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Lucas Yuasa batteries Forman’s Road Sparkhill

  • Thread starter Thread starter marcus12
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marcus12

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I was fortunate to work at yuasa batteries(lucas) but after it was taken over completely by yuasa.I have many happy memories of working there,and met some right charactors that I will never forget,I,ve laughted till it hurt,we used to have so much fun,but worked hard at the same time.It was such a shame it closed down,and I miss all the people i worked with.I,ve yet to find another job which I like as much,but i,m still looking,but all the good factories no longer exist.:(
 
Yuasa,,Lucas,s an Ok place

Hello & Welcome Marcus:)

You,re sure right aarh kid,, It was a good place & Ok people too :)
Worked there (contractor.. Elec Motors/Transformers etc)
knew a few of the guys there, played in football teams with them,
Micky & Peter Farrel are two i remember,, good blokes,

Pity it closed but same as Dunlop, H P Sauce & loads more eh!
Hope you find somewhere even half as good, then you be fine,
Cheers Marcus,,, John Y :cool:
 
Whatcha John,

I was down Lower Essex street the other day taking photos of Weatheroak Press. It was like a ghost town.
Have you seen what they've done to the pub across the road?
I was too scared to go in without my handbag.:457:
 
Print a few fivers four me three

Whatto Ace Langy,,:) Ooh! watch that white Horse,,
nayh lads,, ifya know what i mean,, lol JohnY boyo
 
If you need a battery for you car, mower, mobility scooter, and other tools etc, the Factory Battery unit on the Hay Hall retail site, Kings rd, Tyseley, has discounted prices, very helpful ex Yuasa employee runs it.
 
:DDave so where are the photos,happy days at the W O P what would big Pat think of The White Horse now?what color is it pink:PMossy
 
lencops said:
If you need a battery for you car, mower, mobility scooter, and other tools etc, the Factory Battery unit on the Hay Hall retail site, Kings rd, Tyseley, has discounted prices, very helpful ex Yuasa employee runs it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reminder - I bought from him a few years back but not needed one since.
 
Mossy said:
:DDave so where are the photos,happy days at the W O P what would big Pat think of The White Horse now?what color is it pink:PMossy
Click to expand...


I used to live at the White Horse in 1965/66. My mom,Vera Shaw, was the licencee and dad used to work at P J Evans in Essex Street.
Before running the pub,my mom worked at The Queens Tavern on the corner of Essex Street and Inge Street.
 
This appeal is in the Birmingham Mail today, but i don`t think batteries were made at Shirley it was alternators & dynamos. Len.
 
They have the road correct Len it is the area they have wrong.

Foremans Road Shirley is what they have put. Makes you think; would you use a company that did not even know where the place was situated to handle anything on your behalf?

It gets worse as they appear to roll up The Lucas Factory in Foremans Road, Great Hampton Street, Mere Green, Shirley. I have heard of a scattergun approach but this is plain stupid IMHO.
 
Maybe this unfortunate gentleman, RIP ,was a contractor who carried out Machine moving, factory cleaning & removing rubbish from factory sites and was not on a Lucas factory payroll but was employed by a firm of contractors of which there were several who worked at different factories ie Gt King St, Gt Hampton St, Formans Rd, Shaftmoor Lane etc and Lucas were responsible for the Health & Safety of ALL workers on their factory sites. Len.
 
That could be Len but then would they not list each one seperately with the correct address rather than a composite that refers ot none specifically? It just looks sloppy to me.
 
lencops said:
This appeal is in the Birmingham Mail today, but i don`t think batteries were made at Shirley it was alternators & dynamos. Len.
Click to expand...

Absolutely NO batteries made in Shirley (Marshall Lake Road)
Dynamo's and Starters in Shaftsmoor Lane, Hall Green.
Foremans Road is in Sparkhill, and is /was the home of Lucas / Yuasa Batteries, now just 'Yuasa' and in South Wales. I think the automotive batteries may have ceased, but I'm not sure.

The auto batteries started suffering with the cheap imports, and even though Yuasa started to try and pay Brummies what they could get away with in tropical climes, and treat them like third world employees, the result was a totally disatisfied and demotivated workforce. Not only that, but quality control went to pot, and they started using materials rejected as below quality first time round, and then used when fresh supplies were running behind the production lines.
The only way they dared to send out samples to customers, was by processing them in the Laboratory, and picking out the best ones. Standard production quality was unreliable.

How do I know? I worked in the Lab, and my back was crippled by trying to do testing, AND do production of sample batteries. Having to lift them by hand, into freezers, ovens, and water baths finally crippled me. I am now in a wheelchair. Try lifting an 80Kg battery up over an edge, and lowering it into a water bath, and you'll know how my back feels.

Sorry people, Lucas Batteries died long before Foremans Road did.

ceebee
 
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Hi guys
yes i agree i have bought from him as well some time ago
cheap as chips , great batteries ; great prices
no -one can compete his prices
astonion ;
 
P.S. on the theme of asbestos.
Lucas used their own employess in the asbestos area, before the dangers were known. I worked with one chap who worked in that area at one time, and he said the place was just a cloud of dust.
His name was John Costello(?), and he died with lung cancer a couple of years back. Surprise, surprise.
Contractors doing installation work would be just as vulnerable though.

