Awards and Loans

Ray Hingley

This year's Preservationist of the Year is Ray Hingley, whose family firm A. Hingley Transport Limited has been providing haulage services from their Brierley Hill base in the West Midlands for the past 58 years.

In between moving countless tons of steel – Hingley Transport is the West Midlands largest privately-owned steel carrier – Ray has found time to lavish care and attention on his extensive fleet of preserved trucks, with the flagship vehicle being "LGK 3D", a 1964 Scania-Vabis LB76 tractor unit. This particular vehicle is historically significant as it was the very first Scania truck imported into the UK. It spent the first years of its life touring the country, seeking to attract both customers and potential dealers, before entering service with general haulage company Rounds of Dudley.

What makes this vehicle particularly noteworthy is that it is the truck which introduced the UK transport industry to the Scania brand. LGK 3D was literally the vehicle which started it all for Scania in the UK by convincing and inspiring British hauliers to make the transition to an entirely new breed of transport solution which promised hitherto unseen levels of efficiency, safety and reliability.  The medicine obviously worked, for today around one in five heavy trucks on Britain's roads carries the Scania marque.

After a long in-service life LGK 3D was acquired in 1986 by Ray who has now fully restored the vehicle not once but twice – even though many would say he did such a good job first time around it really did not need restoring again!

However, you know what enthusiasts are like and Ray's second restoration has comprised a full rebuild, including a comprehensive mechanical overhaul and taking the cab back to bare metal.

Ray has regularly attended shows and events with LGK 3D for many years, and the plan is now for his son Alex to take over these duties to ensure the story of this very special heritage vehicle continues to be told long into the future – and what a great legacy that is.

Our congratulations go to Ray, a very worthy winner of this year's National Transport Trust Preservationist of the Year award.