I worked at Van Hees for a couple of years in the mid 80s.I believe Bumper got my 112 after I left to go back on the containers. Normans cafe at Brotherton was Van Hees “Yorkshire Depot”. Here’s a picture of it on Good Friday afternoon 1979, one of the few times Ican remember it being closed.A few of the names I recall from my time at Van Hees- little Tommy Connolly (rip) Posh Alan, Woosh Logan, Alan Chicken, Maurice Newman (rip), Terry McGuinnes,Cockney Russel, as well as most of the lads you’ve mentioned.
Hullo,
I was just looking at this thread and saw a couple of names that I remember, Kris Kristiansen I met many years ago at the LKV Bahnhoff in Koln. The last time I saw him, him and Jimmy Jarvis ( I seem to recall meeting Jimmy in Greece a few times, I maybe wrong on that though ) had gotten together and started a company of their own, I forget the name of it. now, but they used to do work for Frans Maas out of Ferryhill and sometimes Withenshawe. If I recall they had a couple of Seddon Atkinson.
Cheers, Archie.
Archie Paice:
Hullo,
I was just looking at this thread and saw a couple of names that I remember, Kris Kristiansen I met many years ago at the LKV Bahnhoff in Koln. The last time I saw him, him and Jimmy Jarvis ( I seem to recall meeting Jimmy in Greece a few times, I maybe wrong on that though ) had gotten together and started a company of their own, I forget the name of it. now, but they used to do work for Frans Maas out of Ferryhill and sometimes Withenshawe. If I recall they had a couple of Seddon Atkinson.
Cheers, Archie.
Hiya Archie I can see Kris’s wagons but car’nt remember what it said on them, I was talking to him the other week he’s still at it driving for a drinks supplier up his way, he seems happy & well enough too, fair play a decent bloke if there ever was one.
Fly sheet
fly sheet:
Archie Paice:
Hullo,
I was just looking at this thread and saw a couple of names that I remember, Kris Kristiansen I met many years ago at the LKV Bahnhoff in Koln. The last time I saw him, him and Jimmy Jarvis ( I seem to recall meeting Jimmy in Greece a few times, I maybe wrong on that though ) had gotten together and started a company of their own, I forget the name of it. now, but they used to do work for Frans Maas out of Ferryhill and sometimes Withenshawe. If I recall they had a couple of Seddon Atkinson.
Cheers, Archie.
Hiya Archie I can see Kris’s wagons but car’nt remember what it said on them, I was talking to him the other week he’s still at it driving for a drinks supplier up his way, he seems happy & well enough too, fair play a decent bloke if there ever was one.
Fly sheet
Hullo Fly sheet,
Thanks for that, good to know that some of us oldies can still do a bit. If you do see him again then please pass on my regards.
Cheers, Archie.
Will do Archie, your just more mature drivers thats all 
I speak to him quite often I’ll pass your hello on.
Fly sheet
Some of the old lads got together at the Labour Club in Newcastle at the end of December and although the turn out wasn’t huge (not surprising just after Xmas) we had a chance for a good old natter and laugh, these sort of meets are priceless and its a bit of a quiz at first to see if you can recognise and old face! There will likely be another in the Summer, same place, Bumper Russell always keeps me informed and his memories of past events and old hands are amazing. There are one or two lads driving for TAL which took over Van Hee, Pat McCallum for one who had been with Van Hee for many years. Although if you pass the yard in Gateshead you might see plenty wagons in the Brown and Yellow livery they are mostly the driving school vehicles which remained a separate venture although not under Tony Van Hee’s reigns. That pic of Norman’s cafe reminded me of one return on a Bank Holiday looking forward to a good nosh and some banter not realising the place would be shut, what a boring night I had! Cheers Franky.
i ve never seen normans so empty, i wonder what happened to the photos on the back wall. me and ernie crone a.k.a captain birds eye stopping for a steak pie dinner 
Kriss is on for a company in Cramlington & still out & about.