Even at the end, conditions could be bad in this factory. The charging departments were MUD floors in parts. Not REAL mud you understand, but concrete disolved by Sulphuric acid, which could easily be ankle deep in places. Sections were restored during works holidays, but by the time they had removed charging benches, then removed the mud, laid new concrete and reinstalled the benches, the concrete had no time to mature before the acid started again. Meanwhile other areas of the floor were hot on the heels of the area just repaired, so there was ALWAYS muddy floors in some area's.
They finally (under Yuasa) built a brand new charging department, but it was getting hot on the heels of the old ones when I left.

ceebee
 
i worked there in (93) to (2006) 13 -14 yrs and it was the best job i ever had ! good money good lads, good laff all over i was gutted when it closed and still am now 2011 i will never forget lucas , lucas yuasa.
 
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birksee said:
P.S. on the theme of asbestos.
Lucas used their own employess in the asbestos area, before the dangers were known. I worked with one chap who worked in that area at one time, and he said the place was just a cloud of dust.
His name was John Costello(?), and he died with lung cancer a couple of years back. Surprise, surprise.
Contractors doing installation work would be just as vulnerable though.

Even at the end, conditions could be bad in this factory. The charging departments were MUD floors in parts. Not REAL mud you understand, but concrete disolved by Sulphuric acid, which could easily be ankle deep in places. Sections were restored during works holidays, but by the time they had removed charging benches, then removed the mud, laid new concrete and reinstalled the benches, the concrete had no time to mature before the acid started again. Meanwhile other areas of the floor were hot on the heels of the area just repaired, so there was ALWAYS muddy floors in some area's.
They finally (under Yuasa) built a brand new charging department, but it was getting hot on the heels of the old ones when I left.

ceebee
Click to expand...
I worked in all the Lucas factories as an electrical contractor during the 60s- 70s as a factory the health&safety were very good compared to others Formans Rd was the worst one.Any large jobs that their Maintenance Dept.couldn,t handle they sent for the main men:D normally the dirty work while they rested on their benches and worked Sat.& Sun.morning at time and a half & double time doing nothing it was well known to us as we could see the writing on the wall that they would be the ones out of a job in the long run.You must remember that Asbestos was rife in all the plant rooms and Boiler House(In those days the Monkey muck men used to mix it in a tin bath like plaster I think they must have all died and how I have survived working along side them I don,t know) the charging shop as you say was pretty gruesome to work in we would be supplied with overalls on a Monday, 2 days later brown spots would appear all over them by Thursday there would be holes all over them Friday they were dropping off you in tatters mind you we did get free milk to combat the lead in the air.Oh happy days I want to go to Fradley the store I loved it there. Dek
 
Hi Birksee,

I am investigating Lucas batteries and, in particular, working conditions at Foreman's Road, Birmingham. I would love to chat to you about life at Lucas and Foreman's Road as it is clear you have a good recollection of working life there.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Ronan
 
ladylinda said:
I used to live at the White Horse in 1965/66. My mom,Vera Shaw, was the licencee and dad used to work at P J Evans in Essex Street.
Before running the pub,my mom worked at The Queens Tavern on the corner of Essex Street and Inge Street.
Click to expand...
What is your dads name please. I also worked at PJ Evans in Essex street. Steve.
 
My late Dad Reg Breakwell worked in the Die casting section I believe at Lucas Foreman's Road just after the war and he left with a colleague to set up there own Die-casting firm in Ladywood.
 
birksee said:
Absolutely NO batteries made in Shirley (Marshall Lake Road)
Dynamo's and Starters in Shaftsmoor Lane, Hall Green.
Foremans Road is in Sparkhill, and is /was the home of Lucas / Yuasa Batteries, now just 'Yuasa' and in South Wales. I think the automotive batteries may have ceased, but I'm not sure.

The auto batteries started suffering with the cheap imports, and even though Yuasa started to try and pay Brummies what they could get away with in tropical climes, and treat them like third world employees, the result was a totally disatisfied and demotivated workforce. Not only that, but quality control went to pot, and they started using materials rejected as below quality first time round, and then used when fresh supplies were running behind the production lines.
The only way they dared to send out samples to customers, was by processing them in the Laboratory, and picking out the best ones. Standard production quality was unreliable.

How do I know? I worked in the Lab, and my back was crippled by trying to do testing, AND do production of sample batteries. Having to lift them by hand, into freezers, ovens, and water baths finally crippled me. I am now in a wheelchair. Try lifting an 80Kg battery up over an edge, and lowering it into a water bath, and you'll know how my back feels.

Sorry people, Lucas Batteries died long before Foremans Road did.

ceebee
Click to expand...
Having only discovered this site recently I hope to find out more. I worked at the plastics factory and was made redundant, then transferred to what was then Lucas Yuasa, eventually when Yuasa took full control, more automation was introduced on the assembly area and jobs were dispensed with, eventually some materials were introduced which seemed lower quality than under Lucas, and the scrap skips, which were originally filled with water to absorb dust from lead plates were replaced with dry liner bags, and lead levels seemed to increase in the workforce blood samples....so I took to wearing mask as often as possible albeit uncomfortable in summer months. Yuasa bought a production machine from a then faltering company but, could not fit it into the assembly area so had to put it at new charging area, and it meant hauling spares from assembly across the yard. Eventually I was made redundant in 2005 in the first wave of job losses before the factory was finally closed, I miss the people I got to know, and do hope they are fit and well, If anyone comes across this site by accident like I did, I hope they may contribute to this subject,
Best regards I H
 
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