Truck & Driver UK – September 2019

RICHARD READ (TRANSPORT) LTD

(^36) August 2019 Truck & Driver
and his wife Amelia ran
a mixed fleet of more
than 80 trucks and also,
as Richard Read (Commercials)
Ltd, became a main distributor
for ERF. A sizeable fleet of heavy
recovery vehicles was operated
by the company too.
In the late 1970s Read
branched out into warehousing

• the first warehouse was built
  on its existing six-acre site at
  Longhope – and during the
  1980s this became an important
  part of the business. In 1995 a
  4.5-acre site was acquired at
  Cinderford to house a new
  71,000sq ft warehouse.

Move to MAN

For almost 50 years ERFs

formed the core of the Richard

Read fleet but when the

manufacturer was taken over by

MAN in 2000, Richard Read

(Commercials) Ltd became an

MAN Truck Centre and the fleet

began switching to MAN. More

recently a number of Euro 6 Daf

XF units joined the fleet too.

A livery change was

introduced on new trucks from

around 2008, replacing the

traditional-style two-tone blue

with a red chassis. The new Dafs

marked another change as they

were predominantly white.

The closure of Richard Read

(Transport) Ltd marks the end of

a transport dynasty that has

Among the last Richard Read trucks were numerous Euro 6 Daf XFs bought in 2015

been synonymous with the

Forest of Dean for more than a

century. Richard’s brothers,

George, Ivor and Harold, all had

lifelong careers in the haulage

business. Older brother George

ran his large fleet at Mitcheldean

1948 ERF, photographed at Longhope in 1964

Late ’60s Rolls-powered twin-steer ERF

Atkinson; Read also ran Albion, Dodge, Leyland

Read Douglas 4x4 rescues an eight-wheel ERF

Richard Read (Transport) Ltd

Richard Read (Transport) Ltd

until it was nationalised in 1948,

becoming 40G Forest of Dean

Group. It returned to private

ownership in 1954.

On the death of George Snr

in 1962, his son George Merry

Read took over but in 1965 it was

returned to BRS and George

M Read later set up a separate

operation running bulk tippers

from Wilderness Quarry.

Sadly, George M Read, who

was awarded the MBE in 1986,

died in May 2009.