turra:
scottie0011:
Just been talking to my Dad about ClabenScottie
I was with Claben from 1966 to 1976 then two years with Clipper Seafoods, your dads name isn’t ringing any bells, does he remember Dougie Watson/Jungle/Abby Mutch/Bill Warrender .
You might remember my father Dougie Mitchell from the Brig “o” Don he drove for Claben for a very long time doing the fish and the beef.
Ian Mitchell
Scottie, something for your Dad. Picture taken by the late Roger Kenney
I remember Claben having an Atki Artic an 8 LXB Gardener, It was in the Derry one night & of course it was topic of the night among the drivers, Mind you I was surprised when the driver said he didnt like it ■■?, Regards Larry.
Heres a pic for you Scottish lads from quite nearly on,cheers Buzzer PS i lifted this from another thread hope they dont mind,nice pic.
Apparently the name Claben is an acronym for Clarke and Bennet. One or the other was a doctor. Cheers Haddy.
haddy:
Apparently the name Claben is an acronym for Clarke and Bennet. One or the other was a doctor. Cheers Haddy.
Well you learn something every day, If my memmory is right they used to do a change over at the Derry in the 50/60s , That was when I first saw their Atki with the 8 LXB, Engine Happy days at the Derry now closed I believe, It was a regular watering hole for a lot of Scotish drivers, Regards Larry.
davemackie:
Big Leggy:
On the subject of “bottled whiskey” I believe a litre of scotch weighs the same as a normal house-brick, this meant one could be substituted in a boxed case of whiskey & on lifting the case it would not feel any lighter !When I worked for Road Services Forth,We had a letter arrive from the USA asking for more bricks so they could build the garage.
Dave.
Aye i worked for RSF,it was a well known fact that this went on,as the wall at the Derry got robbed of bricks over the years,it was good to get one over on the dockers who used to weigh the odd pack.We always wanted the ones with the brick in was the ones they kept for them selves 
haddy:
Apparently the name Claben is an acronym for Clarke and Bennet. One or the other was a doctor. Cheers Haddy.
Frances was the doctor, and Clark was spelt w/o a e at the end.
Regards
Ian Mitchell. ( My father drove for Claben for many years).
Still going strong , I am 80 years now, I was 32 when I got a lift with whisky wagon. I don’t even drive a car now, being a diabetic and neuraphapy in my legs my nerves are u s. Sandman Norman.
Norman Ingram:
Still going strong , I am 80 years now, I was 32 when I got a lift with whisky wagon. I don’t even drive a car now, being a diabetic and neuraphapy in my legs my nerves are u s. Sandman Norman.
Grand to see you back Norman , it’s been a while . You might not be in the best of health , but you’re still with us and that’s what counts . A belated happy new year to you and yours . Dave
In my time as a truck driver, it takes a lot to scare me, but I must admitt, when I was in between lorry jobs, I helped a mate out who ran a trade plates comp, and ran lorries from Luton to Scotland, and when I got a lift from a night driver from invergordon on a whiskey wagon, my underpants had a few skid marks on them, when this driver was going around these bends at top speeds, between Inverness and Perth, and taking a swig from a bottle, and I was hoping it was Tea aaaah. Similar from Fraserburgh on the fish wagons to Hull & Grimsby, they used to do it in quick time, but it was not as bad, thats when I told my mate, that I was Stopping helping him, he said why, I replied, no-one is going to kill me, while driving, unless I do it myself, and I will try very hard not to do it to myself. Sandman Norman
What was the name of the fridge firm that used to come down the old shap o/nite in convoy going like bats out of hell in the 70s,was it clabens?
dafdave:
What was the name of the fridge firm that used to come down the old shap o/nite in convoy going like bats out of hell in the 70s,was it clabens?
Yes that was one of them, they used to go faster on the single track roads, than what I did on the motorway, at least i reached a mature age Sandman Norman
I used to drive for Clabens in the mid 70,s when they had a couple
of motors based in Southampton to service the banana boats that
used to dock there and in Newhaven.
While i was there Clabens were taken over by Christian Salvesen and we
used to change over with the scotch lads and deliver to Smithfield Market
and to Sainsburys at Basingstoke mainly. Loads of hours and loads of
money for those days.
I was based in Southampton, worked from the Boreham Wood depot at
the old film studios, and paid from the Aberdeen office.
mappo
Tony was Dave Thorburn on there with you ?
Regards Richard.
I know when I was talking to the driver, they used to get to hull or grimsby, drop their trailer, pick up another, then sleep during the day, then return to fraserburgh, I even done a few miles , to give them a break, they were good drivers with good vehicles, but the whiskey ones were rigids, erf’s and ropped and sheeted, I was chatting to one driver, and he told me that the workers used to ask for the badly damaged barrels for fire wood, and when they got it home, they would fill a bath full of water, and soak the cleaves of wood, and the whiskey sodden barrels used to turn the water into galleons of whiskey, but you had to be careful not to get wood alcohol poisoning, Invergordon used to be a merry place Ha Ha Ha. Sandman Norman
The scottish fish and beef guys knew how to work. They made more money in the early 80’s than they do now.
Euroscot, you are quite right, but a lot of old truckers used to work very hard, but never got the pay they deserved, good firms were few to the bad ones, I had my share of bad ones, but told them to stick them & lick them, Then I was on my way. Sandman Norman
Yeah they did but in my opinion the guys from the north of scotland were a totally different breed of truck driver to more southern counter parts. Like you said, you was very nervous on them roads but the guys knew them like the back of there hands. I actually come from Fraserburgh and there was no real difference the amount of work each company did, they were all flat out most of the time.
Yes mate, I was not on edge with the fish & beef wagons, but that chap in the whiskey wagon swigging on his bottle every now and a again, driving around bends one handed . By the way fish & chip shop on the front in Fraserburgh, had some there about Tea time, they was grand, if not the best I have tasted, it must be one of them, this was in 1969, then I got a lift down the road, and went in a pub and had a game of darts and the landlord told me, that a fish wagon would be a long at seven, so I went out five minutes before, and got a lift to a transprt cafe near Doncaster, I done the whole trip to Northampton, in nine and half hours. Sandman Norman
