First London Depot - Lawrie Atkinson

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RonaldHewlett

Rochester Row

Post by RonaldHewlett »

Hello Lawrie

I joined DTels in July 1973 and started work at Rochester Roiw. The move from Rooms 6 & 7 must have been a few months before then as the workshop was well established by the time I started. Dave Cahill was the SWT. Our work consisted of London Fire Brigade main scheme and mobile repair/maintenance and Regional Crime Squad vehicles plus other work such as the STC 101 in the Prime Minister's official car. I was not there all that long as Rochester Row was transferred to Sidcup and I was transferred to London Region at CCE Harrow.

See you again at some point.

Ronald Hewlett
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David Rumens
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Post by David Rumens »

Steve,

Good one, as it bought back quite a few memories of Cranbrook in the late 1960's.

73's
Dave
Dave Rumens
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Steven Cole
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Invitation to Comment or Expand Original Article

Post by Steven Cole »

Hello Dave

Thanks for posting your comments. I have linked the Personal Recollections article page to this forum topic in the hope that it will encourage others to expand or comment on Lawrie's original article.

Steven....
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David Rumens
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First London Depot - Lawrie Atkinson

Post by David Rumens »

Hello Lawrie,

For info - Back in the 1960's there was a radio scheme for the London Fire services. It had different channels and ops rooms for the different London areas. One of the main sites south of the river was maintained by Cranbrook and I believe the mobiles by the fire service themselves. We used to check the scheme each morning on the pan and call them to see if they had any faults to report. The Cranbrook Kent team was responsible for maintenance on week days and a rostered team over the weekends. No call out in them days!

Once a central London workshop was set up Cranbrook ceased to be responsible for the maintenance. This was good news for us Cranbrook people because, generally, there were heavy traffic delays getting to the site.

Good to see you in print :)

73's
Dave.
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