Truck & Driver July 2019^85
RETRO TRUCK
have been my main customer.”
Les has been involved in the
game ever since the days he
travelled with his dad in the
1950s when they were on
livestock. “I spent every spare
minute with him on the wagon. I
can remember a ‘Chinese Six’
KV ERF he had – the brakes
failed on it at Birtley one day –
but I loved the Commer
two-stroke he then got.”
You’d think it was natural he’d
follow his dad onto the road, but
he didn’t. “He was dead against it- and very strong-willed,” recalls
Les with a smile, “so I learnt to
be a coachbuilder with the
Morpeth-based firm of George
Hallowell, which made everything
from horse boxes and cattle
wagons to travelling shops.”
It proved good experience for
young Les but once he got to 21,
he did casual work on a weekend
for his dad’s firm, Redpath of
Wooler (which also had a depot
at Amble), mainly on livestock
and even driving the Commer.
But it wasn’t until he got to 30
that he started on with Redpath
Replacement 320 engine came out of a Leyland Roadtrain 20 years agofull time. “I’d married Ann. We
were to have three girls, Clare,
Sarah and Amy, and I realised
there was far more money to be
made in wagon driving.”Nodding off
Les was rated as one of
Redpath’s best livestock drivers
but he didn’t like the night work
involved. “A lot of livestock was
moved during the night,” he
recalls, “as we were travelling
between Thurso and Devon or
Kent. But once it got past
midnight, I found myself nodding
off. I tried to get them to put me
on days but they wouldn’t, so Ilooked around for options.”
The pathway to becoming an
owner-driver was explored while
working with Neil Spowart as
self-employed, while Les always
thanks R Durham & Sons (Bobby
Durham) for bringing up its
Teesside shunter to the
company’s Morpeth depot so he
could give it the once-over.
“GAJ 794N was one of the
last Borderers to be built. It had
knocked around a bit, but it was
mechanically sound and they only
wanted £600 for it. And it got me
going for the first couple of years.”
You don’t have to enjoy Les’s
company for too long to discoversomeone who is totally
professional but also totally at
ease with himself; his job, his
motor and life in general. He’s a
quiet, unassuming guy whose
Northumbrian accent sounds
almost as good as the exhaust
note of his 320 Cummins or the
fabulous whine of his nine-speed
Fuller ’box. We arrive at our
drop-off point in the sunny
backwaters near Chollerford
about 30 minutes before the
installation team, allowing time for
Les to re-tell the tale of VGR 808V.
“Of course, I wish I’d
never sold that first
Borderer but we were