ive been a driver 15 years seen most of the uk and and benalux countries but when i look at the pics in some of these topics i really wish i couldve been a driver back then,fridged freight, middle east drivers, trucking international 80,s etc.the trucks today are as easy and as comfortable as a car to drive you come with fridges microwaves heaters that work so why when i see these pics do i wish i couldve drove motors from the 60,s 70,s and 80,s all over europe did i really miss out on the best days of international haulage.wish i had a time machine 
hiya,
My driving career kicked off in May 1957 there was a lot of old stuff pre-war even being punched slowly about the roads in those days but although they needed driving not just steering like nowadays they was full of character and i would’nt swap those times for anything, could’nt/would’nt do the job nowadays, we had comeraderie in those days and drivers were pals who did things together on and off duty yes Carl i think you missed what i term “the good years” so you aren’'t the only one i still miss them but detiioration set-in from the mid 70s i was lucky i managed to get a job with the local water authority and became simi-retired.
thanks harry long retired.
Yep, you’ve missed out on the hernias, the vibration white finger, the deafness, the tinnitus, the lack of heaters, the running over hours just to save your job (no tachos back then) the bad back from sleeping in a day cab, the fines for overloading, the hours and hours to get anywhere with a motor so underpowered the gear changing was like rowing a boat, the crappy brakes, the pneumonia from roping and sheeting, the broken bones from falling off the top of the load when dragging sheets around etc etc etc…
The good old days eh?
Ditto here Carl, I started work as a van boy/drivers mate in '81, passed my hgv3 in '86, artic in '88 doing UK, drove European '91 - 97, I (regretably) left road transport in 2000, although still do the occasional day for a mate. I miss driving lorries full-time alot. I sadly never made it as far as the Middle East but feel I was lucky to do the things I managed to do, to drive lorries was a childhood dream for me. My mates dad was my inspiration for lorry driving, he is a M/E veteran of the '70’s, but luckily he’s told me many a tale about the job then. I would’ve loved to of had the chance in that era, but it wasn’t to be, we must be grateful to the “old boys” who have the time and enthusiasm to come on here and post pics and tales about their experiences. Maybe in years to come our much smaller acheivements will be of interest to people (never in the same way though), but at least we’ve managed to get “over the water”. There seems to be so few Brits nowadays doing so that you wonder how many more will have the chance. As for todays comfy motors etc, I suppose it’s just progress, at least we are still “drivers” because it makes you wonder if there will even be a steering wheel in 10 years!!
Regards,
Mark.
hi bender , started driving in 63 , got the white finger , tinnitus , deafness [ a blessing when her indoors is on the warpath ] bad back , bad knees etc etc , but i made many good and lasting mates over the years , and although the job has gone to hell , those mates are still there . we can still yarn about the good [and bad ] times and brag that we were proper drivers , not cog-swappers and steerers . cheers , dave
rigsby:
hi bender , started driving in 63 , got the white finger , tinnitus , deafness [ a blessing when her indoors is on the warpath ] bad back , bad knees etc etc , but i made many good and lasting mates over the years , and although the job has gone to hell , those mates are still there . we can still yarn about the good [and bad ] times and brag that we were proper drivers , not cog-swappers and steerers . cheers , dave
Ah yes, but by the same token the guys who drove the Foden and Sentinel steam wagons could also say (if they’re not pushing up daisies) that they were proper drivers, not these softies who climbed into their fully enclosed cabs and turned a key!
And then the guys with horses and carts might argue that they needed more skill than those who had engines, and so it goes.
Camaraderie still exists in waves, doesn’t matter where you work or what you do, there’s just less time spent these days hanging around, because time is money.
Bender:
Yep, you’ve missed out on the hernias, the vibration white finger, the deafness, the tinnitus, the lack of heaters, the running over hours just to save your job (no tachos back then) the bad back from sleeping in a day cab, the fines for overloading, the hours and hours to get anywhere with a motor so underpowered the gear changing was like rowing a boat, the crappy brakes, the pneumonia from roping and sheeting, the broken bones from falling off the top of the load when dragging sheets around etc etc etc…The good old days eh?
I started going with my Dad in 1955, and have been on the road since 1970, but I’ve never had any of the above, apart from the gear changing.
