keith 2:
Jack Graham:
Hi Keith, yes it was the first one I’d had, I think that F10 was one of the first to have night heaters as standard, it’s a shame we didnt have them years before because it would have saved some diesel instead of having to keep the engine running sometimes all night, and it would have made the job worth while instead of freezing our balls off while other drivers from other firms had the luxury of the night heaters, but as you know we never got anything unless it was law. :- Jack
remember ian scollick having a f10 with out one ,i had a spare one from another truck and asked if i would put it in his mother[few cases of beer involved]got it half fitted and got a right booking from wilkie,told to take it out because others would complain,[zb],no beers 
keith
The F88’s and first F10’s didnt have them, but the one in the picture had one, other companies thought we had the best job going over the water, they were right as far as the money went but without the luxuries they had we were the poor ones on the road, and as far as your name-sake Wilkinson goe’s he was one guy in that company I really didnt like apart from Glen in the UK traffic office, they had no idea of how to talk to any-one if they were “only a driver”, they spoilt the company, too ignorant and too arrogant to be mixed up with drivers, I was so close to loosing my job a few times when confronting them, but still it was a good job and paid good money and the only thing that really kept me the was there drivers and the garage staff,they were the ones who kept the firm going and worth the while going to work.
Jack Graham:
keith 2:
Jack Graham:
Hi Keith, yes it was the first one I’d had, I think that F10 was one of the first to have night heaters as standard, it’s a shame we didnt have them years before because it would have saved some diesel instead of having to keep the engine running sometimes all night, and it would have made the job worth while instead of freezing our balls off while other drivers from other firms had the luxury of the night heaters, but as you know we never got anything unless it was law. :- Jack
remember ian scollick having a f10 with out one ,i had a spare one from another truck and asked if i would put it in his mother[few cases of beer involved]got it half fitted and got a right booking from wilkie,told to take it out because others would complain,[zb],no beers keith
The F88’s and first F10’s didnt have them, but the one in the picture had one, other companies thought we had the best job going over the water, they were right as far as the money went but without the luxuries they had we were the poor ones on the road, and as far as your name-sake Wilkinson goe’s he was one guy in that company I really didnt like apart from Glen in the UK traffic office, they had no idea of how to talk to any-one if they were “only a driver”, they spoilt the company, too ignorant and too arrogant to be mixed up with drivers, I was so close to loosing my job a few times when confronting them, but still it was a good job and paid good money and the only thing that really kept me the was there drivers and the garage staff,they were the ones who kept the firm going and worth the while going to work.
you are right there jack i hated arrogant people,one was hutchson in my case my be due to my dad who had a long history with jmr,he told me alot wot that wen t on but on he told me never to repeat it and never will as he stated in 1944 aged 14…thats why a i got a job there.got me down big time when on call and not sleeping ,went on for 15 year in the end,was nervous wreck,but that life ,still loved it.keith
Hi Keith, I too hate arrogant rude people, to get the best out of people even if they are working for you arrogance is not the way to go, Russel was the same but for some reason what ever that may be, I never had much of a problem with him, but knowing how he was with most drivers & mechanics I can understand why they didnt like him, I had quite a few run-In’s with Glen and once it was only the intervention from John Holroyd that stopped me hitting him, then the ■■■■ would have hit the fan, and with Geoff Wilkinson it was usualy about money when we returned from a trip, and it was only the intervention of JMR who also stopped me doing the same after a trip from Romania I was actualy stood up ready to pounce on him when JMR came in, and the argument was because of money I had spent to correct mistakes he’d made with paperwork for my return trip, and on that occasion it was about me having to pay the customs because he had not stamped the company’s name on my return paperwork, and he refused to pay for it but the best thing I had was the receipt in my hand, JMR heard the row and came to see what was going on, and when I told him he made him pay up, this was something that happened often with him and the big man upstairs didnt really know everything that was happening in that office, as I said it was the drivers and garage staff that kept me there so long, and also if you spoke to JMR he made sence and understood without having to argue about everything just so you could get on with the job. :- Jack
Jack Graham:
