Lennie’s Little Lady
Lennie Waters, father of Neal Waters MD and grandfather of Hannah & Tom talks about his pride and joy, now known as ‘Lennie’s Little Lady’.
His 1946 Austin K4 six cylinder petrol engine truck better know
n in it’s day as a ‘Birmingham Bedford’ due to it’s distinct similarities to a well-known Luton lookalike. Four speed crash gearbox with a top speed, which the driver can barely sustain, of 43 MPH.
750-gallon Whale 1946 ‘as was’ tank and fittings complete with a genuine 1946 nightsoil bucket.
1946 Petter single cylinder petrol ‘donkey’ engine driving a 1933 Hammond exhauster.
This Austin K4 now sits as the Grandfather in a 
modern day fleet of purpose built vacuum tankers operated by Waters Waste Services Ltd.
Waters Waste operate 20 purpose built tanker units from depots at Stokesley, Doncaster, Newcastle Upon Tyne and Milton Keynes providing a vacuum tankering service to the construction, commercial and domestic sectors.
Nice restoration Lennie, I hear that you have also now bought a Bedford K type bus PFF 777 that was at one time at the Lakeland Motor Museum. What are your plans for this?
Here is the history I have on it:
New in 1952 as JFH 760 to Rotol, Cheltenham (non PSV works bus)
?/?? Brian Burge, Highbridge till 9/93 when it was offered for sale on his death
7/94 re registered PFF 777 (JFH 760, is currently on a Ford Fusion Zetec Climate Tdci (5 Door Hatchback).
by 6/96 Ted Heslop, Hexham
by 11/97 R Dixon, Annfield Plain
by 6/99 B Barker, Morecambe
by 10/99 T Bullas, Mellor
3/02 Peter Foster, Darlington t/a Albert Hill Commercials
(photo Albert Hill Commercials)
Very few K types were bodied as buses in the UK, Spurling of Hendon were not a main stream bus builder and tended to specialise in crew buses & ambulances rather than full PSV’s