NATURAL PROGRESSION

In last month’s issue of Heritage Commercials, we introduced you to Arthur Brent who made the progression from traditional to motorised horse power in the mid ‘20s and eventually set up as an owner driver at Oxenhope in West Yorkshire in 1947. It was to be the local wool traffic which kept Arthur busy and this was primarily as a sub-contractor for the large operation of Jack Bell. While Bell’s were to have their long distance fleet nationalised into British Road Services in the late ‘40s, Arthur kept his head down and was to actually double his fleet when his son Clifford joined him after doing his National Service seeing action in the early ‘50s conflict in Malaya.

Our guide through the Brent story is Clifford’s son Richard. And while he wasn’t born until 1961, the memories of the stories told by both his father and grandfather are as fresh as if he just heard them yesterday. Sadly, his father’s Commer two-stroke four-wheeler of the late ‘50s had come and gone before Richard was born but everyone who saw or even heard that little flyer go by will never forget it. Richard reckons the father and son partnership bought the motor simply because it was available. Hard to believe, but waiting time for almost any new wagon back then was often counted in years so no wonder the new Commer UWX 361 was cherished when it did arrive. As well as the conversion of the body into a wool wagon, £400 of extras went onto this TS3 and Clifford loved it: “Apparently it was the first wagon in Keighley