Juddian:
I did it for a few months waiting for a transporter to come available on my first transporter gig.TBF i earned pretty well but travelling ex’s were only paid in extreme circs with hitching the standard method of getting about which sometimes meant long walks…try and find a bus going to Bruntingthorpe or any of the many out of the way places large compounds are sited.
Luckily who i worked for had the contract to repaint BT vans and trucks in the new at the time livery, so many weeks were spent taking a freshly painted one to a depot and returning with one needing paint.Those older drivers should remember picking up the many platers who worked out of Ford’s long gone van factory at Langley, they made good money on their ex’s (no receipts reqd), some of them would offer you a drink for a decent length ride, which i never accepted.
Ended up with 4 platers in my Sed Ack circa 1980 early one morning, batting up the A1 at a steady er 60-ish
with them all chopsing when a pheasant decided to commit suicide against the front panel, only i saw it coming, for the platers it was a brown trouser moment
Nice parable there juddian.Was considering a reprise of my cheeky hitch in a Sierra Cosworth parked on a transporter but i’ll decline the indulgence. 
I do remember as a nipper witnessing some chaps delivering bus chassis up to Leyland.No cabs afixed, and dressed like gunners from Lancaster bombers,complete with aviation goggles.Quite a visual at the time and only discontinued circa late 70’s i believe, before cabs were mandated.
Intrepid band of brothers and no mistake ? I was a regular at Brunters and other airfields.Got a roasting for jumping into the Jaguar gate-guard once for a good old mooch around. 
Distance lends enchantment to the view but i relish the memories of a challenging but rewarding 7 years of plating.I’d recommend it to anyone for a foundational in matters roadcraft. Met some great folks with the hitching so it’s kind of chastening it’s been erased and tended to be a skill of itself.