1970's AEC Tanker KLO 400D
1970s? AEC Mammoth Minor Ski Tanker T312 on the road. Leon Haynes "Done a few miles in the passenger seat of these when the old man worked at Milborne." (Courtesy Paul Luke)
1970s? C.W. Sayer of Brough tanker FYG 534E (1967 Reg) at Appleby. (Courtesy Thelonius Monk)
1970 Eden Vale Tanker in the Fells of Westmorland
1970 AEC DGK 363H in new Eden Vale livery brings milk from Milborne to London, loaded by Ernie Haynes and driven by George Baines (Courtesy Doreen Williams)
1970 AEC DGK 363H in new Eden Vale livery brings milk from Milborne to London, loaded by Ernie Haynes and driven by George Baines (Courtesy Doreen Williams)
1970 Eden Vale Tanker DGP 963H AEC Mercury (Ergo) at South Ruislip. (Courtesy NA3T/Michael Aldread)
Late 1970's Didcot Yard. Russell Finch explains "The 'S' Reg Leyland Tanker facing was known as 'The Channel Wagon'-it had split tanks, and was owned by Humphrey Bros of Wantage. The silver reload tanker for Cricklewood was run by Cadels of Faringdon, later taken over by Bury Transport of Oxford. (Didcot Dairy Exhibition 2024, Cornerstone Arts Centre)
1971 Thames Valley Police commendation for Peter Rickford. (Courtesy Doreen Williams)
1974 Foods Division tanker drivers Peter Rickford and Bill Palmer with Tony Good, right. (Express News Summer)
1974 Mike Lucas comments "The lorry I drove at Staplemead. The fleet number for KLU7V was 4331 (I worked on milk reception at Appleby)." Dave Fane comments "purchased new in1972, so probably 1974") (Courtesy Mike Lucas)
1975-6 Exeter JFJ 170E and HFJ 522E. Ray Hall comments "Hammetts AEC tankers at Exhibition Way." (Courtesy Ray Hall)
1976 Ruyton before the new unloading bay was built. Gerald Mills comments "This Bedford KM was returned to Thompsons to be reclad after it rolled over at a farm near Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant in 1974. The vessel was later remounted on a T reg. KM and later still, remounted and increased in size to 9700 litres, on an A reg. Dodge Commando. The Leyland Clydesdale was my own vehicle, new in 1975." Steven Harley "Barry Clarke and Gerald Mills were the drivers of these tankers". (Courtesy Gerald Mills)
1977 Reg VLY 984S, Fleet 5064... Andy Wakefield comments "Here is one of the proper wagons we drove." Colin Kirkham adds "Drove those for years, all over the country. Great money. Great firm."(Courtesy Andy Wakefield)
1977 Reg Express Tanker WLW 907S, Unit 431 (Courtesy Michael Aldread)
1978 Seddon Atkinson 400 JOU 535P at Ruislip
1978 Minsterley (Joe Lyons Collection)
1979 'The driver escaped but was apparently dismissed soon afterwards...'
1980's winter, Appleby milk reception. Admin block and former egg packing station in buildings behind.(Courtesy and comments by David Rooke)
1980s Appleby milk reception, with Clydesdales and the Seddon 200 series. Iain Dargue comments "The late George Jones washing his Clydesdale, the one next to it could have been Eric Tunstall’s-the Atki was piloted by Len Potts, and the V reg Clydesdale at the far end was Tom Park’s all now departed". Finlay Sowerby adds "Looks like dairy floor (milk reception) before silo 4 and 5 were put in behind the labs". Tony Haston comments "I remember going into Appleby with my brother to collect cheese in the late 70s, when he drove for Howarth Bros from Ingleton, and then I took milk into there when I drove for Kidds in the late 80s." Nick Clifford adds "My grandfather had one of Sedden Atkinsons, he wasn’t supposed to take passengers but I got a number of rides out with him". VLY 9589, VLY 9465, CLB 989T, WLB 7?. (Courtesy Paul Luke)
1980's Volvo FL10 tanker at South Morden dairy, driver Dave Stoney (Courtesy Dave Fane)
1980s ERF Eden Vale Tanker C344 HPP
1980s Express Distribution Tanker W767 CCK
1980's Steve Rodenhurst comments "A publicity shot from the late 80's, for the introduction of the Coldstream rebranding for Express Distribution." (Courtesy Steve Rodenhurst)
