> whisperingsmith:
> Why is there no weight limit on the A12 to Felixtowe
> Yet Max 32 tons but no speed limit on the A2 to Dover?
Overloaded ship out Felixtowe - In a hurry ship out Dover
"Un café ■■?..“Oui”
Remember the drill to get out of Calais?
For the younger viewers, no matter how crappy the weather one of the older Gendarmes would be on gate duty and he would always open your door and climb up the steps and start asking for stuff till he found a problem.
CMR■■?..Here
Permit■■?..Here
Deesell■■?..1/4 tank. (200l on the declaration, 600l on board)
But big tonk…he says…No, Not big tank you reply
Then he gives a look across the catwalk and comes back with a smile and says
Monsieur, 2 Tonk…un probleme!!!
Un café ■■? You ask…Oui!..He replies…
and your prepepared 50 franc note (about a fiver) moved from your palm to his pocket slicker than Paul Daniels could do it.
Of course if you had a few wrong answers above he might say ’ Un grand cafe" which you usually had folded in the other palm in anticipation that the first one mightn’t cut it.
So you simply offered to buy him a coffee and some of them drank an awful lot of seriously good coffee.
You never got off the ferry without a bottle of whiskey and a carton of ■■■■ if going to a Latin place as these “gifts” ensured that your tacho, speed, mechanical or paperwork error remained a non issue.
Occasionally you had no problem but they wanted a gift anyway to avoid them looking for a problem.
Whatever you gave you added another 100 francs to it on the expense sheet to cover admin costs of course.
Simpler times and way more relaxing than today’s massive fines for some silly things.
“What do you mean I am booked as an unaccompanied trailer” ■■?
…you ask the guy in the ferry office in Cherbourg on your way home.
Let me check…Ah yes, there is a message here from your office…You are turning around.
WTF??..Bustards…No freaking way am I doing that…Blow a gasket or two.
It’s a Sunday with no one in the office and a few hours and a chill pill later you are indeed driving down the road to Madrid again.
No mobile phones in those days. Once you were loaded and given your ferry routing and clearance agent details you didn’t ring the office again until you were empty.
Yet strangely they usually managed to intercept you if they really wanted you.
No trackers either, just much simpler times.
Or the usual Italy run where they say…just change trailers, they have told me there will be a loaded one ready for when you pull in their yard…so you arrive…get told the trailer is still empty…you gotta do 5 pick ups and bring them back to base…then they off load those…and you got another 2 to do the next day…then they suddenly have a load coming in from just down the road, which they will tranship very quickly, so you eventually get going after 3 days messing around…and no extra money ( was trip money in those days ) and all part of the italian way of working…ha ha the times i got caught up in that…
this is the third week in a row ive had to overnight in bradford.alone,frozen,bored and miserable thanks to the yorkshire ripper.anyone know anywhere handy i can drive over to and find a handy baggie? im only bouncing the unit so il not need a logbook… 
truckyboy:
Or the usual Italy run where they say…just change trailers, they have told me there will be a loaded one ready for when you pull in their yard…so you arrive…get told the trailer is still empty…you gotta do 5 pick ups and bring them back to base…then they off load those…and you got another 2 to do the next day…then they suddenly have a load coming in from just down the road, which they will tranship very quickly, so you eventually get going after 3 days messing around…and no extra money ( was trip money in those days ) and all part of the italian way of working…ha ha the times i got caught up in that…
Indeed!! This was the ultimate ■■■■■■ offer.
You have picked up about 2 trailer loads since Wednesday and yet you are lucky to get out of there Friday night or Saturday morning.
If they were upfront about it you mightn’t mind too much the first time but I bet you didn’t get caught a third time by the same outfit.
I’m ready to leave Mallaig, loaded with 300boxes of herring to be on the market in Grimbo by 0500hrs tomorrow. It’s nine pm now and I don’t see any way I’m gonna make it. When I phoned the boss he told me to use something called “Aberdeen Overdrive” at every possible opportunity and I would be fine. I’ve looked everywhere but can’t find it. Anybody know where it is on a '72 Albion Riever please?
