When I went to Newcastle on the so called ‘Pronto’ bus run by Go Ahead Northern, on Saturday I couldn’t help but reflect on our three Guy Otters with the Gardner 4 cylinder engines, and think, ‘My God I think they would have been faster than this bus’
I don’t know what type of engine would be fitted in these double deckers, but Northern must have them so tuned down to improve the fuel consumption that they hardly have any acceleration. Also with one man operation, half the journey time is spent collecting the fares at bus stops. In fact in the journey to Newcastle on Saturday, he was stuck in the middle of the road unable to pass another bus that was taking on passengers in Chester Le Street for about 3 minutes.
I know that had I been well and had access to Northern’s operating costs for this service I could have put figure together that would prove it would be cheaper and more efficient to run this service with a conductor. After all passengers like me don’t want to spend unnecessary time sat on a bus, and if the service time was cut in half, as it could be they would need less buses and drivers to fill the obligation of the service and see greatly increasing passenger numbers as times much more resembled car travelling equivalent. Also if I was a bus driver, driving through cities and town centres I wouldn’t want to be distracted by having to take fares and watch passenger safety.
How pleased I was therefore to read I today’s newspaper that Go Ahead London are advertising for conductors to work on the new Routemasters. I do hope they are a big success and then perhaps conductors might return to other areas of the country including up here. The only thing that is wrong is that they are not AEC and built at Southall. Also the engine that powers the generator that drives the four electric motors is not an AEC engine or better still a Gardner. They then would really see great savings on fuel consumption.
Going back to subject the Guys, although very slow, maintained 26 mpg average. 1700 cu ft with 6 ton loads. Remarkable by any standards. What I can’t understand with this global warming rubbish is that they measure emitions. My son tells me that this has nothing to do with fuel consumption, and yet whatever anyone says those old Gardners must have had very little emitions as they didn’t use sufficient fuel to cause them.
Unfortunately they never can bring back AEC or Gardner, but I cannot help but think had these two companies have been manufacturing today having been given government help to keep them both independent and stopping them been taken over and closed, we would have had a good export market and wonderful home for goods and passenger vehicles. After all their products were in the same league as Landrover and Jaguar.
Today in transport we have no British vehicles and have the likes of Stobart running them. What went wrong?
Hi Carl
Re your travels into Newcastle, about 2 years ago Gateshead council put forward plans to turn Durham Road through Low Fell into a “Red Route” This would have meant severe parking restrictions for both business delivery vehicles & residents and as you can imagine all hell broke loose and the plans were quietly dropped.
At about the same time the council mentioned possible plans for a Park & Ride scheme with parking for several hundred cars on the land surrounding the Angel along with bus connections to the Gateshead Metro station. Nothing more seemed to be heard about this until a report in the Journal last week and it appears the scheme will go ahead in the not too distant future, though no definite date has been set.
I honestly believe that a lot of the congestion around the A1 corridor could have been avoided if the Dept. of Transport had been allowed to build the new road from the TVTE over the back of Whickham and down Swalwell to join the new bridge at Blaydon, after all the bridge was built there for that purpose.
I know firm plans were in place in the early 90’s for the new road and also to create a link between the Bowes Incline junction and the A194 down to the Tyne Tunnel. The DoT had purchased several acres of land behind the Bowes Incline and had done a lot of test bores. In the end I think one or two of the local councils objected, which is proving to be a very short sighted decision.
Historically the Western Bypass was only built to take the through traffic out of the TVTE, Whickham and Dunston then the dual carriageway from Low Eighton to Coal House was built and we have a new A1 route.
Perhaps we have the makings of a new discussion here. What should be done about the A1 western bypass and the congestion ■■?
tyneside:
Hi Carl
Re your travels into Newcastle, about 2 years ago Gateshead council put forward plans to turn Durham Road through Low Fell into a “Red Route” This would have meant severe parking restrictions for both business delivery vehicles & residents and as you can imagine all hell broke loose and the plans were quietly dropped.
At about the same time the council mentioned possible plans for a Park & Ride scheme with parking for several hundred cars on the land surrounding the Angel along with bus connections to the Gateshead Metro station. Nothing more seemed to be heard about this until a report in the Journal last week and it appears the scheme will go ahead in the not too distant future, though no definite date has been set.
I honestly believe that a lot of the congestion around the A1 corridor could have been avoided if the Dept. of Transport had been allowed to build the new road from the TVTE over the back of Whickham and down Swalwell to join the new bridge at Blaydon, after all the bridge was built there for that purpose.