1980's "Site of former Minsterley Station" (Courtesy Joe Lyons)(Courtesy Joe Lyons)
1980's Eden Vale Farm Collection Tanker KLU 25V (Courtesy Richard Gaylard)
1980's AEC Tanker YLW 702H
1980s Volvo Tanker H152 FVM
1980s Express Distribution Tanker RDZ 1880
1980's Appleby based Leyland Freighter ALT632Y collecting at Lowther Estates Farm near Penrith (Courtesy Iain Dargue)
1980's Appleby Trucksv(Courtesy Dave Fane)
1980's Express Distribution Tanker S383 MRA
1980's "Gill's Café, A303 Andover. Returning from an overnight to Express Ruislip in Cummins 240 Sedack ROY 606W" (Courtesy Andy Clarke, Devon Hauliers FB Group)
1980 Honiton, Rob Hawker's son Kevin Hawker
1980 Honiton, Bob Hawker
1980 Honiton, Bob Hawker
1980 Honiton, Rob Hawker's three sons
1981 Iain Dargue comments "This is one of the first farm collection tankers I drove for Express at Appleby. Just before my 22nd Birthday, thought it was a job for life back then. One of over 400 farms we collected in the Eden Valley, when the MMB were still on the go. Threaplands Farm Lane near Reagill, Reg JLA 825V. (Courtesy Iain Dargue)
1982 Honiton Tanker Fleet
1983 Minsterley. Gordon Ruff in his Express Dairy tanker (Courtesy Lorraine Fletcher)
1983 Minsterley. Express Dairy tanker (Courtesy Lorraine Fletcher)
1983 Reg Seddon Atkinson A32 JLH at Honiton. Mark Packer Burns comments "Honiton to Staplemead flyer!" (Courtesy Dave Fane)
1983 Minsterley. Express Dairy tanker (Courtesy Lorraine Fletcher)
1985 Reg Volvo F10 pictured in front of the Walls factory at Gloucester. Not my photo but it was the first ever Express lorry I drove-a Minsterley F10. I'd just started for an agency and they put me into Minsterley to do a run down to Walls at Gloucester. I had to do a tank swap with a Staplemead driver. He took my tank back to Staplemead, and I took his tank into Walls to be disharged. I remember it was a warm summer night, and the guy on the pumps brought me out an ice cream! The Minsterley F10's all disappeared not long after to be replaced by FL10's. (Courtesy Steve Rodenhurst)
1985 Reg Leyland Constructor C760 SOY, Fleet: 5637, seen at speed with a good lean to starboard. Martin Fowler comments "Think that one was at Honiton when new?" (Courtesy Steve Rodenhurst)
1985 Geoffrey Laycock, Health & Safety Manager at South Ruislip inspects a tanker
1985 Reg Ski Tanker GT30 with ERF Tractor C344 HPP Express Tanker 122 BYA, Fleet No 2505 (Courtesy Michael Aldread)
1986 Honiton-Rob Hawker's new Leyland DAF
1986 Reg Volvo F10 D758 RNE Tanker. "Parked up on the way back to Staplemead from Ruislip, just delivered a load of skim... those were the hay days." Dennis Martin added "I worked for Express Foods from 1982-86 at the Patchway Depot-regularly delivered to Ruislip and empty cages to Staplemead then collected a full trailer of Ski yogurt back to Bristol. We had two Dawson rentals (F12s) which were popular, not so popular were the Sed-Atk 400/401 and ERFs." (Courtesy Andy Wakefield)
1987 Honiton, Rob Hawker's grandson Aaron Hawker
1987 Rob Hawker's Tanker, Honiton
1987 Honiton Tankers
1988 Honiton
1988 Rob Hawker's milk tanker at Stowford Farm, East Budleigh
1988 Honiton Vehicle Wash (Courtesy Wendy Hawker)
1988 Honiton Tanker (Courtesy Wendy Hawker)
1988 Honiton Vehicle Wash (Courtesy Wendy Hawker)
1988 Express Distribution's bulk collection vehicles
1988 February, Ted Jennings from Honiton ran into the snow and hit a tree
1988 Express Distribution is profitable
1988 Staplemead. Andy Wakefield comments "A few motors from my days at Express Dairy, and the reload site at the 'Golden Arrow' garage, Froxfield, where my pops was the manager at the filling station. When I lived at the garage in the 1960s/70s, the tankers were pulled by AEC Mandators." Colin Kirkham adds "We had a fleet of them at Minsterley, they were worked very hard, never stopped 7-days a week" (Courtesy Andy Wakefield)