Dieseldogsix:
Bender:
Yep, you’ve missed out on the hernias, the vibration white finger, the deafness, the tinnitus, the lack of heaters, the running over hours just to save your job (no tachos back then) the bad back from sleeping in a day cab, the fines for overloading, the hours and hours to get anywhere with a motor so underpowered the gear changing was like rowing a boat, the crappy brakes, the pneumonia from roping and sheeting, the broken bones from falling off the top of the load when dragging sheets around etc etc etc…The good old days eh?
I started going with my Dad in 1955, and have been on the road since 1970, but I’ve never had any of the above, apart from the gear changing.
You were lucky! In my day…
I knew people who had all those problems, but not all at once. There was one old guy who worked for Everards driving a Mk 1 Atki pulling a tanker trailer, he strained himself quite badly on the steering (‘pulled me guts out’ he said), I knew of several people who’d fallen off while roping and sheeting, likewise someone else who had to jump while unloading reels stacked three high using a bar and chocks (that was me) flippin’ lethal.
We all knew of someone who’d come to grief when the brakes gave up, those old Atki’s I used to ride around in in the 70s were so noisy you couldn’t hear the radio. And I shudder to think how one would have faired in an accident, wood and plastic cab, no seatbelts…
Carl:
ive been a driver 15 years seen most of the uk and and benalux countries but when i look at the pics in some of these topics i really wish i couldve been a driver back then,fridged freight, middle east drivers, trucking international 80,s etc.the trucks today are as easy and as comfortable as a car to drive you come with fridges microwaves heaters that work so why when i see these pics do i wish i couldve drove motors from the 60,s 70,s and 80,s all over europe did i really miss out on the best days of international haulage.wish i had a time machine
Hiya carl… I see the photo,s and think why did i miss that m/e life… For a start i was erning really good money and home every night.
I later did general haulage/tramping for 8 years.I could have done the long haul as i lived near to stoke .comarts. thor. morcap. morlock.
berresfords.Chapman and ball.brit european. and infact i pulled trailers in and out of dover for some of the above companys.
I have reacently read long haul pioneersand not all sun and sand. after reading the books it seems it was,nt as easy as it looks, I am
a reasonably good mechanic and could botch things together. its the boarder crossings that would do my head in with the paper work.
John
i think was all about learning the job in the 50s , 60s & 70s carl , you did it . you had to learn to do the job properly , or risk an accident of some sort . i suppose the difference is that from the 70s on , lorries improved very quickly , and driver’s health wasn’t as much at risk . drivers now know that when they press the middle pedal , the lorry WILL stop , not maybe , and they don’t have a great big gearstick bashing their leg all day . i agree with you , our predecessors must have thought we were wimps too . regards , dave
Bender:
Yep, you’ve missed out on the hernias, the vibration white finger, the deafness, the tinnitus, the lack of heaters, the running over hours just to save your job (no tachos back then) the bad back from sleeping in a day cab, the fines for overloading, the hours and hours to get anywhere with a motor so underpowered the gear changing was like rowing a boat, the crappy brakes, the pneumonia from roping and sheeting, the broken bones from falling off the top of the load when dragging sheets around etc etc etc…The good old days eh?
“Bender” my dear boy,I hope you are not for one minute inferring that Bewick Transport caused ,or was responsible for causing, any of the discomforts you describe!!! We didn’t work “Bent” or kip in the cab,nor did we overload.Our ■■■■■■■ 220s were on top of their job at 32 tons and our maintainence was equal or better than anywhere else in the industry ,at the time.Our sheets were always lightweight and easy to handle(as opposed to the things that passed for sheets the southerners used!!)And apart from two ,very isolated,incidents of falls from loads we never had any major H & S problems,even years before all this crap that has been forced on the industry since!(I know of an on going case of an ex Bewick driver that was knocked out of Curtainsider not long ago,with not a sheet or a rope in site!!)so no improvment there then! And we now come to the best bit-----when you were a youngster you were allowed(without my written permission I hasten to add!!!) to ride up and down the country as a passenger in some of the finest British built motors that money could buy at the time! so I sincerely trust you are not including the Bewick operation within your derogatory remarks about a long gone era!!!Where did I go wrong!!!Dennis.
it’s defo your fault dennis , not enough application of the knotted rope ! you should have sent one down on the trunk motor , with instructions , dave
rigsby:
it’s defo your fault dennis , not enough application of the knotted rope ! you should have sent one down on the trunk motor , with instructions , dave
Yea I should have got one of our night men to “punch his (zb)” and leave him to thumb his way home on one of Alfred Dexters,then he would have found out how rough it really was!!! Dennis.
