Robbers: The Welsh Connection.

[wraymond]

Didn't want to hijack George as this is a bit long.

There must be many anecdotes about Biggs & Co but the following is loosely related to him and entirely true.

Some years ago a valued customer of mine and a venerable and honest man, told me a tale about his experiences in the motor trade. Before the tale, a little history:

Bill had a car hire firm in Tonypandy (Wales, for the uninitiated heathens) and a regular customer of his, a Mr. Tommy Farr, boxer, used him frequently to ferry him to his various battles. The cars of choice were Cadillacs - slightly unusual in the valleys. Belying his reputation in the ring, Mr. Farr used to sing in the back of the cab in the most beautiful smooth gentle voice

Bill had many tales, related in his wonderful lilting native accent. When I got to know him and gained his confidence, not an easy task - Bill was a taciturn man not given to baring his soul unduly, he told of one of his adventures 'in the smoke'.

We were in Cornwall where we both lived at the time. Bill had moved there following retirement from business with his wife Jane, son Paul, and daughter inlaw Margaret. He had moved from Wales to a London borough when he bought a service centre including multiple contracts for taxis and comercial transport businesses in the early 60's.

One day he was woken at 4.00am by the police smashing their way into his house and hustling him away to a central London high security police station. There followed two days of intense questioning by alternate teams of hard/soft detectives. Finally, it was established that it was a false trail and the reason? Bill's fingerprints were found all over two vans that had been used by "some robbers". They had taken the vans to Bill's "gaff.. for a pwopa sortin' an' you'll get your wedge in weadies, awoight?"

Surprisingly, they were new customers and Bill thought they were worth cultivating for the future. The rest is history.