1988 Staplemead. Andy Wakefield comments "A few motors from my days at Express Dairy, and the reload site at the 'Golden Arrow' garage, Froxfield, where my pops was the manager at the filling station. When I lived at the garage in the 1960s/70s, the tankers were pulled by AEC Mandators." Colin Kirkham adds "We had a fleet of them at Minsterley, they were worked very hard, never stopped 7-days a week" (Courtesy Andy Wakefield)
1988 Reg Coldstream Volvo Tanker F776 KNO (Courtesy Michael Aldread)
1989 Loading butter-cream for Greenford at Express Crediton. Phillip Budd identifies "Express Dairy Crediton, as that is where I worked as a buttermaker." Richard Salisbury comments "Honiton Express Dairies-based 401" (Courtesy Andy Clarke, Devon Hauliers FB Group)
1989 Express Distribution receives BS5750 for its bulk farm collection operation
1989 Express Distribution Tanking Division awarded BS5750, with John Williams (General Manager), Brian Blizard (Minsterley), Jimmy Johnston (Appleby), Richard Hill (Milborne), Steve Keeling (MD), John Bowen (Nottingham), Nick Hooper (Honiton) and Helen Rees (Cardiff)
1988-90 Robin Carrington comments "A few pictures from trucks I drove when at Ruislip working for Express Distribution-Coldsteam 1988-1990: Whitefield-Cuddington-Minsterley-Staplemead-Milborne-Patchway" (Courtesy Robin Carrington)
1990's Appleby Tanker. Colin Kirkham comments "I did changeovers at Appleby from Minsterley, skim for Scotland." (Courtesy Dave Fane)
1990's Appleby milk reception, with Arthur Law in the foreground. (Courtesy and comments by David Rooke)
1990's Coldstream Tanker D511 OOP
1990s Express Distribution Volvo farm collection tanker. Billy Weir comments "That's when we were Coldstream". (Courtesy Paul Luke)
1990s? Volvo FM12 tankers (T820 KNN) at Minsterley. (Courtesy Alan Jones)
1990s Express Distribution Mercedes farm collection tanker. Billy Weir comments "That's when we were Coldstream". (Courtesy Paul Luke)
1990's Appleby Tankers (Courtesy Dave Fane)
1990's Appleby Tankers (Courtesy Dave Fane)
1990's Appleby Tankers (Courtesy Dave Fane)
1990s? Volvo F10 at Birds Eye Walls factory in Gloucester. Dennis Martin comments "Express foods Bristol had 2 Volvo F12s. DJO 662 and DJO 663 from Dawson Rentals. They used to fly-definitely an improvement on the Seddon Atkinson 400, 401 and ERFs. We use to do Honiton for the butter, Staplemead and Cuddington for yogurts and Minsterley for cream, not forgetting Ruislip." (Courtesy Thelonious Monk)
1990 Volvo FL10 G617 PNE from Coldstream calendar. Steve Hannah "When they decided drivers had to wear ties!" (Courtesy Nick Seviour)
1990 Rob Hawker's milk tanker, Honiton
1991 Minsterley. Iain Dargue comments "T521 (on the right) ended up at Appleby - horrible thing, held far too much milk, and had a useless donkey engine behind the legs for “blowing” product off" Leon Haynes adds "It used to load oil from Pura Oil, Canning Town, back to Milborne when they made salads, around 1993." (Courtesy Joe Lyons)
1991-95 TIP tanker in a lay-by just outside Honiton fully loaded with raw milk heading for Staplemead. (Courtesy Alan Saunders)
1991-95 Coldstream tanker empty, after offloading skim at Ruislip; photos taken in a lay-by en route back to Staplemead. (Courtesy Alan Saunders)
1991-95 Coldstream tanker empty, after offloading skim at Ruislip; photos taken in a lay-by en route back to Staplemead. (Courtesy Alan Saunders)
1992 Reg Volvo FL10 K963 YJA, from Tony Gardiner, working out of Minsterley. Colin Kirkham adds "... great times never to be repeated." (Courtesy Tony Gardiner)
1994 Steve Rodenhurst comments "My view of milk reception at Ruislip, after having brought a tanker from Minsterley. Anybody remember those Salford Van Hire Mercs with the EPS gearbox? What a nightmare to get them into reverse" (Courtesy Steve Rodenhurst)