I know firm plans were in place in the early 90’s for the new road and also to create a link between the Bowes Incline junction and the A194 down to the Tyne Tunnel. The DoT had purchased several acres of land behind the Bowes Incline and had done a lot of test bores. In the end I think one or two of the local councils objected, which is proving to be a very short sighted decision.
Historically the Western Bypass was only built to take the through traffic out of the TVTE, Whickham and Dunston then the dual carriageway from Low Eighton to Coal House was built and we have a new A1 route.
Perhaps we have the makings of a new discussion here. What should be done about the A1 western bypass and the congestion ■■?
Hi Tyneside,
My bus never seem to be held up by congestin. No doubt they might cause a lot ,going so slow, particularly on the Birtley bi pass, part of the motorway that they use, going along about at 30 mph.
I blame the Western By Pass, on that idiot Prescot, who apparently put a bus lane on the M5. Giving him credit for saying things like ,’Building roads make more traffic’ he did not widen the Western Bi Pass.
I think one of the biggest problems, I see sitting upstairs on a double decker at the front is the standard of driving of car drivers. People like Prescot and worst still Gordon Brown, who I understand hasn’t the ability to drive changed the driving tests to have it two part with theory taking the biggest part. In my view learner drivers should not allowed on the roads until they have a certificate given by a licenced instructor saying they are competent to go on the road after training off road. After all HGV manouvering areas are on private land. Why cant they start learning off road first.
With regard the test. I think all drivers should have to take test in at least ford Mondeo sized cars or better still Transits, Drive on a motorway at 70 MPH whilst taking a telephone call on their mobile phone without swerving or causing any danger
I could go on.
Carl
You have no need to “go on” Carl,most rational people understand your comments and will no doubt in the main,agree with them.
Its the greed for the bottom line that has been the downfall of many a business,not least road transport.
David 
With the Commer vans gone replaced in 1957 by a Bedford CA luton, we would have been back to a full Bedford fleet had it not been for our first Ford since the nineteen thirties.
In the mid-sixties dad needed to replace a Bedford OB luton which had been purchased new in 1948. Although we were successfully running three Bedford SB’s (The new big Bedford) the pre-war had by that time been replaced and he was starting to consider replacing the O models. (A process that took till 1961 to complete.)
The SB’s were wonderful, with the long passenger chassis giving us real large vans, but at that time Bedford did not make a diesel engine, and I suppose talk of the Suez crisis and possible fuel shortage and rises in petrol prices (Petrol was still just 4/6 per gallon 22.5 new pence) made dad think he needed to buy diesel.
Ford had just introduced the 4D engine and the price and specification was appealing to many removal contractors. I cannot remember the name of Sheffield’s main Ford agent, but they had 2 new Ford 4D’s advertised in the commercial Motor. 1 three tonner with about 800 cu ft. body and a five tonner with 1500 cu ft. body. It might have been 1955 when my grandparents took me aged about 7 or 8 down with them on the train to Sheffield to see the 5 tonner. Still today I have vague recollections of the train journey from Sheffield, as we had afternoon tea on the train coming home and I remember the small jars of jam. It’s strange how all children like miniature things.
At Sheffield I remember looking at both vans and my grandfather liking the small three tonner, as I suppose in his terms of vehicles that would be big enough. I can remember me telling him we want the bigger one. He rang dad up and was told in no uncertain terms if the five tonner body was alright to buy it and on no uncertain terms the 3 tonner was useless for us.
That is how TPT916, as it was registered joined our fleet and went into service 1 January 1956.
I am not sure if it was the first in the North East and may well have been but as well as ourselves Haward and Robertson at Durham, Hoults , T.T Liddle, Stanley and F Johnson Durham , who we subsequently bought out al put new Ford 4D’s on the road. It is to be noted that all of us bought only one and never ventured into a second.
Here is a photo of the OB the Ford replaced.
Hi Carl,I think the ford agent could have been T.C.HARRISONS.Regards paul.
Either T C Harrisons or Autoways, who were part of the Kennings group
jeffreyk:
Either T C Harrisons or Autoways, who were part of the Kennings group
Hi Paul & Jeff,
Thanks it may well have been Harrisons, but I cannot remember. It was about 58 years ago. However I do remember it was a large garage, as if we went into the showroom we walked through into an area, from memory seemed to be almost enclosed where the two vans were. They would have had to drive through into another part to get out, and the Ford we bought was high so that the building must have had good headroom.
