This year's fleet replacement and addition programme lifted off at the beginning of April with new trucks from MAN (below left) and Mercedes Benz (above right). 'Grange Concorde', is the name given to the latest MAN, which is the 28th TGA model to join our ranks and comes complete with the Telematics satellite data information system.

Mercedes trucks are also well represented in the fleet, but 'Grange Comet', is the first of a number of Axor models due to arrive this season. The Axor is no nonsense, short / medium distance haulage vehicle, which has a good reputation for reliability and features a well proven, simplified mechanical layout. We have high expectations for these lorries and the ever-watchful eye of Stuart Allison our Fleet Engineer will closely monitor their performance.

A long-standing tradition of our fleet is the naming of the general haulage trucks with the 'Grange' prefix, which was started 35 years ago by the late John Mitchell, the company founder. This year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of man powered flight, we intend to name all the vehicles after well-known aircraft.

Rear View Mirror

This time round we feature 1965, the year when the well known phrase "Thunderbirds are go", was first uttered, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who, dominated the charts and those very yellow, indestructible, 'Tonka Toys for real tough boys', appeared in the shops. Back home in Grangemouth, John Mitchell was in his ninth year of business and after much hard work, had built his fleet up to a total of six lorries, which included this AEC Mercury, pictured left. Long distance haulage was the core business, even 38 years ago with London, Bristol and the South Coast being regular, weekly destinations.

Life on the road was much tougher then, with very little in the way of motorways and bypasses to speed up a journey. Drivers had to also have an excellent knowledge of the location of digs and lodgings then, as sleeper cabs were unheard of!

Being a local family company who generally employs a lot of local people, it goes without saying that we've known some of our staff for a very long time indeed. Such is the case with Stuart McDougall, one of our drivers, who is pictured (right) in 1965. From a very young age, Stuart seems to have learned the subtle art of schmoozing with the fairer sex! For the benefit of our female readers, we have also included a more recent picture of this well-known smooth operator!