Local hauliers (coach, lorry, etc.)

My dad worked for Red House in the late 60s and the name Tommy Venn definitely rang a bell. Unfortunately, I know nothing about him really either!

Where can I find these archives please? I've entered 'Red House MS archive' into google and get all sorts but not what I'm looking for. Thanks

I also remember the name Tommy Venn from back in the 50s and yes he had some connection with RHMS. I was a friend of Alf Howes in those days who also had a transport business and it must have been through Alf that I met Tommy. There was another guy who mixed with Alf and Tommy, his name was Costelloe but I have forgotten his first name.

Tommy Venn gets a couple of mentions here

During the ten years of the fifties, I travelled with Red House coaches hundreds of times, some weeks 5-6 times with a driver called Harry - can't remember surname, spoke of Tommy Venn often. The coach out of Pool Meadow on other side of park, facing Hippodrome, next to house opposite the cafe.

Our "Famous Coventrians" list includes: Venn, Tom Businessman (1900-1976) Born in Red House PH, Stoney Stanton Road. Founded Red House Motor Services (RHMS) in 1919. Took over Bunty and merged with BTS and Godiva

Talking of old hauliers does anybody remember the three Wheatley brothers who used Bedford TKs and KMs in the seventies, I believe they were good rugby players as well.

Both Tommy Venn and his brother were good athletes in Godiva Harriers. They were also in the breakaway Coventry Harriers before they formed their own club, the Red House Harriers!!! Tommy Venn retired to Brighton.

I remember the Wheatleys, all built like the proverbial, they lived down the road from us and used to drink in the Mount Pleasant across the road from their yard. Funny, there was never much trouble in the Mount in those days, unlike the Brewer and Baker up the road.

I worked at C&E Motors in Canley many years ago and the Wheatleys used to bring their lorries in for repair a lot, they were Bedford trucks after all! One day they rolled into the yard for a running repair and I jumped up into the cab only to have the inner door handle come away in my hand as the door slammed to, at the same moment I felt hot breath on my neck and heard a deep growl. I turned around to see they had left their enormous Alsatian dog asleep on the parcel shelf behind the driver's seat. The dog now awake, due to me slamming the door stared down at me, his breakfast, much to the hilarity of old man Wheatley. "Whatever you do don't make any sudden moves", the old fellow said. I took that to mean that the dog would attack but it was just his way of ensuring I didn't move until he had summoned everyone out of the workshop to see me locked in his cab, petrified, and trying to wind down the window with my right leg without raising the suspicions of the dog. Eventually with the whole workshop full of mechanics out in the yard bent over in laughter I launched myself out of the window and felt the dog's teeth grab a trouser leg as I hurtled towards the ground to a shout from the foreman of "and they're off". If the Wheatleys were a scary bunch in the Mount Pleasant their Alsatian was a bloody nightmare in their truck!

I am interested if any one knows the livery of Canley Car Deliveries lorries

Beige with dark brown lettering when my father worked there

Talking lorry livery, does anyone know what colours the Armstrong Whitworth fleet were?

V J Pike transport were in Siskin Drive we used to do the maintenance on the buildings in the early 70s. Johnnie Reason (ex speedway rider) was the transport manager at the time.

V J Pike I remember well. Mousley Trucking from Siskin Drive, I worked for. Anyone remember H&H from Kenilworth - became BRS after nationalisation, my dad drove for them - Brady's Transport, Swiftways, Masterways Car Delivery, Canley Car Delivery.