Hi Keith, I too hate arrogant rude people, to get the best out of people even if they are working for you arrogance is not the way to go, Russel was the same but for some reason what ever that may be, I never had much of a problem with him, but knowing how he was with most drivers & mechanics I can understand why they didnt like him, I had quite a few run-In’s with Glen and once it was only the intervention from John Holroyd that stopped me hitting him, then the [zb] would have hit the fan, and with Geoff Wilkinson it was usualy about money when we returned from a trip, and it was only the intervention of JMR who also stopped me doing the same after a trip from Romania I was actualy stood up ready to pounce on him when JMR came in, and the argument was because of money I had spent to correct mistakes he’d made with paperwork for my return trip, and on that occasion it was about me having to pay the customs because he had not stamped the company’s name on my return paperwork, and he refused to pay for it but the best thing I had was the receipt in my hand, JMR heard the row and came to see what was going on, and when I told him he made him pay up, this was something that happened often with him and the big man upstairs didnt really know everything that was happening in that office, as I said it was the drivers and garage staff that kept me there so long, and also if you spoke to JMR he made sence and understood without having to argue about everything just so you could get on with the job. :- Jack
Hi Jack,when the road speed limiters came in i had to fit them to the j reg trucks first,did it put more days on your job over the water,keith
keith 2:
Jack Graham:
Hi Keith, I too hate arrogant rude people, to get the best out of people even if they are working for you arrogance is not the way to go, Russel was the same but for some reason what ever that may be, I never had much of a problem with him, but knowing how he was with most drivers & mechanics I can understand why they didnt like him, I had quite a few run-In’s with Glen and once it was only the intervention from John Holroyd that stopped me hitting him, then the [zb] would have hit the fan, and with Geoff Wilkinson it was usualy about money when we returned from a trip, and it was only the intervention of JMR who also stopped me doing the same after a trip from Romania I was actualy stood up ready to pounce on him when JMR came in, and the argument was because of money I had spent to correct mistakes he’d made with paperwork for my return trip, and on that occasion it was about me having to pay the customs because he had not stamped the company’s name on my return paperwork, and he refused to pay for it but the best thing I had was the receipt in my hand, JMR heard the row and came to see what was going on, and when I told him he made him pay up, this was something that happened often with him and the big man upstairs didnt really know everything that was happening in that office, as I said it was the drivers and garage staff that kept me there so long, and also if you spoke to JMR he made sence and understood without having to argue about everything just so you could get on with the job. :- Jack
Hi Jack,when the road speed limiters came in i had to fit them to the j reg trucks first,did it put more days on your job over the water,keith
I cant remember if it put more time on the trip, but it took all the fun out of driving for hour’s on end at 56mph, and made us depressed and bored, but I cant remember paying any speeding fines after the limiters went on, I do remember though the first one I had, it was Cuddles Merc, and I thought I’d run out of diesel on the M1, I was going up the hill between Wakefield and Barnsley, I’d been sick of following a lorry and pulled out to pass him when half way round him when it kicked in at 56mph, when I rang in they told me what was wrong, it was a bloody speed limiter, and I remember hanging on to mine as long as I could before having one fitted, I’d dodge your place like a dog turd every time I came back so you couldn’t get your hand’s it. :- Jack
Hi jack,its get even worse now we have firms coming in asking to have the trucks limited to 53 or 52 mph to save on fuel,wot i did notice when the limiters got fitted not a lot of alternators went down due to the brushes not wearing out due to high speeds,lot of power then strangled,would love to take the limiter off a volvo now adays to see wot it does,more than my jobs worth , i wish i had a pound for every driver that came in for a tacho check and said can you make go a bit faster.keith
keith 2:
Hi jack,its get even worse now we have firms coming in asking to have the trucks limited to 53 or 52 mph to save on fuel,wot i did notice when the limiters got fitted not a lot of alternators went down due to the brushes not wearing out due to high speeds,lot of power then strangled,would love to take the limiter off a volvo nowadays to see wot it does,more than my jobs worth , i wish i had a pound for every driver that came in for a tacho check and said can you make go a bit faster.keith
You’d better keep it quiet about wearing alternators out because, they may pick up on it and blaim the drivers for knackering them and want some of our wages back to compensate, I must admit that I dont ever remember having a new alternator fitted to any of mine may-be new brushes but never an alternator, as far as reducing the limited to 53 / 52 mph is just about the mentality of the people sitting behind a desk who never sat in a truck in there lives, what they should do is limit there cars and see how they like running at 50 mph for thousands of miles, they most likely fall asleep and crash into a lorry and blaim them for the accident. :-Jack.
