Comments on: Roy Wild, Van Boy & Driver

By: Colin Baxter

Colin Baxter — Sat, 11 Jul 2020 01:28:11 +0000

great memories mate,was a van boy there 1959 /60,those days were special…can’t remember my drivers name now,he was from Hackney…. most were crazy driving them scammels haha love to catch up with anyone else who was there about that time…

By: keith lovegrove

keith lovegrove — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 19:52:08 +0000

I was a van boy at Bgate for 3 years before I passed my driving test over at kings cross with instructor clarkee, my main driver when I was a van boy at Bgate was Tommy Craig who was also a nutter like most of the drivers, the van boys used to sit in the canteen and await a driver to come and call, I remember the the main dish in that canteen was cottage pie and it was very good unfortunately others never felt the same and occasional a lump from someone else plate would smack u on the back of your head thrown from quite a distance. There was a driver Harry Spall he was the vulnerable (wines cigs +) driver and if you went out with him you went to places like Braughing on the Buntingford to St Margarets (closed) branch line to deliver vulnerable for the local station woman to place in a cage, I think Harry Spall fancied her, he drove like a ct to get there. There was always fun on the hill up to the weighbridge in Bgat things like putting the trailer brake on without the driver knowing or tying the back of the trailer with sheet rope to the metal wall protector, the driver got a shock as he pulled away, further I was out with Tommy Craig one day and someone had put a fish behind the radiator in the scammel imaging when the radiator got hot! Alfie Shoot was the time keeper, and at the end of the days work we had to take the old scammel back to Sclater Street arches on the way we would go along Braithwaite Street were shops sold Birds (feathered type) on this Street we would turn off the ignition and quickly turn the ignition on and whilst doing this hit the brake this would cause a backfire and wipe out loads of budgerigars being sold in those shops and then answer to the complaints. on arrival at the arches for overnight parking attempts were made to drive the old Scammel up a coal pile. At the start of work there would be a hope you would get a Comma 4 wheel unit 3.5 tons rather than a stingray or a 3 wheel Scammel, who wants to be seen in the latter two vehicles, for some reason the stingray always put the trailer on its knees when trying to coupler up.
? O’Brien was the Docks driver and occasionally I went out with him all around the warehouses on collections but he was a little to serious with his pipe when we hollowed out the window at some young bird he used to look embarrassed. To all the van boys I say Hi mates and like to hear from you all especially Roy Savage and migray whom was one big laugh,
At the date of the Fire I was gutted, sad and felt lonely, I was given a district relief drivers job delivering goods all over Essex working for both passenger and goods from different stations
Well that’s it know but please contact me on 07902 150107 or facebook lets get a book written up. keith lovegrove

By: Tim Allison

Tim Allison — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 01:14:30 +0000

Hi Roy,

What a lovely depiction of your life and work at Bishopsgate, and thanks for posting all those photos! One question I had about that great photo of your Dad at Spitalfields goods depot. Is he standing in front of the wagon hoists they used to use to move wagons up and down from the viaduct above, do you know?

Tim

By: Judy Vigon (Simmonds)

Judy Vigon (Simmonds) — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 13:26:57 +0000

Such an interesting article and fantastic photos. I don’t live in London anymore but my husband was born and bred in the East End. I knew Roy some 45 years ago and he was always great at story-telling – amazing I came across this story by chance and glad I did.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 23:24:26 +0000

warms my heart to read from oldschool londoners here and there

By: Stephen Barry

Stephen Barry — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 16:11:09 +0000

Great story and pictures that take me back. As a schoolboy in the 1950s I travelled by 647 trolleybus from Stoke Newington to my secondary school in Whitechapel and was fascinated by the ‘swarms’ of brown Scammell Scarabs buzzing around the Bishopsgate goods depot and surrounding streets. Sad to see the depot in its present derelict state. Best wishes to you Roy.

By: derrick porter

derrick porter — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 21:02:10 +0000

From a mind that both stores and evokes the so necessary details which are the mainspring for accurate historical reportage.
The Bishopsgate goods yard served both the local and wider community well in providing jobs for unskilled labour.

I thank my long term friend Roy for sharing this…

Derrick Porter

By: Adrian Jackson

Adrian Jackson — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 20:27:03 +0000

This stuff is so important. Thanks GA for gathering it in one place. More testimony please along with the photos which are also wonderful

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 13:37:19 +0000

Have I ever told you ? Did you know ? the yard still open on fashion street was called ? Blacklyon yard? There in the early 19th c the Scammel family arrived as harness makers…they progressed to hackney cab makers, and after the first war, the eldest son who had been in the engineers returned and invented a coupling between engine and carriage…the fore runner of the articulated lorry,,,similar to a gun carriage..I like to think…the firm expanded, making among other things, the Scarab as seen in these photos, expanding …first into the covered Arab market opposite, then … moving their main factory to a site outside of Watford, but they maintained a works at Fashion Street for repair, in those buildings until the late fifties. I like to think of that narrow street as inspiration for the articulated vehicle..Anyway Scammels was absorbed by the company which became Vosper Thorneycroft, concentrating on Defence…it is interesting to consider, that even in the so called poorest days of Dorset Street, that nearby there were concerns, very much cutting edge.

By: Ellen Moody

Ellen Moody — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 11:12:36 +0000

Maybe one reason these earlier times so appeal to us is that they required so many people interacting with one another. Places teemed with life. Everyone doing things with things. Nowadays it seems the world’s work requires so few people and things in comparison that it feels unpeopled, bare in comparison.

Ellen