Dieseldogsix:
dreva:
Dieseldogsix:
OssieD:
Here’s a few pic’s I dug up of when I worked for Leggetts all them years ago. A quiet Monday morning at the Swiss border at Bachgraben, even though It was a dirt patch it was better than the old customs border at St Louis on the main road, which was where we had to clear our TIR carnet’s when I first started going there with W & M Woods, chaos wasn’t the word for it.
On this particular Monday the Swiss Hauliers decided to have a strike and blockade the border, organized by Frederici I’m lead to believe, this frightened the Swiss government because their country’s total strike rate for that year doubled to 1.
4
The Scania I think belonged to an O/D called Tony Wetherstone came from Waltham Abbey real nice feller
3
I’m sure this is Chis Owens, Tommy Peak the younger worked for this Swiss firm as well, Harry will put me right on that2
1tell me about it
tell me about itI see you live in Gods County now, did you ever run in to the driver of this motor, did Swiss for years and reloaded Como. Ivor, aka Miss Piggy.0
is firm the same one as richard gary ford from birmingham
Yes it is the same firm, Richard let his son run it, so a small change of name. Richard’s Son is Gary, but Richards middle name is Gary, confusing I know.
Spanish border junqueira 1971.
adr:
Peronne again.
Is that a Leyland behind the Transcon ?
yes a blue line cab one
Suedehead:
adr:
Peronne again.Is that a Leyland behind the Transcon ?
Blimey, well spotted, you have to feel for the driver though, parked up with an F10 a 112/142 and a Transcon in his little Leyland 
Yep, here she is in all her glory! Don’t feel sorry for the driver Gents cos it was me, & I was having a great time thanks. I was 18 yrs old, in the back were 2 Mini Metro’s for a Leyland garage in Rome for them to prepare for a Motor Show. I was on a 5 year apprenticeship as a Young HGV Driver Trainee at British Leyland Cowley Oxford, I had passed my National CPC aged 16, then my car test, I had got my International CPC just before my 18th birthday, then a month after my 18th I passed my Class 3, so this was my reward for doing well, so at that age I thought it was fantastic! I then got my Class 2 at 19 then my Class 1 aged 20, so it was a good gig for someone like me bought up in a family full of Lorry drivers. I have done a bit since, more than some & less than others, & have been to Italy since & other parts of Europe in all the usual Toplines/Globetrotters etc, but that was the 1st time I drove a wagon in Europe so it was a real adventure for me then! If you don’t eat thr dry biscuits 1st you won’t enjoy the cake, so yeah the wagon wasn’t the greatest but everyones gota learn somehow, & I was learning something new every day, & now I been driving lorries for 29 yrs I am still learning!
Regards Chris
And here I am the day after I passed my Class 1 aged 20, having had my 1st day playing with a 7 car-transporter, great fun with the overhang! So again the truck wasn’t that great but at that age to me it was a F88! The other pic shows that I have had some nicer toys to play with since, but nostalgia & memories are great, & I look back on those days with great fondness!
MOC:
did you work for will hire 
dreva:
MOC:
did you work for will hire
No Mate,but between Will hire and TIP we did give them a bit of work for awhile 
As a bit of a side-issue, whatever happened to Willhire? They were very big in their day.
gb1:
As a bit of a side-issue, whatever happened to Willhire? They were very big in their day.
am i getting confused with someone else or did they get absorbed into arriva?
euromat:
gb1:
As a bit of a side-issue, whatever happened to Willhire? They were very big in their day.am i getting confused with someone else or did they get absorbed into arriva?
There is an Arriva willhire,but i think they only do Car and van rental.dont know if its the same as the original Willhire trailer rentals, I dont even remember when they stopped trading.
Hello Euromat
Yes WillHire was a car & van rental company originally owned by Roger Williams and they branched out into trailer hire in the '70’s.
They were based in East Anglia (Norwich, possibly I think) and very ambitous. They opened a trailer hire branch by the old Circus Tavern in Purfleet just off the A13.
They lost heart with trailer hire and closed that side down and carried on with car & van rentals - I think the owner had political asperations as well.
OzzyHugh:
Hello EuromatYes WillHire was a car & van rental company originally owned by Roger Williams and they branched out into trailer hire in the '70’s.
They were based in East Anglia (Norwich, possibly I think) and very ambitous. They opened a trailer hire branch by the old Circus Tavern in Purfleet just off the A13.
They lost heart with trailer hire and closed that side down and carried on with car & van rentals - I think the owner had political asperations as well.
as i child travelling around by truck in the 70’s I remember seeing them all over the north, and seem to remember they favoured Foden for the trucks. Also remember the old adverts in Truck magazines showing the Fodens with their name on
Hi there, I met Roger Williams aqnd some of his staff in Istanbul where they were finding and repatriating trailers that had been rented from them and then dumped when they ran out of money Roger bought an f89 6x2 just for the job of bringing them back. We had a real good laugh with him in the Winnebago he had come down in. We (Roy Jackman & me) were promised a Bar-b-q at Barton Mills which due to the job we never got to , Someone in Willhire’s office promised to send us a video of the antics that were involved getting the lorries back but it never came and i wonder if it is still about after all these years?
LB76:
Hi there, I met Roger Williams aqnd some of his staff in Istanbul where they were finding and repatriating trailers that had been rented from them and then dumped when they ran out of money Roger bought an f89 6x2 just for the job of bringing them back. We had a real good laugh with him in the Winnebago he had come down in. We (Roy Jackman & me) were promised a Bar-b-q at Barton Mills which due to the job we never got to , Someone in Willhire’s office promised to send us a video of the antics that were involved getting the lorries back but it never came and i wonder if it is still about after all these years?
me dad worked for willhire and done the m/e for him and hill hire took over will hire cofusing
adr:
Yep, here she is in all her glory! Don’t feel sorry for the driver Gents cos it was me, & I was having a great time thanks. I was 18 yrs old, in the back were 2 Mini Metro’s for a Leyland garage in Rome for them to prepare for a Motor Show. I was on a 5 year apprenticeship as a Young HGV Driver Trainee at British Leyland Cowley Oxford, I had passed my National CPC aged 16, then my car test, I had got my International CPC just before my 18th birthday, then a month after my 18th I passed my Class 3, so this was my reward for doing well, so at that age I thought it was fantastic! I then got my Class 2 at 19 then my Class 1 aged 20, so it was a good gig for someone like me bought up in a family full of Lorry drivers. I have done a bit since, more than some & less than others, & have been to Italy since & other parts of Europe in all the usual Toplines/Globetrotters etc, but that was the 1st time I drove a wagon in Europe so it was a real adventure for me then! If you don’t eat thr dry biscuits 1st you won’t enjoy the cake, so yeah the wagon wasn’t the greatest but everyones gota learn somehow, & I was learning something new every day, & now I been driving lorries for 29 yrs I am still learning!
Regards Chris
Fair play Chris
I had the luxury of a Man 10 tonner with a top pod on my first trip to Itie 
.
Did BL go further afield than euro in those days?
Reason i ask is because i remember seeing a pic of what looked like a sleeper cabbed Mastiff?artic, in the same coulor scheme ,stuck in a snowdrift in Turkey.
Was on topruns site,