Suedehead:
Back in my tyre fitting days, i was sent out on a breakdown to Poulton nr Cirencester,the address was a printers.
En route i was thinking “wheres any factories out there, its only a village ffs”
I stopped and asked for directions in the local post office and straight away was told " i think you will find the place you are looking for is in Paulton - Somerset"
Obviously not the first time the gent in the po had been asked
Actually went to the said printers in later years on more than one occasion when i started lorry driving
That would be Pullars - or something similar - at Paulton,a big new factory that printed glossy magazines,near Shepton Mallet or Gurney Slade IIRC. It was surrounded by trees,you would never have known it was there.
Suedehead:
Back in my tyre fitting days, i was sent out on a breakdown to Poulton nr Cirencester,the address was a printers.
En route i was thinking “wheres any factories out there, its only a village ffs”
I stopped and asked for directions in the local post office and straight away was told " i think you will find the place you are looking for is in Paulton - Somerset"
Obviously not the first time the gent in the po had been asked
Actually went to the said printers in later years on more than one occasion when i started lorry driving
That would be Pullars - or something similar - at Paulton,a big new factory that printed glossy magazines,near Shepton Mallet or Gurney Slade IIRC. It was surrounded by trees,you would never have known it was there.
Once was involved in someone else’s ■■■■ up.
I used to drive for a seating company.
I had a phone call while on site on the Thursday to have Friday and Saturday off, then take a 7.5 tonner to Glasgow (From Membury) full of seat frames. Leave it at the SECC, then fly back to Heathrow where someone will be waiting to pick me up. Went in Sunday @ 4am, picked up my paperwork, got the keys, and went to the vehicle. Fuelled up, and left. Dropped off wagon at 2:30 and got a Taxi to the airport. Phoned boss to ask where I was Monday.
‘Can you take the J reg up to Glasgow, they loaded it today.’
‘But I just brought the J reg up here.’
‘You can’t of. It only came back Sat Night from the BBC’
‘The note you left me said take the J reg, so I did.’
‘No I said take the N reg. . . . . . Oh sh*t.’
‘What?’
‘My mistake. Can you stay in Glasgow tonight, and bring it back when your hours allow? Go to the Argile, I will tell them you are coming.’
Sunday O/T rate, Overnight pay, £20 per hour after midnight till clock off (Left Glasgow at Midnight). = £390 extra in the pay packet that week.
early 70s I was driving a coach(yes I know)2 or 3 of us were on hire to another coach firm doing day trips off the boards this firm had 3or 4 other outfits on hire as well I said to traffic manager were to, “Weston super mare 7pm return” ok gets loaded and away we go down m5 I can see another coach in my mirror pulled off at Gloucester stopped at Wheelrights the other driver runs up to me and says how long so I said give them half hour ok says he runs back to his motorto tell his passengers I wait for him and as we are walking across the car park he asks me how long till we get to blackpool■■? he had told the traficc manager that he didn’t know the way so hehad been told to follow the regents motor I explained the we had 3 motors on hire to them and that 2 had gone to blackpool and I was going to Weston well he burst into tears and said it was his first day driving he only passed his test 5 days ago.I phoned said firm and explained the situation he wasn’t best pleased but I ended up telling his passengers that they were going to Weston for free and could have a refund or day trip to blackpool next weekend(I cant name the firm because this driver is now traffic manager for them’‘’'the strange thing is 4or5 of the blokes on his bus said they knew he was going the wrong way■■? so why didn’t they tell him poor sod
Hi, All,
A few years ago I was asked to work between Xmas and New Year. Just a tilt up to Sunderland, seemed OK a steady day .
Going up it didn’t seem like I’d got a lot of weight on,so I’m thinking ,even better. Gets to Sunderland and starts looking for Leibherr Cranes, can’t remember the address now, but finds the area. After two or three trips round the block,each one taking me past the old British Shipbuilders yard, and by now I’m on waving terms with the security guards . I asked two or three people if they knew where Leibherr cranes was, they didn’t. I’d no phone no. ,the shippers were shut for the holidays, and I’d only got a so-so address. Next time past the security guards ,one comes out and stops me. “Who you looking for” ,I told them, "they’re in here "he said pointing to the Shipbuilders yard. So ,into the yard I go and through a tunnel and come out onto a big open area on which was parked a car with two blokes sat in it.
