We sourced the plant equipment from local plant hire companies, customers looking for spares or reconditioning too add to their hire fleet soon became regulars. One loyal customer who would buy machines from us was a gentlemen named John Hayes. Working from Bristol, he owned a company called JFH Plant, after buying the machines he would then go on to either refurbish them for his hire fleet or cannibalize them for spare parts. I remember that he used to come with his lorry & trailer to load up some of those items and also rummage through our old tea chests of spares (which we still use today) to see what he could find. After sifting through the chests he would lay all the items out on the yard, and in his West Country accent would ask “How much for the lot Wyn?” and would always agree to the figure I gave. On one occasion he came in a 1949 Ford E83W 10 cwt pick up with vintage vehicle livery on the side displaying an advertisement for 'Saunders & Ralph.' He would load it up to the maximum, and off down the M5 back to Bristol he would go. Sometimes he would even make this trip on a late Friday afternoon, which as you can guess may not have been the best time to go! On one of these trips he got as far as Walsall when he heard a strange sound from the back end of the truck. It was a mudwing rubbing on the tyre! With vehicles of this age you would always carry tools with you, so he simply removed the mudwing and this sorted his problem (I think he may have been a few pounds over weight). As John was a loyal customer for a long time he may pop up in other posts of ours, Wyn spoke to him recently and he is still doing well!

We've got some exciting projects coming in the near future so keep your eyes peeled! If there is anything you want to see from L&S, any stories you would like to hear please do drop us a message on any of our social media sites! We are always looking for new ways to provide you with interesting content, and if you ever have anything to add drop us a comment down below!

To give you an idea of the pick up truck, this is a 1957 Ford E83W Refurbished Pickup. Wyn remembers the 1949 Pickup as having a back body / bed that didn't lay flat until it was loaded. The original truck was a dark green colour, this photo can also give you an idea of the vintage livery that would have been painted on the side of the body.

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