Wheel Nut:
They used to do a lot of Italy in the early days. Proper job if you liked driving F86 Volvos through the Blanc 
Gone but not forgotten 
They ran Guy Big J units as well, then the swedes moved in.
Own maintenance and paint shop, complete with signwriter and gold leaf writing.
Jeez I feel old 
jj72:
shock horror, either i was still asleep (quite possible) or an old a-one tautliner was going eastbound on a14 near thrapston on monday morning about 6am,
i’ve almost got myself wondering now if it was real… no, it definitely was
kojak, there’s another cracking story of some “goings on” in calais about 20 years back involving some a-one drivers but i’ll not post it here as it’d be a bit disrespectful - nowt criminal or unpleasant i hasten to add - PM me if you like
i saw the same trailer a couple of weeks ago on the m62…
come on tell us the tales…
a one’s old yard now belongs to sewell distrubution who take car parts to europe.
youtube.com/watch?feature=pl … vYBKDvPOaM how is this in the f 10 great vid is this
bradfordlad9999:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DvYBKDvPOaM how is this in the f 10 great vid is this
very good bradfordlad, 
when jack graham comes back on line he my tell a story or two as he will have done a lot of italy,pity we can not see the regs,keith
keith 2:
bradfordlad9999:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DvYBKDvPOaM how is this in the f 10 great vid is this
very good bradfordlad, when jack graham comes back on line he my tell a story or two as he will have done a lot of italy,pity we can not see the regs,keith
nice to see someone else on this thread
keith 2:
keith 2:
bradford d9999:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DvYBKDvPOaM how is this in the f 10 great vidis this
very good bradford ladD when jack graham comes back on line he my tell a story or two as he will have done a lot of italy,pity we can not see the regs,keith
nice to see someone else on this thread
You right there Keith, I think we two are the only ones who look at it now, I know eventually the novelty grows off at times, but no-one looks in now-days except you and me, so yes it’s nice to know that some-one else looks in from time to time, I’ll have a look at the utube from Bradfordlad999.:- Jack.
bradford d9999:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DvYBKDvPOaM how is this in the f 10 great vidis this
Thanks for that, shows that A1 drivers took there statutory breaks to keep with-in the law, dont know it was but he was doing his job legally as we all did of course.:-Jack.
the vid looks to be filmed by sum italians is that merc sk an old longs motor ye am on here from time to time did you no eric woodhead how worked for a1
bradfordlad9999:
the vid looks to be filmed by sum italians is that merc sk an old longs motor ye am on here from time to time did you no eric woodhead how worked for a1
yes know no eric woodhead, well the name rings a bell but can’t picture his face,and the old merc will have been a old longs motor,keith
i was doing a day for acrhbolds on tuesday and they had a big colour photo of a one truck on the wall. get in touch they might flog or send you a copy.
keith 2:
bradfordlad9999:
the vid looks to be filmed by sum italians is that merc sk an old longs motor ye am on here from time to time did you no eric woodhead how worked for a1
yes know no eric woodhead, well the name rings a bell but can’t picture his face,and the old merc will have been a old longs motor,keith
I still look keith but nowt to say at moment,I havent worked since xmas got something wrong with my blood and my back.Once i get back to work and earn some money i will be more talkative but all I do at the moment is walk the dog make the wifes dinners and most important of all take her to work lol.All the best Jeff.
jeffrey ellinger:
keith 2:
bradford d9999:
the video looks to be filmed by sum italians is that merc slk an old longs motor ye am on here from time to time did you no eric woodhead how worked for a1
yes know no eric woodhead, well the name rings a bell but can’t picture his face,and the old merc will have been a old longs motor,keith
I still look keith but nowt to say at moment,I haven’t worked since xmas got something wrong with my blood and my back.Once i get back to work and earn some money i will be more talkative but all I do at the moment is walk the dog make the wife’s dinners and most important of all take her to work lol.All the best Jeff.
Hi Jeff, sorry to hear your sick Jeff, hope you back and earning again soon, but at least you can practice your cooking skills and save the wife a job, I hope your washing up after too, just keep you eye on those dish-pan hands and use “Fairy Liquid” it lasts longer, ha ha just joking, but hope your back on your feet soon. All the best :-Jack
I remember Cuddles off of A1, also did a Jack own A1 before they got taken over or was it the other way around but for the life of me i cannot remember the name of the other company they brought for the permits, also anyone remember Bannon & Ward i knew one of there drivers that was for Telford