pete 359:
i know that the title says south wales hauliers,but i reckon e&j meeks from ashby in makerfield, who had several yards ran many trucks and employed lots of people in wales still qualify.
Hi Andrew,
Didn’t E & J Meeks have a depot in the Forest of Dean,I remember in the miners strike,they along with Richard Read took legal action to prevent their lorries being picketed.
Cheers Dave.
hi dave,
yes i think you’r right.they were very instrumental in organising the coal convoys.my ex boss at joints once told me that edwin meek had to go and live in jersey after he sold the company,otherwise he would have paid 90 pence in the pound tax!i remember the yard in mansfield was torched (during the miner’s strike) and around 20-30 new erf’s were totally gutted.he just went out and replaced them.they had trucks working everywhere,i dare say that everyone of the larger steel mills i visited in england,scotland and wales during the 80’s had meeks trucks working in them internally and externally.i think he sold out around 1988-89.
regards andrew
Meeks had a yard and workshop at the end of Maesglas retail estate in Newport. Any pictures of that Daf 95 being recovered Andrew?
pete 359:
hi dave,
yes i think you’r right.they were very instrumental in organising the coal convoys.my ex boss at joints once told me that edwin meek had to go and live in jersey after he sold the company,otherwise he would have paid 90 pence in the pound tax!i remember the yard in mansfield was torched (during the miner’s strike) and around 20-30 new erf’s were totally gutted.he just went out and replaced them.they had trucks working everywhere,i dare say that everyone of the larger steel mills i visited in england,scotland and wales during the 80’s had meeks trucks working in them internally and externally.i think he sold out around 1988-89.
regards andrew
The Meeks family were Eric and his sons David and Robin, they did go to live in Jersey but came back to the UK and took over British Coal South Notts area Transport when it was privatised in 1988, later adding North Notts, North Derbyshire and South Leicester areas and parts of South Wales, it all becoming National Plant & Transport Ltd. The British Coal contract for the first year they operated it was worth 16 million pounds. They then added HDL Distribution, Avonmouth, Sutton Benger, Dutton Green and Manchester, and opened a cement bagging plant for ICI at Buxton, but it all went pear shaped (non payment of taxes) in the early 1990s and after a management buy out became J M Transport.
mechanic77:
Meeks had a yard and workshop at the end of Maesglas retail estate in Newport. Any pictures of that Daf 95 being recovered Andrew?
hi neil,
yes,i have some images of that recovery.as you may be aware it was carried out by wall’s.once the jcb had removed all of the coal though.i will post them later tonight,am still at work at the moment.
regards andrew.
I guessed it would be Walls doing the job as they were next door to Meeks yard. Walls have taken over the whole yard now.
Hi All
Just A quick note to say the Harrison lorries were only 32 ton as they are too old to be 38 tonners he only put the axles in to make them cheeper to tax
tribsa:
Hi All
Just A quick note to say the Harrison lorries were only 32 ton as they are too old to be 38 tonners he only put the axles in to make them cheeper to tax
Correct there tribsa I have seen that in a write up. They did’nt hang around people seem to think they was slow. Have you been on there site
somone has restored one of his Scammell 8s in Harrison livery it looks well.Thats Harrisons on Google.
John
porthcawl based ■■■■ westcott ran this constructor on the coal.
another of my "through the fence penllyne photos"i think this was the only merc they ever had? a 2435.
and a solitary f12
this 1729 was a merc.demonstrator before blueline transport tondu bought it.i remember me and my mate martyn handley going to dagenham in it when it was brand new,god it was gutless with 26 tonne of coil behind it!
somemore i was given,porthcawl carnival around 1968/9? this erf had a gardner in her.
nice albion
nny 846e,was a two pedal beaver,the sister one to nny 248e that my father had and was pictured several pages back.
a couple for mechanic77,who once worked for wall’s recovery.
a wall’s mighty mack.this recovery firm has had some awesome machinery over the years,
bernard,here’s some you may recall?one of cardiff’s f90’s in the colours of whitehead narrow strip.for those of you who don’t know, whitheads was a fairly busy steel mill in the centre of newport.it’s now gone!yet another.
the following two images are of a load of cardiff transport slitter coil.this is when the coil is sliced just like a loaf of bread in order to manufacture small steel items such as paper clips.one of cardiff’s pilots must have braked a little bit too hard!
pete 359:
a wall’s mighty mack.this recovery firm has had some awesome machinery over the years,
A truck I can add some info on there, Walls bought it from Peter Cosby of Boston Lincs. and had a lot of years of work out of it including being based at Newport, Aust services and stints on various roadworks.
It was damaged in a building fire at the yard [Meeks old workshop was the building] about 8 years ago, stood in the yard for a few more years and was later sold for scrap.
Also note the airbag van behind it, theres a good chance it was towed to the job by the Mack.