"Are you Leibherr Cranes “? I asked ,” We are "they said. “Don’t you think you could put a sign outside” I asked .“When we unload it off your trailer we’ll put the sign up " they said
along with the office and whatever else you’ve got , but we can’t do it till truck comes with the forklift on”
To say I was a bit speechless is putting it mildly, but they said it was Leibherr’s first day on site.
We used to deliver helipad nets for Cosalt in Grimsby, they’d given us two to deliver, one for Aberdeen and one for Plymouth and to very specific design apparently. We only found this out when Aberdeen’s turned up at Plymouth and vice versa, we couldn’t have got them much further in the wrong direction on UK mainland!!
In the 70s i was working with Strathclyde and was tipping in the Docks in Glasgow, I was parked between the Sheds and the Water it was Lunchtime I was sitting in the Cab All the Dockers were away for there Break when I heard somebody shouting help ,help but i could not see anybody I jumped out of the Cab and ran over to the Waters edge and there was Guy in the Water shouting for help and he could not swim,the only thing I could see was a long Pole and I put it down to him and he grabbed hold of it but I did not have the strength to pull him up,next thing Two Seamen came off the Ship and gave me a hand and we pulled him up,asking him if he was alright he said it wasnt his self he was worried about it was his Mates Bicycle, turns out he was coming down the Dock on the byke when got into the sunken Railway Line when he got out of it he shot right into the Water,the Seamen spent half an Hour with a Grappling Hook and got the Byke he was taken to the Hospital as he had swallowed a lot of Water as the Clyde was really dirty at that time.
Suedehead:
Back in my tyre fitting days, i was sent out on a breakdown to Poulton nr Cirencester,the address was a printers.
En route i was thinking “wheres any factories out there, its only a village ffs”
I stopped and asked for directions in the local post office and straight away was told " i think you will find the place you are looking for is in Paulton - Somerset"
Obviously not the first time the gent in the po had been asked
Actually went to the said printers in later years on more than one occasion when i started lorry driving
That would be Pullars - or something similar - at Paulton,a big new factory that printed glossy magazines,near Shepton Mallet or Gurney Slade IIRC. It was surrounded by trees,you would never have known it was there.
We used to deliver reels there from Port of Blyth IIRC, The name was Pernells ■■?, Regards Larry.
This actually happened to a BRS Bedford driver in about 1965. You can verify it by contacting Clive Eaton who retired from the Eaton Socon depot of Prestons of Potto a year or so ago. I cannot claim to have been perfect. My first driving job was for Welchs’ Transport of Henlow in 1963. I picked up a load of scrap metal in Biggleswade for H M Parsons of Kirkham in Lancs and drove around for a couple of hours looking for the place. Eventually I asked a copper who threatened to arrest me for impersonating a long distance lorry driver. He looked at the con notes and said ‘its H M Prison in Kirkham, you ■■■■■■■■■
neil46:
We had a driver go to st ives in cornwall instead of cambridgeshire
I think my favourite ■■■■ up wasn’t my fault. I was told to take an empty car trailer down to Plymouth or was it Portsmouth and collect 4 new post office vans and take them to Portsmouth or was it Plymouth.
The reason became clear when I got there, these new vans had been collected from Vauxhall in Luton and across the windscreens was written P/mouth
I was 34 years in National Newspaper Distribution as Senior Operations Distribution manager and saw many wrong deliveries over the years…
One regular driver had been doing Taunton ex Wapping 5 nights a week in an artic, but on 4 nights he would run back up to Pershore, reload magazines and back to Wapping.
