Would you go back to the good days just once more

On The Way Home Via The ‘Monkey House’ 1986 ■■■■ Matthew

I would In a heartbeat !
Proper drivers, not ignorant steering wheel attendants, the character was second to none, you could have a firm running 4 of the same unit, but all with different engines in, more British & European lorries, plenty of places to stop to eat drink & be merry, parking overnight anywhere was never an issue, time to stop for a kip on route, if you saw someone you knew on the road, you stopped for a gossip without worrying about timed deliveries & getting another load done, even new fangled truckstop bars were packed every night.
Last year I was doing groupage to Swiss reloading Italy home, hadn’t been abroad since the mid 90s in a lorry, and was shocked to see how soulless it’s got, even if you do by any chance see another English driver, he might say hello, let alone have a conversation or share a beer, to be fair tho’ there’s still a few decent Brits still doing it where you can have a crack, but it’s very rare !
Ok so I sit pretty in my FH520, I-shift & feldbinder battin on at 59mph, easy life, but no challenge and a bit of job satisfaction, but give my old F10 & flat on general uk in the late 80s any day :sunglasses:

Corection they were not the good old days,the men were better but the job was hard the modern driver has no idea,how many drivers have hacks today? Or carried old carpets and oats to put that big noise lump in the cab, and before anybody says it No it was not Dennis ,todays drivers have the good days

Spelling mistakes. Correction,oats read coats,noise read noisy, all down to me being fik !

Joepipe3:
Corection they were not the good old days,the men were better but the job was hard the modern driver has no idea,how many drivers have hacks today? Or carried old carpets and oats to put that big noise lump in the cab, and before anybody says it No it was not Dennis ,todays drivers have the good days

Why am I been implicated ? :open_mouth: I enjoyed every minute of my time as a Trailer mate, yes , looking back I suppose it was a hard life 80 to 100 hours regular per week but that was then and not in to-days “feather bedded” industry. I also enjoyed my time as an O/D and from then on building up Bewick Transport from one motor to 100. I always treated my employees properly, as I would expect to be treated, and they were paid promptly and to the penny always. When I, unfortunately, agreed to join the WRM Group I quickly realised that the industry had begun to be populated by individuals who had no comprehension as to how a proper haulage outfit operated. However, in the mid ninety’s this was the direction the Industry was going, unfortunately and IMHO it has been going down hill ever since. I’m glad, as no doubt many other members on TNUK will be, to be out of the game ! But for over 30 years I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the industry and I am reasonably proud of the contribution Bewick Transport made over the years. BS BS BS !!! Aw ■■■■ off Dennis and awa and boil yer heed ! I OK yer ! Cheers Bewick.

Bewick:

Joepipe3:
Corection they were not the good old days,the men were better but the job was hard the modern driver has no idea,how many drivers have hacks today? Or carried old carpets and oats to put that big noise lump in the cab, and before anybody says it No it was not Dennis ,todays drivers have the good days

Why am I been implicated ? :open_mouth: I enjoyed every minute of my time as a Trailer mate, yes , looking back I suppose it was a hard life 80 to 100 hours regular per week but that was then and not in to-days “feather bedded” industry. I also enjoyed my time as an O/D and from then on building up Bewick Transport from one motor to 100. I always treated my employees properly, as I would expect to be treated, and they were paid promptly and to the penny always. When I, unfortunately, agreed to join the WRM Group I quickly realised that the industry had begun to be populated by individuals who had no comprehension as to how a proper haulage outfit operated. However, in the mid ninety’s this was the direction the Industry was going, unfortunately and IMHO it has been going down hill ever since. I’m glad, as no doubt many other members on TNUK will be, to be out of the game ! But for over 30 years I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the industry and I am reasonably proud of the contribution Bewick Transport made over the years. BS BS BS !!! Aw [zb] off Dennis and awa and boil yer heed ! I OK yer ! Cheers Bewick.