I’ve just bought this Barclaycard off the postman for fifty quid. How many Italian runs can I do with it?
Some other driver actually cut in on me today while overtaking, he didn’t even wait for a flash 
.
Never seen a fellow trucker do that before…ever,
He must have had a broken mirror or something.
THEN there’s a post from 20 years into the future (if there still are drivers then)
Goes like this…
Just heard the new law, it is now acceptable and perfectly legal to commit GBH on any driver who cuts in on you while overtaking. 
Just got to get my pet hate (obsession 
) at every opportunity for the ‘‘Cut in crew’’ 
to digest and maybe even take notice. 
Truckboy wrote about being messed about by freight forward agents in Italy by loading trailers, in Portugal , this was the same, all they did was lie to me.
For example once delivered Lisbon, head to Porto as Lisbon doesn’t have much export, its all in the North .
Agent would say four to five collections to do in the mountain area of Braganza, Guimaraes of textiles, shoes, ceramic tiles, machinery then top up groupage Friday night .
He would say load ready in two hours, bollags it was .
Two days ready, sleep outside factory, a factory full of 13 year old girls are making the shoes by hand, boxing them .
Friday night warehouse loading was terrible, no sleep, move here, move there, on the ramp, on the bay, back door, move off, open trailer curtains to load awkward load .
The Portuguese drivers went home Friday night.
I’m loading at Tate & Lyle in Silvertown tomorrow… It takes bloody hours to get loaded in that place.
Thankfully, George’s Diner is only up the road when I’m done!
Being over here for so long, I thought that Silvertown must have been flattened and yuppified by now.
I remember being sent up to stand on a load of pallets to chuck the straps down. Got put up there by forklift. Still makes me shake now
Had a BF who drove for ‘Shifnal Transport’ (Long gone I think) and they had an old Sed Atki in the yard. Time I drove it forward a tidal wave of water came out of the headlining and soaked me.
He drove a 112 Scania with only 1 bunk. X reg like the Ford in the photo. Happy days
As well as the strips of euro flags…'where can i get a ‘Riding on Bandags’ windscreen strip from?? 
Bandags 
!, I pulled the tread off of three of those once, parked up after running to Fallingbostel through heavy snow. Temperature droppedike a stone overnight to minus 14. Woke up with a snowdrift on one side and the trailer tyres had frozen to the asphalt. Pulled away and ripped the treads right off!
Twoninety88:
Bandags
Always used to see ‘Riding On Bandags’ emblazoned across the screen as a warning to keep well clear…
Is Headlight any good for finding return loads.
Boss said i have to take a 4 in line tomorrow, how do i couple up 4 trailers ?
Watford gap is doing a xmas lunch this week…£1.50 with tea and sponge pudding.
Got a trailer with only 2 airlines, i got 3 on the unit…what do i do with the 3rd one.?
Is it legal to drive with the heater not working…i told the boss, but he said i`m lucky to have a bloody heater. !
Got 3 wine tanks to pick up tomorrow, should i use chains or ropes.? Same with freightliners…no twist locks in those days…come to think of it, no containers either.
Are the slappers still at the red lion northants…and how much do they charge ( asking for a mate of mine )
Is it legal to carry hitch hikers…just turned down 2 beauties in case i get nicked.
Any ministry men parked on the A1.
Anyone got a spare log sheet, or a spare log book…lost mine.
Some one nicked my michelin man off my mirror arm.
If i tie a piece of rag on my mirror arm…will it keep my mirrors clean.?
Are Stobarts any good, got a start next week and a mate said theyre paying £2.50 an hour.
Thats enough for now.
peterm:
Being over here for so long, I thought that Silvertown must have been flattened and yuppified by now.
Yes, it’s undergoing regeneration at a cost of around £3.5 billion. Georges Diner is long gone!
OVLOV JAY:
Which plank is best for sleeping on?
well sir, we have an extensive range of planks for your perusal
Lennoxtown:
peterm:
Being over here for so long, I thought that Silvertown must have been flattened and yuppified by now.Yes, it’s undergoing regeneration at a cost of around £3.5 billion. Georges Diner is long gone!
Bar stewards