SKIPS, CONTAINERS & PRODUCTS Historical skip lorry tales
Being an open and diverse publication which highlights the positive aspects of an industry which often gets looked upon dimly, we love nothing more than when we hear your real-life stories.
This month, we were contacted by Mr. John Hopcroft who believes that his father, Harry Hopcroft was the second person in England to own a skip lorry. So, for something a little different for this issue, we decided to take a trip down memory lane and imagine what skip life was like back in the sixties. John says, “My father, Harry could have
well been the second person in England to have a skip lorry. It was a 1965 model TK Bedford and, as a kid, I can remember dad driving around with my two brothers and my sister up front, while I would sleep on the shelf at the back of the cab – it used to get nice and warm there.” The historical roots of the story start from
overseas. Harry tells us, “After George Cross [owner of London based motor company George Cross and Co] retired to France, he was on his yacht in the harbour at Cannes and saw a lorry on the quay lifting containers on-and-off ships. Being an old motor man, he checked it out and found it to be a Bennes Marrel skip lorry. “They worked on a double action ram and
were made by French and German firms who had got together to make skip lorry backs. George ordered one and had it put onto an S-type Bedford chassis at his yard in Hanwell. On the front of George’s tippers, it said ‘Here comes Cross’ - and ‘There goes Cross’ was written on the back. “In the early sixties, I used to go into
George Cross’s yard quite a lot and became friendly with the Transport Manager, Len Gilks. One day, Len told me he was leaving and was going to make skip lorry backs - I said that I’d have the first one from him. He called his firm Vapsco. “A while later, Len rang and said he had one
ready to be put on a chassis. It was going to cost £2,500 – I said I’d give him £2,000 for it. As it was the first one, Len agreed to let me have it for that – but I had to find a chassis for it to go on. “So, I went over to Gregory’s of Uxbridge
and got a deal on a brand new Bedford TK tipper chassis and Len fitted the skip lorry back onto it. “Now,” he said, “you have to get some skips!” “A friend of mine, Brian Sherwood was a
metal basher and I ordered ten skips from him for 50 quid each. He made them and I started using them straight away – but Brian
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said he couldn’t make any more at that price, as it didn’t even cover his costs! “This is how, in 1965, I
became the second person in the country to start using the modern- style skip lorry and skips – of course, George Cross was the first. In fact, I still have the original skip back chassis of that lorry – the 1965 model TK Bedford.” John still continues to
tell the story of his father’s first skips and reminisces,
“All of my dad’s children grew up knowing this tale. Meanwhile, in the early ‘70s, my brother Harry Junior was in a café and overheard a driver saying that his guv’nor was the second person to have this type of skip lorry in 1966. “On hearing this, my brother asked him to
step outside … and showed him Dad’s 1965 TK in the car park. “Following in Dad’s footsteps, I am still
driving in the waste game today, but I only wish the roads were as quiet as they were in the sixties!”
SHM December 2015/January 2016 Issue 121 Register your email for news and updates at
www.skiphiremagazine.co.uk
Top: The only surviving colour photo of Dad’s TK, with my two brothers and my sister playing around in ‘tin ribs’ – a car that Dad made from scrap.
Above: The Bedford TK when it was brand new and still had its primer coat – and the skip had just been picked up.
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