Hi lads this is the motor that kris drive’s now, bumper
Alright Bumper, you keeping good. I’m still into old motors, still got the Scimitar and a couple of old Triumph bikes. Used to see Potsy regular at the shows but not for a while now. If you want a day of nostalgia get yourself to Gypsys Green at So Shields the first Sunday in June for the Tyne Tees Commercial Run a great day out and it’s free.
Archie Paice:
Hullo,
I was just looking at this thread and saw a couple of names that I remember, Kris Kristiansen I met many years ago at the LKV Bahnhoff in Koln. The last time I saw him, him and Jimmy Jarvis ( I seem to recall meeting Jimmy in Greece a few times, I maybe wrong on that though ) had gotten together and started a company of their own, I forget the name of it. now, but they used to do work for Frans Maas out of Ferryhill and sometimes Withenshawe. If I recall they had a couple of Seddon Atkinson.
Cheers, Archie.
Hi archie kris and jimmy did get together they ran 2 sed aks 2 volvo globetrotters and 2 scanias when i worked their, they had kristiansen & jarvis on on the front of them they also had 480 merc which was in frans maas colours, i had one of the sed aks G210 SRG the name of the company was k & j international we ran out of frans maas birtley and scottish express newcastle
cheers mark
If any of you lads get to Gipsy Green look me up I hope to have an old Mk1 Transit coachbuilt camper ready by then Im a good mate of Jimmy Gudrum, Ill look out for that scimitar Brian
OK I’ll keep an eye out for you. Going back to Norman’s cafe, if you go on that new Google site [street view I think ] you can see what the place looks like now, all nicely tarmacced with a fence round,wish it had been like that in our day!
I was at morris potts house a few month back,I bought his sons car off him,as he is in america for good,morris is a cracking bloke and very well educated in the trucking game,and his wife is a diamond,his front garden is a car park for american motors,hes nuts about them,we had a great natter about where we have been and how much its changed ! also about kris ,havent seen him since I had a meal with him in greece back in 95,glad to here he is still going,didnt his mate jimmy have a red white and blue transcon with scotrans written on it ? nice to here about the old school
hi lads, if anyone is interested some of the ex van hee lads jimmy hill big kris, are having a drink whit weekend may 29th at the labour club Newcastle, bring your own sand to soak the diesel up 
bumper
recognise lots of names on this site tho I never worked for van hee, however I did work for waugh transport in the seventies and eighties (another well known firm to be taken over.) My name is Kevin McNamara, Im now an owner driver on container work with two years to retirement and it cant come fast enough!! probably rose tinted glasses but theres no fun in the job now. I dont remember the last time I had a beer with anyone on a night out. I have great memories of the old RedHouse cafe and the Tally Ho pub just off the A1 near doncaster. I wonder if that old regular Geordie Beattie is still around? Kevmac47.
cant believe this treads gone quiet,come on lads 
Has gone a bit quiet this one since the Northeast thread as a lot of pics of Van Hee motors were put on there. I only had one or two pictures and the Van Hee brochure when I started this thread and asked if there were any more. I counted recently that I now have around 50 thanks to lads putting them up on the site, proof if needed how good this site is not only to get in touch with others but to see things and remember accounts that had all but been forgotten, infact I believe with the amount of info and pictures available it would be possible to produce books on the Northeast haulage scene similar to those available on other areas of the country, maybe when I retire in a few years I might have the time!
Meanwhile I have this pic I painted of the old Albion the Van Hee workshop restored around 1997, although not from Geordieland the vehicle has stayed up here and I saw it was up for sale in the latest issue of CVC. The original Black and White photo, from which I used for the watercolour was all that we had to go off during the restoration and although I wasn’t convinced it was presumed the colour was Maroon. It wasn’t until it appeared at a local show that an old timer from the company revealed the proper colour was Green but said the restored motor looked great, oh well back to the paint pot! Cheers Franky. ps I missed tha last Van Hee drink, sore point, I ended up being Dads Taxi (you’ve all done it) in a bad mood for days, so roll on the next one.
You need to get Bumper on board Franky, he was passing photos round at the last “do” of Van Hee’s motors that I haven’t seen on here or the North East thread. Talking about Dad’s Taxi, how did we all end up falling for that. I don’t remember my old man ferrying me all over the place when I was young.