This run was locked into his brain and one night he was standby driver as due to a press problem in Wapping we had to move the print requirement for Taunton to Liverpool. The driver was ok with this as he still got paid. So his normal run was approx 20 pallets via southwark bridge A23 to M3 to A303 departing 23:30 approx 160 miles with an approx arrival of 03:15.
Whilst the driver was watching tv and having dinner in the restaurant we received a call from CEVA that their Lancing vehicle had broken down on the way into us and the clutch had gone. We called our standby driver at approx 01:15, and asked if he could run to Lancing for us, Yes of course I will he replied, so he was called into loading bay straight away and loaded with 3 pallets of The Times to go via Southwark bridge to A23, M23 and again A23 departing 01:30 approx 60 miles with approx arrival 03:00.
At 03:00 we received a call from Lancing wholesalers as to the whereabouts of their supplies?
CEVA contacted the driver to ascertain his expected arrival ! The driver said… wait one… I am just crossing the A338 to Salisbury now so will be landing in 90 mins, he said the office was going to inform Taunton of the later departure of 01:30 which is 2 hours later than normal so they (Taunton) cannot expect me to arrive at normal time. Drive, Drive, Driver you are not doing Taunton this morning you are doing Lancing ! He turned around and ran to Lancing in 2 hours approx 90 miles. the wholesaler was delivering 2 hours late that morning… The driver said… I should have looked at my notes and should have listened to that halfwit in the office…
I think that this was his first mistake in 4 years and was his last, unfortunately he died early at 60… 2 years later, a very nice man.
We changed a vehicle and its driver one morning due to his depot colleague running 20 mins late, we put the Beckton driver on the Bermondsey run… No problem… Delivered and done… The later running Bermondsey driver was then instructed to drop his CEVA trailer full of returning pallets in the yard and collect the full Blue curtainside trailer in the yard with delivery notes attached on the trailer front. He arrived at his destination some 25 mins later in Beckton and reversed into the right unloading area, he opened the curtain one side and FLT driver sat mouth open as their were no supplies on board… The driver walked around the trailer and opened the other side and still no supplies were on… The driver was shocked…
Now you would think the driver would have noticed that the trailer pulled well enroute to destination missing the 24 ton of newspapers, cos he picked up one of the 3 empty white trailers in our yard and not the only Blue trailer. Another loss of sales this day…
Working for Hayter Mowers a long while ago one of our drivers was routed to Newcastle with urgent mower spares, when the agent called up asking where the spares were, he was told they should be with you now, anyway the following day there was a phone call from the driver saying that he could not find this agent (he usually only done the deliveries south of the smoke) and could one of the other drivers tell him where in Newcastle it was, just off the A500, where is the A500, Stoke on Trent, oh bl–dy hell I am in Newcastle on Tyne how do I get to Newcastle under Lyme from here. We had to give him a route over the phone as he never had a map in the motor, must admit that the driver was 60 + and had never been north of Watford before. He was a lovely old boy who would help anyone.
On the fuel tankers, 8 wheel ERF cruising down the A1 near Newark, glances to my left and there a lorry wheel making good progress across a field, so I thinks, ‘well there’s a strange sight, I’ve never seen that before’ So I stopped in the next lay by… nearside second steer with no wheel, no hub, just the stub axle. The hub had failed and made it’s bid for freedom
I had a talent for hubs failing, 3 axle trailer, coming up out of Chesterfield on dark wet night, looks on the nearside mirror…hmn, thats doesn’t look right,
Inspection confirmed there were only 5 wheel sets on the trailer and one very mangled mudguard. The police later found the escapee 3 miles away in somebody’s front garden, twin wheels, all nuts still tight, the hub had failed.
grumpy old man:
On the fuel tankers, 8 wheel ERF cruising down the A1 near Newark, glances to my left and there a lorry wheel making good progress across a field, so I thinks, ‘well there’s a strange sight, I’ve never seen that before’ So I stopped in the next lay by… nearside second steer with no wheel, no hub, just the stub axle. The hub had failed and made it’s bid for freedom
I had a talent for hubs failing, 3 axle trailer, coming up out of Chesterfield on dark wet night, looks on the nearside mirror…hmn, thats doesn’t look right,
Inspection confirmed there were only 5 wheel sets on the trailer and one very mangled mudguard. The police later found the escapee 3 miles away in somebody’s front garden, twin wheels, all nuts still tight, the hub had failed.
