Dustydog:
Hi
This is my first post so please forgive me if I walk on any toes. I came across the forum when searching for something else and then chanced upon mentions of Mavertons and Expo Freight, both out of North Farm Loughton. Mavertons was run by Lou Sains and Expo by Ray Philips. I worked for Mavertons in about 1978/9 and Expo just after. Mavertons was for me a great place to work. I used to put the trailers in and out of Dover and then run them up country for tipping. Lou let me work all the hours I wanted, which is how I earned the deposit for my first house. I remember one of his drivers inviting me down the pub and telling me I was one of the team now. These were powerful words for a very green 22 yr old! One day i ran three times to Dover putting trailers through customs and pulling others back to the Farm. I recall saying to Lou one day how I felt dog tired. Lou just reached into his desk to pull out some pills. I wasn’t quite ready for those! All this fun came to an end when Lou employed a new transport ‘manager’. He was a skinny little weasel face who was jealous of the good money I was earning. He wanted me out so he could give the job to one of his mates. I stood in front of him in the office as he told me I was no longer needed. The only thing I could think of was what what a laughable little [zb] he was. So I did just that and laughed at him. He was quite put out by my reaction but better still was to look over his shoulder at Lou who sat behind his desk with a sage grin on his face. He knew that I knew etc etc.I went straight down the farm track and got a job with Ray. First off I did the same, running trailers down to the docks and bringing incoming ones back to tip and reload. I always found Ray to be a straight chap ( but smiled at someone’s previous post talking about him counting his money…). I then started on the European runs - mainly Italy. Every now and then Ray would suddenly swap a unit and ask me to take out someone else’s. A couple of times I had drivers collar me and tell me how much I had to fiddle so their scams wouldn’t be revealed. That’s when I realised just how incredibly green I really was - How much?? You scam that much every trip!!
I moved on in life and now, 35 years later, still look back at the fun education I had alongside some very hard men. I avoided the drones and think myself privileged to have met some really great characters. All this time later I find myself back driving LGVs
Dusty
Great story. Love to hear more. I am Lew’s daughter and nothing shocks me lol