hahaha

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yes ,I’m not quite “recycled younger” as many on here but I would go back to the late 60s any Monday to be sat on the bonnet o the Reiver wae my Dad RIP driving … a special time for me just the pair o us away together :blush:

i have a great life i am home everynite no later than 5.30,great wife good money,newish truck however with all that i would still go back to the great days of shipping out sunday away all week more often than not two weeks,even with the problems you used to get meet up at great places weekend at lake garda or other popular places or on your own middle of nowhere it didnt matter it was a great life.as soon as you arrived back in dover you was looking forward to shipping out again.great lads around and great companys that sadly do not exist anymore.them days will never be repeated but i would just love to do one more trip just for old times sake.would you once more

yeah i think about it most days mate.unfortunatley for me i was a kid in the eighties thats when id have love to have been doing the job.i didnt leave school till 1990.i have done euro work and loved it .i have a good job now uk only and have to be home at weekends for the kids.otherwise id go back over tommorow mate :wink:

I would like to do it too. I didnt mind queuing up the stairs in Dover and even giving the Gendarme some diesel money if it helped your passage. But I never got to the old haunts on the Italian run such as the Bakehouse or Pops in Aosta. Only heard of them from lads who are no longer with us or doing the job.

I never use the Mistral or Footballers because of bad experiences with ■■■■■■ drivers. The italian customs parking are a poor show nowadays with facilities at places like Campo Galliano being almost third world standard. Cluses is a shadow of its former self and even the crack that was had when you eventualy shipped back into Dover to the wheelhouse has gone. Sunday Lunch in the Albion anyone :stuck_out_tongue:

My problem was I was thrown in at the deep end and was doing Greece overland, and Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania long before I went to Spain. I had done Italy to catch the ferry from Brindisi but that was just a mad rush to get down and into Greece.

The only way Brits will get back into ‘TIR’ is when the £ is cheaper than the Euro.

im the same as carl, i didnt leave school till 1998 but would love to have a go in the harder times, constant borders, currencies etc etc, its rather easy nowadays as such esp compared to how it used to be

hanson:
i have a great life i am home everynite no later than 5.30,great wife good money,newish truck however with all that i would still go back to the great days of shipping out sunday away all week more often than not two weeks,even with the problems you used to get meet up at great places weekend at lake garda or other popular places or on your own middle of nowhere it didnt matter it was a great life.as soon as you arrived back in dover you was looking forward to shipping out again.great lads around and great companys that sadly do not exist anymore.them days will never be repeated but i would just love to do one more trip just for old times sake.would you once more

Yeah,I still have dreams too!

I used to leave Swiss on a Saturday morning for UK. I had to use Swiss francs, French francs, Lux francs,Belgian francs ,French again & finally £’s. All in one day & of course,if you were en-route for IRL, punt the next day.

I would too.
Although I still drive euro,it’s not the same as when I first started doing it.
In those day’s it gave you a sense of achievement and pride in sorting out problems at borders,fixing the truck miles from anywhere and having some great ■■■■ up’s with some top blokes.

Now the east europeans are flooding the market,cutting corners and doing the job for next to nothing.
The amount of companies here in Belgium,including the firm I drive for,are registering trucks in Slovakia & Hungary like it’s going out of fashion.

I’m just glad I had the oppurtunity to do it before the decline of British international hauliers.

Yeah, but when we were younger the world in general was a better place - or was it?
Maybe we just didnt see any dangers in our enthusiasm for life.
Not now would I consider jumping into a truck and heading off over the tops into Italy on a not so well maintained vehicle with very little running money, no fuel cards and no mobile to call for back up.
I would worry about where to park up safely, would the truck make it, who would I call out if anything went wrong.
Ignorance is bliss and youth is full of ignorance - luckily - because if it was not then the good old days would never exist.

i’d be there like a shot - even though the rose-tinted specs of time come into it, so many things were better about the job, even the dodgy hours, less than tip top maintenance etc don’t seem so bad now

Mobile phone is not progress.

harry:
Mobile phone is not progress.

Precisely!

In the old day’s,when you left the yard that was it,no more contact until you were either empty or in dire trouble.
Nowadays,with satellite tracking,they can see exactly where you are,how long you’ve been sitting there and how much you’re doing to the gallon!
Then they phone you up and say “Where are you”?

Progress? Pah!

The tachograph & the mobile phone were supposed to make life for the driver better but the accountants & jobsworths soon found a way of using these tools against us.