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Jock Kelly's LEK International Transport?

How did you know that fiddling Scotch git? I used to work for him! :unsure:

Bill Kelly's yard, when I was with him, was in Langley Mill, off Cromford Road.

Bill wasn't a bad lad actually, broke every rule in the transport book but he did help me through a very rough patch.

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HI CATZ / Nice of you to answer, I am now living in Swinton , Manchester, but still miss Nottingham, I will be 75 in March and I look back on my life , and were iv,e been , but I

They were still doing a little bit of that in 1987 when I started working there. There were no depots at the resorts by then but we still took a few cases; growing car ownership and package holidays k

My godfather, Derek Foster worked for Harris for many years; he ended up driving a road sweeper for Gedling council, said it was the best job you could wish for. He always told me to avoid road haulag

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Sladens are still going as well, I think. Seems like Nottingham hasn't suffered too badly in comparison to other places, with hauliers going out of business. Probably not so many smaller outfits left, though; I think the aftermath of the pit closures did for many of them.

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Certainly was. I don't recall his name but I bet he'd remember a few of the blokes who were there with me; Derek Hayman, Bob Rutter, Roger Hursthouse?

Bill's "gofer" was a bloke called Ron Dyer, not universally popular to put it mildly!

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catfan, I'm not sure. Last I heard (which was some years ago) he wasn't in the best of health. He'd probably be in his mid to late 70's now.

rob237, Roger was a Brummie, he did live at Eastwood and last I heard was driving for Raleigh.

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2 more hauliers from netherfield h beardsleys and from colwick shire transport my dad driven for shire transport for years they used to have bsc livery they used to be based near st johns school on vale road had my first job there my son ironically now lives on hotspur drive

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Sadly Dave passed away a few years ago. He worked for Bill when he had a unit at Blenheim in Bulwell must be twenty odd years ago. Is Bill Kelly still about ?

I remember Bill Kelly -- he had a unit behind me on the Blenheim Estate in the early eighties.We used to "maintain" his trucks for him and they certainly needed a lot of maintenance.He was a very likeable roguish character but I recall the council were never happy with him on the estate.Wonder what happened to him?

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Sorry didn't see the earlier posts, Re Bill (Jock) Kelly, mate of mine and his dad (Mick and Arthur Brittle) both sort of worked for him, (if you know what I mean?) heard many tales of "adventures" etc! met the guy a few times, inc when Mick and I fitted a bathroom suite for his daughter, afraid Bill died over 10 years ago, think wife Lucy, (the "L" in Lek) took over the business for a bit afterwards.

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My grandad almost had a contract with John Players many many years ago, but only had 2 lorries (ex -MOD) not in particularly great condition but a clause in the contract insisted that he should get 2 more lorries to cover breakdowns & non availability etc & have a full servicing schedule (Pre VOSA) for all lorries...............my grandad refused to sign up (tight old b*****r) & the contract went to Tomlinson's who ended up with most, if not all, Players work...............our family could have been something big in the world of haulage!!! Perhaps even a pantechnicon, if anyone remembers them!!!LOL ........... !rotfl!

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afraid Bill died over 10 years ago, think wife Lucy, (the "L" in Lek) took over the business for a bit afterwards.

I'm sorry to hear that, but not surprised. Bill was a typical hard-living Scotsman; when I started working for him (about 1985) he'd just given up a 60-a-day habit, which he had been washing down with a fair bit of his native country's best brew. I once asked him if he missed his fags (since all of us drivers smoked like chimneys) and I'll never forget his reply; "Aye, every time you ****ers light up; but when the man in the white coat tells you you'll be deid in six months, ye listen tae him".

A real character was Bill. If anyone remembers the TV series "Truckers", well that was what working for Bill was like, in fact some of the situations on there were so close to what i saw that I'm convinced that one of the writers must've been there!

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Scriv, heard a few of the dodges, the greased front bumper so that when plod climbed on it to look at ops licence or tax disc he slipped off! plus the late night refuelling, A film clip I recall that sums up the rightly or wrongly romantic image of long distance lorry driving was in The 39 Steps with Sid James and his "yes man mate" lol

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I first saw that film one afternoon in around 1982 after a few glasses of 'wobbly water' , I miss read the title in the paper and thought it was called "Hell Divers" and thought it was going to be about WW2 'dive bombers'

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In the early sixties when I was a schoolkid our next door neighbour drove for Harry Wilkinson of Bulwell.

They had a quarry at Bulwell but also had a fleet of Thames Trader 6 wheelers on bulk coal deliveries, when we had a flourishing coal industry, I remember the transport manager's son coming out of the services and joining the firm with a brand new 8 wheeler Foden, what a beautiful sound. It used to fly past the Traders on the motorway.

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Dad worked for "Woodhouses" on London road in the early sixties, they did all the grandstands for the agricultural shows up and down the country, often went with him when he was doing a day run. Thats when a transport cafe was a transport cafe "ansome snap".

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There was a chap called "Dickie" Bird who lived near the top of Cavendish Road who drove for them, Think they had green TK Bedfords.

My brother did a spell of driving for the engineering side delivering weldmesh and fabricated bits in the late 90's

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  • 1 year later...

Lucy Kelly is also dead, As is Ron Dyer but Johnnie Knowles is still alive and kicking (saw him at Christmas at my mum and dads house).

I remember Bill when he was at Northgate in Basford many moons ago

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