Carl
The one thing the Ford Thames 4D taught dad was never again to buy newly introduced vehicles, and to let others find out all the teething problems and modifications. Although still very young I remember it was always in the garage being worked on. Many problems were design, but others were Ford penny pinching fitting parts that were under specified to save in some cases just pence, but they took the view that as they intended to flood the market with their new 4 cylinder diesel, that was so cheap to buy, that a penny saved here and there amounted into a lot of money.
I remember being at Young’s, the main ford agent at Chester Le Street so many times where they looked at problems and fitted modifications. One of these was the start button that for some reason was replaced by a handle on the side of the engine.
Dad said he thought they had gone back to the old Model T when the designers had been making the 4D engine, as it was so simple. ‘A basic engine that was so simple to work on, but by God you needed that as you continually had to be working on it’ dad said. It had head gasket problems. Doing just hundreds of miles before failure. In one case just achieving 5 miles. Edmunds Walker suggested to dad not to buy the Ford replacement gasket but instead one that they produced, a little bit more expensive. They said ford had economised in costs so much as the reason dad had with head gaskets was that the Ford gasket was below working standards. The Edmunds Walker gasket did work and solved the problem after but 20 head gasket changes, only to find that after less than 18 months the engine needed changing. Although it was out of guarantee, Ford agreed to supply a new modified engine, if we paid Young’s labour charge in fitting it. The service manager at Young’s told dad, now at least it will have solved the head gasket problem.
After a thousand miles the head gasket went on this new engine. Dad fitted an Edmunds Walker gasket and found he never again had a problem. Speaking years later to the likes of Tom Liddle and Mark Robertson, they wished he had told them about Edmunds Walker’s gaskets.
The biggest problem with the 4D was the tremendous vibration produced by the engine. Had the chassis and components been heavier built it might not have been so problematic, but things continually dropped off or snapped and oil leaks were a continual feature, and as you solved one another one soon appeared.
The chassis and engine were so light weight that with such a large body like ours had, was dangerous in the wind, and our van turned over on the A1 on the short stretch going south from Scots Corner to Catterick. The van was almost empty on its way to collect a load from Rotherham and a telegraph pole went through the side of the body ensuring it was almost destroyed when it was put back upright. Young’s were chosen to build a new body (Sherwood and Wynn were too expensive) and sadly my grandfather and father decided to cut the body height to ensure it didn’t turn over again. The luton was sliced making it more ‘streamlined’ to break the wind.
Young’s body shop was in Sunderland, and they must have been stupid to use them as after all they had built, badly built the body on JUP the Bedford OB that the Ford had replaced, and it had dropped to bits, what could they expect of TPT with all the vibrations caused by the diesel engine, so now bits of the body were dropping off from time to time.
The van now was about 1400 cu ft. and useless against the prior specification. A three piece would no longer go on the luton and it could only do the smaller removals. Never the less the Ford survived until 1965, nine years of use, so it couldn’t have been too bad in the long room.
However memories are long and it was 1970 before we bought another Ford, fourteen years after the 4D.
The first break away from Bedford vehicles in the 60’s was planned in late 1963 and materialised in June 1964. DPT100B, a Morris FG 2 tonner, with a Marsden pantechnicon van integral cab body fitted on the FG chassis-scuttle.
Dad decided to build a 2 tonner van with largish body (wheel boxes and drop well) that could be driven on a car licence at 17 years old. I think, as I had just gone 16 he thought it was something I could drive. In the event it arrived before I was 17 and so needed a full time driver as I was going on to take ‘A levels’. Unfortunately I however had the misfortune to drive it from time to time on L plates as a way of teaching me to drive.
Looking at suitable chassis dad had disreguarded Bedford as the smallest TK was too big and because of the 4D totally never considered Ford. His first choice was the Leyland 2 tonner, which was very popular in the press and he was about to order one of these when two things happened.
1.) He was talking to one of the Gray brothers (Gray’s lemonade Spennymoor) who had just bought a fleet of 30.
2.) Barrett-Atkin the Sales Manager at Turvey’s Sunderland The Morris Main agents called regularly to see him.
Although the Leyland 2 tonner was the ’Talk of the day’ , very popular in Commercial Motor and looked the part Gary’s had found out first hand before news had spread that they were useless. Marketed as a Leyland as indeed it did look like it was a product of Leyland’s takeover of Standard-Triumph, and was being developed as a Standard product until with badge engineering it emerged on the UK market. Leyland still had at that time, still a respected name, before the later years. Gray’s vehicles were very unreliable and breaking down daily.
