Rider200:
Remembering the old guys anyone remember William Partridge Tank cleaner (AKA Billy Poridge) passed away due to the product in tank he was cleaning out by hand.
I new him from His days working for Peter Slater at the Lower Broughton yard of B L T he was the night tank man then, I was just a kid going to work with my Dad for the school holidays
Billy Poridge one I will never Forget.
It was putting cold paraffin on to the hot tank/product that gave of the gas . Nobody new about that it was not tested for the Hot/Cold paraffin.
I remember Billy well. He was just too keen and hard working for his own good and was quite gung ho and foolishly brave when it came to climbing in and out of tanks which had contained dodgy stuff. At night, no harnesses and scrapping out tanks sometimes on his own. It was an accident waiting to happen! Following his death, I believe his widow did get some compensation but it wasn’t much and came after a struggle.
After this incident the company made people wear harnesses and always have somebody else in attendance. I remember Ronnie Maison,( absolute gent!) a tall strapping bloke who did pipe work repairs. Once he was doing a repair inside a tank and was overcome by fumes. ( I think it was a naptha or powder tank but I might be mistaken.) Luck for him there were people there to haul him out via the harness. If my memory serves me rightly, he died relatively young and many thought that this was down to the various obnoxious products he was in regular contact with.
Regarding Sammy Downs, I can see him now. Little man with thick glasses, blue jeans and a brown smock. He often seemed to be stressed out. Especially when somebody had been sneaking in overnight and nicking brass couplings and diff innards for the bronze. He was always good to me and when I wanted a bit of rubber tubing, a jubilee clip or nut and bolt to repair my MG TC, he always tried to help me out. With his bits and pieces, Ronnie Maisons borrowed ring spanners and sockets and advice from Ludvig Zilor the polish driver, I somehow always seemed to manage.
Talking of nicking stuff, do you remember Peter Thornton, the general manager. He thought he was being clever when he heard that the price of diesel was going up. He had some spare powder tanks in the yard so, after some minor mods. he had them filled with diesel and parked up at the back. When they eventually came to transfer it to the bunker tanks…guess what? You are not wrong. Anybody could have seen that coming!