Bang for His Bucks

Eric Tranter started out hauling ordnance for the Ministry of Defence; 43 years and three million miles later, he is still at the wheel – of a Volvo FM400 8x4 for Besblock

- Colin Barnett

When you’re starting out in the world of work, it pays to try out a few things before settling on what suits you. That’s exactly what young Eric Tranter did at the turn of the ’60s. He sampled a few options before he found a job that obviously suited him as he’s still doing it today, 43 years and over three million miles later.

Born in 1943 in Dawley, Shropshire, Eric has spent most of his life around Much Wenlock and married a local girl, Helen. On leaving school he got a job as a civilian driver at the MoD ordnance depot at Donnington, near what is now Telford. Needless to say, shifting things that are designed to make a big bang demands smooth and precise driving, skills that have served Eric well to this day. In fact, he got his next job, moving steel within a works at nearby Wellington, because they were struggling to find someone with the right manoeuvring skills.

He stayed there until he was 21 years old, when the licence he gained with the military could be used in the civilian world, and went to work for Coalmoor Basalt, which made concrete blocks, at Little Wenlock. Eric recalls the work was all handball but he enjoyed it as it kept him fit.

April fuel day

However, on 1 April 1974, a date that has fuelled annual jokes ever since, he went to drive a nearly new Leyland six-wheeler, OEH 305M, for John Huxley, whose Besblock business was just 18 months old. The Leyland was fitted with what was then a pretty revolutionary productivity aid, a lorry-mounted crane.