Barratt Atkin told dad although the FG looked awful it was well designed stating that anyone could sit in the cab with a mel-hammer and do no damage the controls were so strong and the gearbox although a crash box was indestructible. Of all the bread vans running about, stop starting he had never heard of a clutch being replaced.
As we proposed to use the van on long distance work he proposed the 3.8 Litre 4 cylinder engine and a high speed rear axle, and the chassis was duly ordered. Barratt_Atkin was very customer oriented so much so that he personally drove the chassis scuttle down from Bathgate to Warrington to ensure it was perfect. Marsden built the body. With the only mistake being the height and smallish luton.
Ken Marsden rang dad to ask what height he wanted the van and dad replied a height that made it proportional to look good. In the event when dad and I went to Warrington to collect it we were so upset, as it was too low. One foot higher would have been ideal and with a luton that could accommodate a three piece suite. Our FG could not and was just too small so the luton was virtually useless.
The 2 tonner FG replaced the Bedford 15cwt CA. The Bedford was bought by Don Clegg from Stanley. Don bought several vans off us but to him the CA was something special. He never painted it and in fact polished it, only taking it out for special occasions. (Crackers!). However we missed it. The FG was in full use, usually long distance smallish long distance removals. With its low operating costs it gave us the ‘edge’ on competition for such work. However it tended to be clumsy and you couldn’t wiz round housing estates with small deliveries as you used to with the little CA.
In those days an additional ‘A’ licence could be applied for on a temporary basis for three months over the Christmas period and would be granted if you were able to produce letters from customers that they had increased temporary trade over that time, and we asked would Don either sell us back the CA or hire it to us for three months, but he liked it so much he refused.
The FG remained in our fleet until 1975, eleven years of use, usually misuse. It often was grossly overloaded and we have already heard how John Willets flogged it in its early life. Even when we sold it we would have kept it had it not been that it was using an operator’s licence when a 30 cwt. did not need one.
Like most vehicles we complained from time to time of the FG but all in all it had been a good vehicle. It was sold to Richardson Removals of Middlesbrough.
Going back to the winter of 1964, I had mentioned how we had been unsuccessful at buying back the CA Bedford from Don Clegg to use over the Christmas period and add temporary to our ‘A’ Licence, the problem was solved from another source.
In Spennymoor, or Merrington Lane to be more precise, as you drove over the level crossing, to either side of the road there was a company Coulsons, who were Forgers in Iron. (Heavy engineering) Amongst things they manufactured were railway lines and I suppose in those days, the time of Beecham, they were struggling with no work.
They had bought a TK Bedford dropsider that was very familiar to dad as he passed it, parked up, almost every time he went to Smart & Browns, They had bought it new about a couple of years earlier and had little, if any use for it. It had about 3,000 miles on the clock and dad heard rumours they might consider selling it.
To cut a long story short eventually he bought the TK together with a Ford 15 cwt. van from the liquidators a few months later when the company closed. A sad time in Spennymoor as they had been there for so many years they were a well-known part of the town.
The reg number of the TK was 6188HN and the Ford 4460PT. I will come back to the TK a week or so later when I discuss our Bedfords but the Ford, an incidental part of the purchase just came along at the right time, as we applied for an additional short term ‘A’ Licence which was duly granted by Mr Hanlon the Northern Traffic Commissioner and, although just a standard 15 cwt. van went into continuous non-stop use. I should know as I drove it for many hours over my school holidays.
Here is a photo If yiou look closely you can see the ‘A’ licence in the windscreen.
When we got the ford van from Coulson’s it was just about three years old and had about 20,000 miles on the clock, and although in good mechanical order it had been knocked about a bit. People from Spennymoor will remember Paddy Connor who lived in an old detached house (Now quite nice) which was run down and had a scrap yard in the garden, on the left hand side as you passed through tudhoe Colliery towards Croxdale.
Paddy was one of spennymoor’s characters and used to call on us later years and buy any scrap we had, but in those days I first met him buying a bumper, and wheel caps plus a few other bits to tidy up the Ford and once painted as the photo illustrates it made a tidy van.
However it illustrates what a great job the Ford designers did in making the Transit. With its three speed column change gear box and vacuum wipers that went off as you eased off going downhill. It is also unbelievable that with only so few miles on the clock it used almost as much engine oil as it did petrol. How Ford managed a within a few years to improve their engine performance is remarkable.
However, bad as the Ford was it gave me so much pleasure that within three months of my 17th birthday with my new driving licence I could get so much enjoyment driving it during the Christmas holidays in December 1964.
