Phillip Trucking About LIke an Idiot!
The latest video from expert foliage delivery man and Nursery Man Phillip Westaby and his rather tidy Volvo
Delivering to nurseries around the country he does get himself into some places
Warehouse For Sale or Rent – Braintree, Essex.
No the rooms are not to let for 50 Cents! A bit of break from the norm, but my dear Dad is trying to find a new tenant or buyer for his newly renovated warehouse
Check it out on Google Maps, although it looks better now thanks to a full renovation to repair damage and smarten the place up after the last tenants left
Full Address: 10-12 Finch Drive, Springwood Industrial Estate, Braintree, CM7 2SF
View Larger Map The site is ideally located for road, sea and air connections
The site is also one of the only sites on Springwood Industrial Estate with on site parking for upto 6 articulated trucks outside
Also with the lorry park on the estate there is plenty of space for trucks and trailers
Distances to various destinations from the warehouse are as follows: Stansted Airport 16 Miles Harwich International Port 38 Miles Port of Felixstowe 46 Miles M11 Motorway 16 Miles M25 Motorway @ J28 – 25 Miles M25 Motorway @ J27 31 Miles Dover 100 Miles The official blurb that is available on Whybrow Property Consultants website states the following: Warehouse Area: 9,842 sq
ft
These prominent premises are found on the Springwood Industrial Estate to the west of Braintree town and a few minutes from the A120 where it is duelled westward to Stansted Airport and the M11 (J8)
This refurbished building has 2 main loading doors to the front with an additional forklift access to the side
It is of steel portal framework with steel cladding to walls and roof
Purpose built administrative area with storage above comprising Reception, kitchenette, Ladies and Gents WC s and 4 offices
Suspended ceilings CAT 2 lighting, electric radiators, newly fitted vinyl and carpeting to floors
Recently re-decorated
If you have any interest in said warehouse then please either contact Whybrow direct or you can contact me and I will pass on your details
My email address is: ben@truckblog.co.uk
Uncle Dicks Diary 21st April 1969
As I am the lucky keeper of Uncle Dicks 1969 diary, here s today s entry from back then Yes Dick Snow of Astran / Middle East run fame! Left Lebring (Austria) and arrived at Spiefeld at 1030
Crossed border into Jugoslavia and parked up waiting for Belgian drivers
Hope they are going to arrive by Wednesday (23rd April) latest
Had shorts on today
You can also find Uncle Dicks diary in Ashley Coghills awesome Astran book, The Long Haul Pioneers
Click HERE to order your copy now!
Not All Sunshine & Sand
Hello guys
Three years ago I wrote a book called ‘NOT ALL SUNSHINE AND SAND’, a series of tales about my time in road transport including the Middle East run in the 70s
Most have been very complimentary about it
However all copies were sold out and a new publisher said they were very interested on re-publishing, this time in paperback
So on April 20th, next month, the book is being released by Old Pond Publishing at the exorbitant price of £7.95
Info@oldpond.comPhone
01473 238200 If you decide to buy it then I hope you enjoy it
The stories are mostly humorous, but some are serious and some almost life and death
ByPaul Rowlands
Camiones Espanoles – Entonces Y Ahora
Recently at work we have been loading quite a few Spaniards back to Spain or back to Paris so they load from the french markets and then head back to Spain
Also recently I have scanned the next batch of 750ish photos from the David Scarff collection
What is the link I hear you ask?? The answer is that some of the haulage companies that Scarffy used to photograph back in the 1980′s are still the same firms that I am loading back to the continent
How many Spanish truck spotters can say the same for the British firms still running to the sun and back
Two Spanish firms that are still doing the run and providing our super markets with year round goodies such as Strawberries, Broccoli and of course those gorgeous Spanish oranges,
Truck Detectives Required
Intrepid TB reported James Cartwright, spotted this Scania 141 in Navyard, Harwich the other week
One of you must know some more about this old bus
Remember that little saying, Who What Where?? James and I both agree that it has been imported from the East, could be anywhere between Harwich, Germany, Turku and Russia!! What we need to concentrate on is who has bought it
I’m sure it is now in the UK some where, heading for a restoration shed
Did you see it on the back of a lorry leaving Harwich or heading away from Essex?? Is it parked in a yard near you now? Has it crossed the Irish sea?? If you have any answers then please feel free to leave your answers on a postcard below
It will make a cracking restoration, I’m very much a fan of a 141 rigid
I hope to see it soon on the show circuit
Get detecting!!
Truck Falls Off Cliff – Norway
I don’t think it is, but some are saying this is computer generated
If its not I hope the driver of the artic is ok
It did look like it rolled quite slowly to what it could have gone over like
Anyway make up your own minds!
