Now we all know that virtually every single British dustcart ends up in Malta (sooner or later). And not just the major players too. Tony Cauchi has sent me this rare breed resting in the shade and says: "Hi Brian, saw this refuse truck which obviously started life in the U.K.---but the question is who made these as the badge is interesting and it says Britannia trucks?"
Well Tony I'm no expert but Britannia did make refuse trucks for a shortwhile in the 90s and if I recall rightly ended up being taken over by ERF. They certainly made a very distinctive curved crew cab with a central driving position---I drove one once up at Sandbach and it was a most unusual experience too! Can anyone supply Biglorryblog with pictures or details on that truck and/or on Britannia in general? Now click through here for another Malteezer!
Once careful owner...and for a pie which design company/consultant designed the origional T45 cab? (Could be a controversial question that...)
As far I remember, Britannia was a joint venture between Seddon Atkinson who provided the chassis and mechanical parts and a firm called Jack Allen Municipal who built the cab and refuse collection bodywork. Jack Allen were previously involved with refuse trucks called SAM (Seddon Allen Municipal) which used the old Seddon 13-4 type cab, they later designed a futuristic looking cab with jack knife doors on both sides, this was used on a few Iveco based Seddon Atkinsons but was later taken up by ERF who offered it and the Marshall bus based cab on their municipal vehicles.
There was also a three axle distribution chassis by Britannia, which may have been front wheel drive, but I don't think it was developed beyond a prototype.
I think the T45 cab was designed by David Ogle of Ogle Design, who also designed a very striking looking Ogle car based on the original Mini-Cooper, the original Reliant Scimitar, an Aston-Martin design as well as a lot of industrial designs.
Further to my earlier posting, Jack Allen was taken over by Dennis Eagle in 2001, therefore they probably own the rights to the centre drive cab.
Ogle Design, perhaps, but David Ogle died in the 1960s, did he not? The company was led by Tom Karen thereafter, I think.
The original Scimitar design was based on a Daimler SP250 chassis, not Aston Martin
Hi Chris, you are right about the dates; I must have had a mental blank as I know that David Ogle was killed in a road accident in 1962, I was living in the UK at the time and remember reading about it.
I didn't put the second sentence very clearly either, it must be one of those days! David Ogle designed the Ogle SX250, which I believe was the original basis for the Reliant Scimitar, and also designed a couple of special Aston Martins
The Brittania cab was a joint Jack Allen and Seddon Atkinson development the cabs where built in Falkirk by the Alexander group and delivered to Oldham for assembly on the Seddon Chassis. Jack Allen was responsible for the design and marketing, and if you had visited Jack Allen during this period you would understand the Brittania name as there was a portrait of the queen in the boardroom with a large picture of a dust cart going into Buckingham palace on one side and one coming out on the other. in 1989 Bass used this cab to make a front wheeled drive 6x2 with Chassis developments with a reversed engine and stacked ZF plant gearbox driving the front axle with 17.5" wheels and a rear steer on the rear and to finish it offer a Boalloy local liner body as one man dray, the vehicle was based at Britvic in Tamworth for many years in service. Easy entry- high payload low deck height was the reason for the development. The next JA cab was the central position leader but under IVECO management SA gave up the project and the cab was taken on by ERF along side the Marshalls cab that ERF had also acquired for this sector.
hello Vic, would those have been the JPS Aston Martins, with a plethora of lights over the tail? I think the number of brake lights varied according to how hard you were braking!
Yes that's right, Chris and they were designed in 1972 so of course that was long after David Ogle's death. I think they had about 22 stop/tail lights.
I must ask you, Chris, are you related to the 5LW Gardners?