stoxnuts:
when i lived in stockton on tees our house was next to a warehouse,and ridings must have had the Hienz contract because thier trucks were there all the time , the warehouse belonged to another old name in haulege J Williamson haulage contractor.
In the early 80s, at least, the Heinz business was split across a number of carriers, with regional variations. I think that Riding did most, if not all, of the North East work and possibly some Scottish as well.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but other carriers in there at the time included Hill’s of Cardiff (via local subsidiary Midway Garage), W. H. Bowker, Pandoro, Mick Bailey from Stoke and Gaskell’s from Upholland (I think). Road tax etc seemed to be an optional extra for Gaskells… Towmaster did some too, backloading vehicles that had delivered empty jars
I was at one point in my career with Inter-City Transport in ■■■■■■■■■■■ (near Glasgow ) , I was always led to believe that Inter-City were the main supplier for haulage from the Heinz factory in Wigan with an on site traffic operator who controlled traffic via all TDG companies .
stoxnuts:
when i lived in stockton on tees our house was next to a warehouse,and ridings must have had the Hienz contract because thier trucks were there all the time , the warehouse belonged to another old name in haulege J Williamson haulage contractor.
In the early 80s, at least, the Heinz business was split across a number of carriers, with regional variations. I think that Riding did most, if not all, of the North East work and possibly some Scottish as well.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but other carriers in there at the time included Hill’s of Cardiff (via local subsidiary Midway Garage), W. H. Bowker, Pandoro, Mick Bailey from Stoke and Gaskell’s from Upholland (I think). Road tax etc seemed to be an optional extra for Gaskells… Towmaster did some too, backloading vehicles that had delivered empty jars
I was at one point in my career with Inter-City Transport in ■■■■■■■■■■■ (near Glasgow ) , I was always led to believe that Inter-City were the main supplier for haulage from the Heinz factory in Wigan with an on site traffic operator who controlled traffic via all TDG companies .
I remember some deliveries going into Inter-City for re-distribution, but all the work was given direct to the hauliers in the period I dealt with them, which was 1976-85. It was done over the phone with a bloke called Dave Silcock at Kitt Green aka “The Beanery”
We used to get Ridings Atki’s in for repair/service when I worked for J.L. Robson & Son at Stockton on Tees, 1968/74. I always admired these trucks with their blue and silver livery, they certainly stood out in a crowd. But oh the problems of fitting a wrap around windscreen on those old coach built cabs, especially if they had been repaired and were not quite in line, I remember our coach builders cracking three of them before they finally got one fitted. Tin cabs made things a lot easier but didn’t have the same character. Nomad
I used to drive for Tom out of Thornaby depot. The photograph of F540 THG brings back some memories. That was a great contract to be on, apart from the bad weather over the A66.
I’m looking forward to the website developing.
Keep up the good work,
Mick Glass.
Hi Mick, Glad you like the site still plenty more to come over the coming months. Here’s just few of the latest pictures to go on the site.
Atkinson Mk II 4x2 tractor unit Reg No ATC 400J Fleet No 74 ‘Dependable’ after it came to grief on the A75 near Glen Luce in the late 1970’s.
‘E’ Series ERF 4x2 tractor unit Reg No K620 VHG Fleet No 30 ‘Patriot’
Foden 4335 4x2 tractor unit Reg No M240 WRN Fleet No 66 ‘Sir Winston’
Paul, do you have any photo’s of F680 BRN. Mine are in a box somewhere in the loft !!
Stillight:
Paul, do you have any photo’s of F680 BRN. Mine are in a box somewhere in the loft !!
Mick
Hi Mick, Not at the moment, but if you could get your loft ladder out and have a root around will certainly use any images you come up with Regards Paul
Stillight:
Paul, do you have any photo’s of F680 BRN. Mine are in a box somewhere in the loft !!