New Year New Actros
These new Mercedes Actros are increasingly popular by my reckoning
More and more operators here in the East of England seem to be realising that the new Merc does do what it says on the tin and is producing improved fuel figures right across the board, no mater what line of haulage your in
Latest to join the party are Felixstowe container hauliers, DRS Logistics
A small order to start with but the numbers will grow if the new trucks perform as well as the Demonstrator provided by Orwell Trucks did
DRS have opted for these 2545LS Gigaspace 6×2′s so they can cope with the variety of containers that appear off the ships
Aaron Richardson at DRS say the trucks were purchased “For the improved efficiency they offer and also the style.” No one can argue that the new Merc is a good looking beast, even if it is wearing a big old cab top spoiler (Camel Toe Spoiler i’ve heard it called!!)
The spoiler DRS have had fitted has been designed and manufactured by Hatcher Components and is set to match the height of a 40ft High Cube container on a skelly trailer
These German supermodels are
Self Tipping Task
It must be something that others drivers can only imagine, a trailer that you can truly tip yourself
Turn up where ever and just get on and tip, no waiting for a forklift, no waiting for loading bays or for the truck in front to move, just find your space an start unloading
This trailer is know as a recovery trailer in the business, although HC Wilson do utilise its capabilities to do specialised jobs, such as this
You have a specially built trailer that is destined for a customer in Australia and its not designed to run on UK roads and you don’t want it to run on UK roads you need some one who can load and deliver said trailer
Bring in a semi low loader trailer with a hydraulic fold neck and Robert is your mothers brother
As clearly displayed by HC Wilson’s top subbie MW Tasker (p.s
displayed on this occasion by a rather splendid R560 V8 Scania!)
1) Trailer dropped and after pressing the button the neck folds flat to the ground creating a very handy loading ramp
2) Reverse tractor unit up the “loading ramp”
Adjust tractor unit front and rear suspension and hook up to the Ozzie tanker
3) Drive carefully off the fold neck and Voila! Unloaded easily and with no sign of the usual loading bay jobs worth who is there just to make your day!! As it goes I think the outfit looks pretty dam cool! I can see Tasker pulling this along the dusty highways and byways of Oz
The only bugger being its only one trailer, i’m not sure if there is a tow hitch to fit a 2nd trailer which would be more Taskers thing!
Barbers Shop MAN
As many of you will know, this was my 2nd truck in the BJS empire and if i’m honest I think it was also my favourite
Don’t get me wrong I loved the airbrushed Mercedes Atego I had, but with the little MAN 8.163 I did so much work and spent far more time away in it than the Atego (nights away), so I think that’s what made the bond stronger
The other thing I liked about the MAN was that I customised gently and very gradually
and really made her my own, whether you like the style or not, i’m not to fussed, it would appear that certain things didn’t go unnoticed by all
After the a while hard working trucks tend to loose there new look and shine, especially bodywork built by a bunch of blind hedgehogs in a bag
So it got to a point that the rear bumper was fairly rusty as the very thin paint had be eaten by the road salt and weather
It so happened that the factory paint on the prop shaft had gone the same way, so one weekend me and my Dad thought enough was enough and I reached for the sander, primer and tape
The rear bumper was a no brainer I thought i’d try the chevron look, please see above
But what to do with the prop shaft?? Well I thought i’d do something a little different…a barbers pole if you will
So as I drove along it would spiral down to the back…….I cannot tell you how hard it was to get the masking tape to stay evenly apart as I wound it round the pole (oo er Vicar!)
If I remember correctly it was even nearly all the way down apart from one little 6 inch stretch
Back in the day I could list on both hands the number of people who commented and noticed on the barbers pole, so these days I just see it as a bit of fun and also what made the truck individually mine, but today I had a comment on the blog that made it all come flooding back and made it seem all worth while
Comment Author : Matthew Morris Company: www.morristransport.co.uk Comment: “I was always a fan of your 7.5 tonners, especially the MAN L2000
I remember it having an interesting “stripey” prop shaft! We still own a P reg L2000 with the 224 hp engine
Still a pleasure to drive and sounds awesome with a straight through drag pipe!” You see I did have a fan! If I’d started a BJS fan club, I think it’s fair to say Matt could probably have been member 001
How I wish I could have my own Tonka Toy again, but times change as does the haulage industry
Perhaps one day
Any way in the mean time i’ll leave you with a photo of the smart back end I ended up with
The chevroned rear bumper didn’t last as the paint soon rusted up again
About the same time the cheap nasty rear door handles had virtually fallen off
The truck was sent to the best body builder in the country, Colliers Truck Builders, and new rear doors, new ally shiny handles and poles and I also got Colliers to rub the bumper back to the metal and paint it back in chassis grey
Boring but smart
The barbers pole stayed
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