1997 Reg Leyland 220. "Framed photo saved from the skip when Express Honiton closed." Phillip Budd comments "I worked for Express Dairy as well, starting with Crediton, then Honiton, North Tawton and Exeter where in the last days 110 of us were made redundant. Whilst at North Tawton we never took milk in for the first six months, and it was hoped to turn 180,000 gallons of milk into cheese per day. Charles Dale adds "I worked in the lab at North Tawton. One of my jobs was sampling the tankers." (Courtesy Richard Salisbury, Devon Hauliers FB Group)
1998 Milk Partnership Conference news (March Express News, courtesy Michael Aldread)
1999 New three-year contract for raw milk collection, for Express Distribution.(Courtesy Michael Aldread)
1999 Volvo R774 MTV. Derek Pugh comments "All the Volvo FL6 farm collection vehicles were R and S reg's" (Courtesy Steve Rodenhurst)
1999 Minsterley. "Bulk farm Volvo FL6 in action. I thought this photo was taken at Malehurst, but after a quick look at Google Earth, I'm now not so sure..." Courtesy Steve Rodenhurst)
1999 Honiton, Rob Hawker's grandson, Calum Hawker
1999 Honiton, Rob Hawker's grandson, Calum Hawker
1999 Honiton, Rob Hawker's grandson, Calum Hawker
1999 Honiton, Rob Hawker's grandson, Calum Hawker
1999/2000 Minsterley transport yard. Bulk farm Volvo FL6 transhipping to Volvo FM12 hauled tanks. This was First Milk Group milk collected under contract by Express. (Courtesy Steve Rodenhurst)
2000’s H116 VWJ and tank 538, based at Appleby when we were Coldstream, just off the Cairnryan-Larne ferry on route to Bailieborough Eire with milk from Appleby. We used to tip, wash out, and reload at Bailieborough with milk for Ashby De La Zouch. Sometimes we came back via Belfast-Stranraer or Warrenpoint-Heysham. (Courtesy Iain Dargue)
2004 Appleby tanker travelling from Lockerbie involved in an accident on the M74 near Lockerbie, driver Trevor Glover uninjured. Iain Dargue explains "He was southbound, empty after unloading milk at Lockerbie." (Express News Feb, courtesy Paul Luke)
2005 Express Tanker YR52 OCC
2005 Express Tanker DK54 MOF
2006 ARLA Tanker MX05 EEB
2023 Muller Minsterley
2023 (August) Crediton (Courtesy James Morrison)
2023 (August) Crediton (Courtesy James Morrison)
2023 (August) Crediton (Courtesy James Morrison)
2023 (August) Crediton (Courtesy James Morrison)
2023 (August) Crediton (Courtesy James Morrison)
2023 Crediton Tanker loading (Courtesy James Morrison)
Farm collection tanker. (Courtesy Paul Simm)
2026 R & H Signs comment "We had the pleasure of signwriting this restored vintage milk tanker for a private collector. After more than 5 years of hard work bringing this classic back to life, we were proud to apply the finishing touches with the Eden Vale graphics and detailing! The polished tank and fresh sign work really finish the restoration off perfectly and we’re sure it’ll be turning heads around the agricultural shows this summer! Great to be part of such a special project 👌"
2026 Restored Eden Vale tanker - Scott Braiden photo (Courtesy Thelonius Monk)
2026 Milborne reload operations re-started by Arla, using part of the old creamery site off Blandford Hill, A354. (Courtesy Olly Frampton)
2026 Milborne reload operations re-started by Arla, using part of the old creamery site off Blandford Hill, A354. (Courtesy Olly Frampton)
2026 Milborne reload operations re-started by Arla, using part of the old creamery site off Blandford Hill, A354. (Courtesy Olly Frampton)
2026 Milborne reload operations re-started by Arla, using part of the old creamery site off Blandford Hill, A354. (Courtesy Olly Frampton)
2026 Milborne reload operations re-started by Arla, using part of the old creamery site off Blandford Hill, A354. (Courtesy Olly Frampton)
