Ford truck fleet drivers

New member here, just came across this website/ forum and found very interesting also brought back a lot of memories too. So I,ll cut to the chase , I,m looking for any Ford truck fleet drivers from the 70,s to the 90,s.I left Fords in 1991.Now living in the US.

Hy Flyer,
I was on the fleet from 71 to 2000 here a picture of myalways clean cargo !!!

My Cargo Y66.jpg1000×680 87.7 KB

Man Artic Unit 001.jpg912×592 61 KB

great pictures . did you start on a d series or transcon ?

Hi Jakey,
When i started there were loads of D800s and D1000s. The 1000s were mainly Perkins but a few were ■■■■■■■■ engined. The Ford fleet never ran transcons,there might have been the odd demostrater in the yard from S/Ockendon or Dunton but fleet operations never ran them. If you remember i think 28tons was the max for the D1000
and as gross weights went up Fords started hiring loads of different makes of units F7s Foden Volvo 88/9s etc etc horrible hard work if you happen to have a shunting job that week then the big Cargos came in which made things a bit better quite good for shunting but a slow old beast with a full load on a run.When the Cargo came to an end they bought Eurotec units but also had quite a large number of hired units as well, i was lucky and was allocated a F2000 Man which i loved, the power/silence/comfort wow.what a contrast to the 28hp horse power O type Bedford artic unit i started my driving life with working for Bulls of Romford after my RAF service, aaahhh happy days!!
Regards John

Hey crossleyq…shoot me a pm
ray

hey crossleyq,
if my memory serves me well Y66 used to be the training unit. when I started on the fleet we did have D800,s and D1000, some perkins powered and some ■■■■■■■ powered. my old units under the buddy system were Y24 & Y157 where we made up our own bed in the back. What shift were you on , I was on A shift.
ray

Hi crossleyq,
is there many of the old school drivers still about?
ray

Thanks for the information crossleyq, was there any nights away on that job? , also were there lots of internal shunting jobs then ?

Hey JAKEY, up to the time i left fords the dept was split in two…internal , doing all the shunting and external doing all the external work. ocaasionaly the internals would run to south ockendon and some times the external would be on internal work.
ray

Hi Flyer , is the south ockendon / Aveley site stll there ? Used to be a regular backload for Swifts in the London area at Parts recall

Hi tonyhogi,…can,t help you there as I left Fords in 91/92 and left the area and ended up working at Gatwick on the ground crew, so as the way things are going at Dagenham I wouldn,t think its still there., been living in the US for the last 6 yrs.
ray

Hi Guys,
Aveley been long gone about 12years all went to Dunton , Parts recall closed down all parts now dealt with by the dealers
Fleet went from volvo’s on to Mans last year, also they do all car deliveries!! alongside normal fleet work. Fords do their OWN in house MOTs at Dagenham no more running to Purfleet
John

Hi crossleyq…my error Y66 may not have been the training unit but i think i remember who you are, if i remember correctly you was always immaculately dressed but for the life of me i can picture you but the name slips me. was you a regular day driver?
ray

Hi John & Ray , went to most of the ford plants as a kid in the 70’s , Dagenham , Halewood , southampton , tractor spares one at grays ? , basildon , got a vague memory of somewhere in coventry ? but mostly Daventry as you probably know Swifts had the parts contract for the midlands , east anglia area ( BRS, WBS & Intercity did elsewere ). Below is a couple of pics of an F88 & Transcon like my dad drove & if you look behind the 88,you’ll see trailers ( flats of course ) loaded with the big wooden crates that Fords used to use to pack the spares in , ready to be returned to Daventry . I remember when you had D1000’s then D2817’s & were they 33/36’ merriworth flats with dark blue sheets on that you pulled then ? Any pics of them?
Tony.

swift88.jpg565×640 86 KB

Hi Tony, i seem to recall that the flats were 33ft but i dont have any pics cos when my ex took off she destroyed all my pics, i may have one or two left got to dig them out.
ray

Hi Ray,
Don’t you remember the the silver box trailers ( Redcaps??) fully laden to the roof with transite roofs, the pallets were pushed into the trailer on to rollers trom the rear when the last one was in you put in a sort of locking device and shut the door. Awful top heavy load . If the locks failed after leaving Dagenham you spent the rest of the journey with the pallets either smashing against the front of the trailer or hitting the back doors !! some drivers lost the load straight out of the doors onto the road!! in the early days of the M3 where it finished and the A3 continued there was a hell of camber to the n/side if you hit that place at speed the trailer nearly turned over such was the weight in the roof, some drivers did, when i started in 71 we had these Redcaps 33ft flats plus 28ft fourinline
JOhn

Hi John, remember those redcaps well, if the Europeans did not use any wood between the jacks and pallets then they would work loose and then you had a live load.Yeah them 4 in lines were a pain the ■■■■. Now come on John give it up doing my brain in, pm with your name plz.
ray

Hi Ray,
here’s a clue, diamond white Sierra Estate (lottery win 89) or 1952 MG saloon, or the man that changed the start time of The 2.00pm Enfield – Liverpool job. last one, Day shunter at S/Ockendon for a long time
John ? hint Johnny ?

John , i can see the face but i am struggling with the name…no sleep tonite
ray

Flyer 267,
Do you remember “George” NO 1 gun ford driver/new driver tester!!■■ with his ■■■■■■■ engined D1000 breakdown, i remember being on the end of a pole be’ing dragged at 70 mph down Rochester bank by him with the loaded Redcap jumping all over the place behind me, That bank made the old ford badged Perkins groan