago…yes the Colas outfit was quite big in the UK in the late 80,s Colas did all the tar dressing(posh name)
where they spray them put chippings on. that is why they had the multi drive artics. when they was spraying with tar
on steep hills the bitumen would run to the back of the tank take the weight of the drive axle. result was spinning and
going nowhere. so Colas roads had a few multi dive outfits. i don’t know if you’ve been to the UK in the last couple of years.
the Shell refinery at Stanlow now belongs to the Indian SR brothers as in Chorus steels and Landrover. Shell haven on the thames
is mothballed and Colas roads is French/Dutch. We saw the new motorway been built from the middle of France running to
Spain last year. we noticed Colas was involved big time on that job. anyhow lets see what else we can find. cheers
John
Not forgetting Colas have their finger in the rail freight market with Colas Rail
Hiya…the rail contract was taken over by Jarvis. they come along and messed for a while at Chester
then cleared off.i think they sold out to Railtrack.i know some of my pals lost money in the pension
scheme javis put drivers into . i had a private pension i lost out a little but didn’t get ripped off like others.
John