1948 Blantyre Scavenging Truck

During mid November 2014, Blantyre man Gordon Cook contacted me with this photo saying, “I came across this wee photograph the other day, I got it a few years back, it’s from India. It shows a brand new bin lorry for Blantyre in 1948. It was known as a Thornycroft ‘Nippy’ lorry. The Indian connection comes in because I think a Bombay company bought the designs from Thornycroft and began to produce their own versions to the British plans. The company was called the Hind Motor Corporation, Hind cut short from Hindustan of course.

These were the days when the bin man went round into the back yard of the houses and lifted the big metal bin on to his shoulder, then with one hand slid up the cover on the side of the truck and dumped the contents over his shoulder, then returned the bin round the back and put the lid back on.

Although the original photo had the Indian company stamp on it, I believe this truck would have still been made in England, but I would have to check when they sold the designs. Hope you find it of some interest”