Mick
Hi Mick, Not at the moment, but if you could get your loft ladder out and have a root around will certainly use any images you come up with Regards Paul
hiya,
I worked at Riding’s for a few months either in the very late 60s or the very
early 70s the old memory isn’t what it was but the LAD cabbed vehicles were
still very much in evidence both rigids and artics I drove one myself, when did
they finish with them??, I would estimate a quarter of then fleet was still LAD
cabbed, in my time there all vehicles were British manufactured.
thanks harry, long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
I worked at Riding’s for a few months either in the very late 60s or the very
early 70s the old memory isn’t what it was but the LAD cabbed vehicles were
still very much in evidence both rigids and artics I drove one myself, when did
they finish with them??, I would estimate a quarter of then fleet was still LAD
cabbed, in my time there all vehicles were British manufactured.
thanks harry, long retired.
Hi Harry, Take a look HERE plenty of info on Riding’s L.A.D.s Regards Paul
w.j ridings ltd were the best haulage comany in lancashire i would be down at ridings yard lookin at the seddon atkinson and atkinson in my youth as my dad worked for ridings can any one remember yank.It would nice to see my dads old atkinson truck on this page as i remember the good olds at ridings yard longridge
leylandman47:
w.j ridings ltd were the best haulage comany in lancashire i would be down at ridings yard lookin at the seddon atkinson and atkinson in my youth as my dad worked for ridings can any one remember yank.It would nice to see my dads old atkinson truck on this page as i remember the good olds at ridings yard longridge
Heres a shot of your dads motor off the site
Looks like that Atki has 1000x20 Firestone on the steer and those “nasty Bandag” retreads on the drive !! Nowt wrong with the Bandag but I always thought that was a nasty looking tread pattern,I always used the ZZ michelin type pattern Bandags at Bewick Transport,maybe Tom got them cheaper with that tread,well he got everything else cheaper than us,except Scanias that is !!! Anyway can I wish this great site a very successful 2013, and All the best Tom for a happy and healthy New Year ! Cheers Dennis.
all the best for 2013 to all.W.J RIDINGS LTD were the best haulage comany by far,lots of work out of north east, up to ici then down to south bank then back to longridge yard good old days atky rule by far then seddon atkinson came
moomooland: We have now started an interactive forum on the W & J Riding web site. We hope to hear from any past drivers and also Tom Riding will answer any questions you may have about the old firm. You can see the new forumHERE
Regards Paul and Tom
Hi Paul,I’m having difficulty in re-setting my new password,the site isn’t that secretive is it ? I can get into my account at Coutts easier !!Unlike Tom who probably keeps all his 'int mattress eh! Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
Hi Paul,I’m having difficulty in re-setting my new password,the site isn’t that secretive is it ? I can get into my account at Coutts easier !!Unlike Tom who probably keeps all his 'int mattress eh! Cheers Dennis.
Hi Dennis, You shouldn’t have any problems signing in. The only advantage being a member is it just makes it a lot easier when you leave comments in the forum or in the guestbook, apart from that everything else on the site is there for anyone to see. Regards Paul
moomooland: Apologies for the site outage on Monday the 18th of February this was due to a problem with our host server. We have also now added an interesting ‘W & J Riding Sub Contactors’ section to the site which you can find HERE Regards Paul
Bewick Transport were “sometime” subbies for W&J R over the years we were operating,and we were always glad to help out where we could.The jobs were mainly the odd consignments from Kent as this part of the UK was alien to W&J,the UK map in the Longridge traffic office was,apparently, just plain white south of Birmingham !!! They were a great outfit with a “diamond” G’uvnor!! Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
Bewick Transport were “sometime” subbies for W&J R over the years we were operating,and we were always glad to help out where we could.The jobs were mainly the odd consignments from Kent as this part of the UK was alien to W&J,the UK map in the Longridge traffic office was,apparently, just plain white south of Birmingham !!! They were a great outfit with a “diamond” G’uvnor!! Cheers Dennis.
Spoke to Tom regarding not going South of Birmingham and he said that was the norm for the general haulage fleet as it was to much trouble messing about getting a back load when we had more than enough work in the North and Scotland. As regards the powder tanker fleet they ventured in to the South East on a regular basis as ICI paid for a full round trip even though the tankers always returned empty