Back to school January 1965 I so much missed my weekly work, and I don’t know who was driving, but at the end of the temporary A Licence period, we were successful in applying for and granted an additional licence to keep it in the fleet on a permanent basis, there for me to use as the school holidays came along. The Ford still drinking the engine oil and dad unprepared to fit a reconditioned engine as he still considered it temporary member of the fleet until its replacement came along.
One of our ill fated, pathetic Leyland Lynx
Carl Williams:
One of our ill fated, pathetic Leyland Lynx
In the background examples of the trailers we operated painted in Thorn EMI Domestic appliances livery
fantastic read Carl . I have been in transport all my life from mechanic to hgv driver. I used to go with my dad in the holidays he drove for A.One Transport ( another good firm long gone) . I would just like to say you were a credit to your company and must have been a pretty good gaffer to work for . All the best Jeff .
jeffrey ellener:
fantastic read Carl . I have been in transport all my life from mechanic to hgv driver. I used to go with my dad in the holidays he drove for A.One Transport ( another good firm long gone) . I would just like to say you were a credit to your company and must have been a pretty good gaffer to work for . All the best Jeff .
Hi Jeff
Thank you for your kind comments.
You know there are times when I kind of dry up when I can no longer think of things to write about and then someone, like you, mention something that inspires me and starts another stream of thoughts and memories.
I couldn’t agree more with what you said about A1 Transport.
If you have read what has been written on this thread you would gather that after the war, and in more particular the mid-fifties when we got rid of our last cattle truck, and after we got rid of our first artic we run entirely rigid furniture vans (Pantechnicons). In our minds we had no wish to have another artic and in particular go into the general haulage market, which in fact we never did, as it was far too competitive and many of the north east hauliers were far from professional.
Things changed when Courtaulds came along and opened their Spennymoor plant employing 2500 workers and we were fortunate in securing all the transport needs out of this factory. Most of the products they made was spun yarn that we delivered to hundreds of UK manufacturers that in turn wove the yarn into material to manufacture clothing. It was packed into cardboard boxes about 2ft cube which were quite easy to lift and carry and our vans were ideal for delivering, non-palliated and man handled to a multitude of customers. However Courtaulds secured an export market of part finished yarn which was shipped to Russia. This was in much larger, stronger and heavier cartons which was loaded onto 40ft artic flat trailers and loaded and sheeted. Full loads were about 14 ton. As we intended to maintain our monopoly of Courtaulds traffic we initially sub contracted this work to other hauliers. Often the requirements were quite considerable and we nearly used every haulier in the North East from time to time. A1 was one of these and our contact was with their Middlesbrough depot.
It would be wrong to name names of other hauliers we used but often their vehicles, in the pre plating and testing days were a disgrace to be on the road. Often the drivers were filthy looking like they had been down the pits, I would add not through the fault of their personal hygiene but the state of the cabs with oil leaking all over and no doubt black exhaust gases, being inhaled and plastered on their skin and clothes
A1 were a different class, with excellent spotless vehicles and uniformed drivers. Most vehicles that came into us we transhipped onto at our premises (Marmaduke St at the time), as no way would we dare let Courtaulds see the filthy condition of the vehicles ,nor risk the dripping oil on their spotless loading bay floors. . Often A1 vehicles loaded directly from Courtaulds, as they were to such a high standard. The only sad fact was that A1 were a little bit more expensive and we tended only to use them when others were not available to increase our profits, However things would have been different had we not been delivering to the docks, as their vehicles were about the only ones we would have dared send to Courtaulds customers premises.
In about 1974 we had need of a 32 ton tractor unit (Our first 32 tonner) I cannot remember why we needed a heavier than normal for us, but it must have been to fulfil an existing customers requirement and dad talking to A1’s Middlesbrough manager got an assurance that he would arrange to have one sent from Leeds that was in very good condition with low mileage, and a price was agreed so much was our trust in them.
I remember going in my car with a driver to pay and collect from their depot, down by the docks in Middlesbrough and we bought RDC975H an AEC Mandator that stayed in the fleet for about 10 years, and proved to be an excellent buy.
Once again thanks for your comments
Carl
Thanks for that Carl , as you said A.One did run the proper way as did yourselves , remember the old adage you only get what you pay for . If you look on the A.One thread you will see that the drivers and fitters realy enjoyed working there , as they say enjoying your work is half the battle .It only went bad when it was sold to Mcgee and he decimated the firm .The lads still have a reunion now and again to catch up and drink a little diesel , these type of working enviroments are long gone mores the pity , Again thanks for a good thread and keep them coming . Regards Jeff .