Bewick:
rigsby:
it’s defo your fault dennis , not enough application of the knotted rope ! you should have sent one down on the trunk motor , with instructions , daveYea I should have got one of our night men to “punch his (zb)” and leave him to thumb his way home on one of Alfred Dexters,then he would have found out how rough it really was!!! Dennis.
You lot don’t know how rough it really was,imagine being a mule skinner or driving a team of horses pulling a wagon across the prairie,being chased by indians 
.
that was because we didn’t live in radnorshire dave!!
rigsby:
that was because we didn’t live in radnorshire dave!!
Oh I forgot to mention the cactus bushes as well Dave .
Bewick:
Bender:
Yep, you’ve missed out on the hernias, the vibration white finger, the deafness, the tinnitus, the lack of heaters, the running over hours just to save your job (no tachos back then) the bad back from sleeping in a day cab, the fines for overloading, the hours and hours to get anywhere with a motor so underpowered the gear changing was like rowing a boat, the crappy brakes, the pneumonia from roping and sheeting, the broken bones from falling off the top of the load when dragging sheets around etc etc etc…The good old days eh?
“Bender” my dear boy,I hope you are not for one minute inferring that Bewick Transport caused ,or was responsible for causing, any of the discomforts you describe!!! We didn’t work “Bent” or kip in the cab,nor did we overload.Our ■■■■■■■ 220s were on top of their job at 32 tons and our maintainence was equal or better than anywhere else in the industry ,at the time.Our sheets were always lightweight and easy to handle(as opposed to the things that passed for sheets the southerners used!!)And apart from two ,very isolated,incidents of falls from loads we never had any major H & S problems,even years before all this crap that has been forced on the industry since!(I know of an on going case of an ex Bewick driver that was knocked out of Curtainsider not long ago,with not a sheet or a rope in site!!)so no improvment there then! And we now come to the best bit-----when you were a youngster you were allowed(without my written permission I hasten to add!!!) to ride up and down the country as a passenger in some of the finest British built motors that money could buy at the time! so I sincerely trust you are not including the Bewick operation within your derogatory remarks about a long gone era!!!Where did I go wrong!!!Dennis.
Could you point out where exactly the words ‘Dennis’, ‘Bewick’ or ‘Northern’ were in my rant er, sorry, post?
I am a little taken aback by your vociferous response to my rather random comments about the rest of the British transport industry in general, some might say ‘he doth protest too much!’
For almost 40 years I’ve always held Bewick Transport Services in the highest esteem, and relished the opportunity during the estimated 2,500 hours I spent washing, polishing, hoovering, lubing and generally maintaining your investment to be associated with this paradigm of the British haulage industry, and fought back the tears during the frequent beatings my parents used to dish out for getting black grease on yet another item of clothing knowing that I was ‘doing my best’ for Bewick.
Little did I know back then in those halcyon day of my adolescence that almost 40 years later I would be publicly berated by Mr Smith himself as the long forgotten Gravesend trailer boy who would spend his time reading ■■■■■ books and illegally riding shotgun in the very vehicles I had cleaned, and all for a measly £52 a year.
How’s the weather in the Isle of Man tax haven this afternoon by the way Mr Smith?
Dave the Renegade:
Bewick:
rigsby:
it’s defo your fault dennis , not enough application of the knotted rope ! you should have sent one down on the trunk motor , with instructions , daveYea I should have got one of our night men to “punch his (zb)” and leave him to thumb his way home on one of Alfred Dexters,then he would have found out how rough it really was!!! Dennis.
You lot don’t know how rough it really was,imagine being a mule skinner or driving a team of horses pulling a wagon across the prairie,being chased by indians
Well according to “Benders” description of the transport world he re-calls,it is something akin to what Dave is describing! Dennis.
Is it illegal to drive while wearing rose coloured glasses?
rigsby:
it’s defo your fault dennis , not enough application of the knotted rope ! you should have sent one down on the trunk motor , with instructions , dave
hiya,
Just remember i hold the patent for the knotted rope and it can only be produced under licence and it’s use restricted to the thrashing of trailer boys when they are second in command of eight wheelers and drawbar trailers and can only be operated by the driver of the said vehicle.
thanks harry long retired.