It’s a gift.
Funnily enough my late father (born 1906) used to tell how it happened to him back in the late 1920’s! Slight difference was that he was travelling in convoy with his brother (transport started early in the family!). Dad thought it was his brother’s wheel and had a good laugh until the truth dawned…
An uncle of mine bought an old London taxi back in the 50s and said that one day while driving down a road this wheel passed him on the offside and bounced over a hedge into a field, then he felt the crunch as the OSR brake drum hit the road, oh shucks he thought.
Never did tell me what happened, also never knew how he passed a test as he could not read or write and was colour blind as well, he never went in the forces as he never got called up, found out why years later, he had never been a registered birth, he is not on the 1939 census and never had any insurance cards or anything, worked with his father until his father died, we then had to get him registered, what a problem that was, also never found out when he was born, think around 1923 ish.
In the days before many motorways, I had an 8-wheeled Atki tipper in “silent seventh” down a dual carriageway in Kent. A wheel & tyre caught my eye as it sailed past the cab- mine off the second steer. The wheel performed miracles as it crossed the central reservation, narrowly missed three cars and bounced into a field. Could have been worse!
aeronick:
First day on the agency, ADAMS FOODS at RADLETT, A DAF rigid cooliner with sliding sides with 5 drops for TESCO around Portsmouth area, I found first drop, very pleased with myself, but first drop is on the bulkhead at the front of the truck!! same all day drops wrong way round ! When i get back to yard i was told that i should have reversed the notes at the start of the shift !! i ,ve never heard of that before ! messed my day up,gave them a laugh !!!
Funny you should say that, I done a few temp jobs for the Tesco warehouse in Doncaster, anyway agency called me up, could I go in at 8pm for a night shift, ok, in I goes, first run to Edenthorpe then back to yard drop trailer, pick up another with 3 drops 1st Leicester, gave me directions, missed the turn, no idea where the store was, into a garage, any idea where Tesco’s are, finally got there, unloaded, right now ask manager where the next one was, gets rough directions to somewhere around Brownhills, follows directions and found the Tesco’s store, pulls in, sorry mate the one you want is 5 mile back up the road, we are your last drop, luckily enough they took pity on me and unloaded the other stores cages to get to theirs then loaded it all back on again, got to the last drop 1 hour late but still happy, got unloaded and back to the yard signed off. Oh and caught a market stall backing in, was around 4 am so no one saw anything and I never reported it.
Went to the agency and said that I never got the written instructions that were promised and that I had a couple of problems, oh well you will know where they are for next time, I have to confess I was working full time for another company at that time so were well over my hours, but needed the cash.
Waaaay back, I had me 26t concrete mixer, held 6 metres of concrete, working out of a quarry at Carnforth.
Backed under the hopper for the last load of the day, revved up me drum, and Harvey proceeded to batch me 6 metres.
WHile I was washing off the back end Harvey comes running downstairs say “Go and tip this one quick, then back under for a last minute rush job, this one is for us though” wink
Well, me being young, naive, and not long in the game thought “Yes!, weekend money”!
Nipped up into the quarry where we used to drop part loads that´d gone off too much or just not needed.
Started to whizz me drum up and proceeded to squirt 14 tonnes of concrete into a large lagoon of mucky water.
Went back and backed under the hopper again, Harvey says "That was quick, you´ve never been to Nether Kellet in that time, have you? "!
It was at this moment I realised that he had meant for me to go and tip this last load at the customers site and be quick about it.
We had to use our weekend money concrete to deliver to the original customer and no extra “wages” that week. Opps!
nearside second steer with no wheel, no hub, just the stub axle. The hub had failed and made it’s bid for freedom 