So we had 4460PT (Ford 15cwt van) now on listed on our A licence. It was in full use every day bought as just a short term vehicle and drinking engine oil.
During 1965 we added two New Bedford SB diesel Marsdens replacing the last two petrol SBs NUP and HTH. NUP had been sold to a removal contractor Wilson of Easington Lane and seemed to be spending as much time at Marmaduke Street as it had before as we gave him work as a sub-contractor. HTH had been parked up in a warehouse we had in Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, and 6188HN the Bedford TK we had purchased the same time from Coulson’s had returned from Marsden’s complete with a new large luton van body to replace the Ford 4d Luton van TPT.
As November came along once again we applied for a temporary additional vehicle to be added to our A licence for the Christmas rush period and old HTH, having been parked up and retired for about 8 months was brought out from mothballs and put back on the road. I might be mistaken but I think Colin Watson was given it to take a load of New Equipment office furniture on its first trip dawn to Devon and Cornwall. So much trust my dad had in the standard of maintenance of all our vans even one that had been retired ready for sale. It was our last petrol and the 1300 mile return journey gulped down the fuel.
It was time to replace the Ford and Barratt-Atkin, Turvey’s Sales Manager had been trying for some time to persuade dad to buy a Morris 15cwt luton van. At the time a caravan manufacturer from Southampton, Bluebird had developed a lucrative side line building luton vans on the J2 chassis and so NPT719D entered the fleet to replace the Ford 4460PT early 1966, the year I left school after my A levels.
Dad went dawn and collected the van on trade plates and was shocked on the way back as it nearly blew over, being so light. Strangely Bluebird had kept the wood used in the body frame to an absolute minimum so it was very light weight on the road.
So came about the J2, probably the cheapest van we ever bought, and certainly one of the most hated, talked about and criticised. Yet over all it survived with us about 7 years did about 150,000 miles and when I look back, not as bad overall. The problem was we misused it, overloaded it and it had problem after problem, but it survived.
Unfortunately as yet, no photo of the J2 has surfaced but I have found another on the internet that would not have looked dissimilar from how it looked when dad collected it from the Bluebird factory in Southampton in grey primer before it was painted in our familiar cream & brown livery
As I explained the Morris J2 was supplied by Turvey’s Sunderland and I remember it like yesterday, the day I took it through to Sunderand for its first service and no doubt have some work done under guarantee. My grandfather went with me and we left the van and spent the time with his brother and sister in law, my great uncle and aunt as they lived nearby. Turveys had amalgamated with Byers and Dunns to form Byres-Dunn-Turvey and just moved into the new large garage at Newcastle Road. I left the van there but cannot remember where the commercial vehicle workshops were as the car workshops were upstairs on the first floor over the top of the showroom, and although massive workshops to accommodate about 40 lifts for cars, I cannot imagine them taking commercials up the ramp that led up to the workshops.
Surprisingly with its little lively 1.6 litre diesel engine it was quite nice to drive and ideal for town driving empty. However we misused it, overloaded it and looking back now it’s easy to see why it caused us so many problems.
However going back to its arrival at Spennymoor, as soon as the paint dried, and the lettering by Peter Butler was finished I took it out to show my mother, as I was delighted as to how it looked (such a pity I didn’t take a photo). My mother was at her mothers and I took it and parked it outside on the Street at Middlestone Moor. Getting back into the cab to return to Marmaduke Street. I had to pull out at full lock to pull past a car parked in front, and bang the back nearside corner hit a lamppost that was right at the edge of the curb. I stopped and got out and was so annoyed with myself as it had about a half inch small scrape at the back corner. I waked along the side and carefully pulled away again, not noticing a policeman riding his bike who nearly pedalled into the side and fell off on the road as he swerved and stopped to avoid the collision. Getting out again I already in a temper with myself for bumping the back of the van on the lamppost, I called him every name I could think of, telling him he should watch the road as he pedalled along. I must have been correct as off he went as fast as he could pedal without replying and trying to defend himself, or worse still charge me with driving without care and attention, as after all I should have seen him.
I don’t intend to go through all the problems we had with the J2 and as to how much it became a hated vehicle by everyone, as I have already told the story of how it set on fire in the middle of Gateshead in the rush hour already on tis thread, and many other incidents have been mentioned, but like I say overall in the long term it was not so bad, and when we considered it in the true light, in 1970 we decided to have another go and buy a JU, the J2’s replacement in the BMC range.