bloomin scanner has packed up!! its scanned the pics but has created plain white pictures!! I’ll get them on here some how or another, i’ll be back to you Routier, thanks
Mr 141:
bloomin scanner has packed up!! its scanned the pics but has created plain white pictures!! I’ll get them on here some how or another, i’ll be back to you Routier, thanks
I take photographs of the old photographs with a digital camera then load them on to my pc, then photobucket then onto here!
Regards Pat
sounds like a good idea, i’ll try that, thanks
I’ve got pics on my pc now. can some one post them for me please?
My dad drove for A.C.H for a while ( Derek Williams) and was there till Nobby’s closed down. Not a bad job by all accounts.
From 141, here they are, some crackin pics there!!!
They look good, thanks for doing that Routier
No Problem, happy to help! Some gud pics you have there
Better late than never with a reply – last time I saw Brian Soanes he was warehouse foreman at Norbert Dentressangle Leighton Buzzard depot !!
T Williams:
My dad drove for A.C.H for a while ( Derek Williams) and was there till Nobby’s closed down. Not a bad job by all accounts.
I heard Nobbys (ex ACH) closed down due to tacho offences, someone in the office went to jail and a lot of the drivers lost their licenses. I worked on there for a few weeks about 6mths before this all happened. The traffic office would be on the phone pushing you to run bent, maintenance was almost none existent and the geezer in the warehouse was storing most of the stuff on his own account.
berewic
I don’t know when you were at ACH or latterly Norbert Dentressangle but the description you recite on your posting is nothing like a true reflection of the company !
The International work finished when N.D. replated all the vehicles with Polish number plates & registration and the Brit drivers were replaced by Poles ! This is a bit ironic in respect of the present news of “British jobs for British Workers” as we had no backing from any quarter when we tried to fight this and reverse the decision made by N.D.! The only journalist who ever comments on the loss of driving jobs for Brit drivers is Quentin Wilson (motoring journalist) and his concern is towards standard of driving by Eastern Bloc drivers & condition of vehicles !
Maintenance of vehicles was always 100% both at Aylesbury & later Leighton Buzzard – also if any warrenty work was necessary the trucks always went to Renault Chiltern in Dunstable where they received 100% servicing !
Forced to run bent – bo**ocks – we had a weekly sheet to fill in covering a 7 day period Sunday to Saturday and each day we had to enter driven hours & worked hours (these had to tally with tacho) and a running total kept on a two week basis (to cover the 90hrs) ! On top of this the tacho’s were sent away to a RHA recognised analist for computer readouts/printouts – we had to sign for these on their return ! NO ONE went to prison for tacho offences although mistakes by drivers were made of the most elementary nature !!I could enlarge on all these points if necessary but don’t wish to bore readers any further !!
Big Leggy:
berewic
I don’t know when you were at ACH or latterly Norbert Dentressangle but the description you recite on your posting is nothing like a true reflection of the company !
The International work finished when N.D. replated all the vehicles with Polish number plates & registration and the Brit drivers were replaced by Poles ! This is a bit ironic in respect of the present news of “British jobs for British Workers” as we had no backing from any quarter when we tried to fight this and reverse the decision made by N.D.! The only journalist who ever comments on the loss of driving jobs for Brit drivers is Quentin Wilson (motoring journalist) and his concern is towards standard of driving by Eastern Bloc drivers & condition of vehicles !
Maintenance of vehicles was always 100% both at Aylesbury & later Leighton Buzzard – also if any warrenty work was necessary the trucks always went to Renault Chiltern in Dunstable where they received 100% servicing !
Forced to run bent – bo**ocks – we had a weekly sheet to fill in covering a 7 day period Sunday to Saturday and each day we had to enter driven hours & worked hours (these had to tally with tacho) and a running total kept on a two week basis (to cover the 90hrs) ! On top of this the tacho’s were sent away to a RHA recognised analist for computer readouts/printouts – we had to sign for these on their return ! NO ONE went to prison for tacho offences although mistakes by drivers were made of the most elementary nature !!I could enlarge on all these points if necessary but don’t wish to bore readers any further !!
OK that’s your account. My account is that I’m doing a job that is booked in for midnight. I can’t remember where I started that day but it involved loading house bricks from somewhere just off the M1 and just before the M1/M62 split. I’v loaded and tipped these bricks somewhere and now have to shoot off to Corby for a load of Avon calling boxes. These had to be in somewhere near Andover for midnight. The distribution firm would be waiting. When I got there at about 23.30hrs the place was all locked up and gone home. My time was up at midnight so I just found a space on the industrial estate and went to bed. At 06.00hrs the warehouse manager was banging on the door demanding I tip my trailer. I told him I can’t start till 09.00hrs and asked him why nobody was at the warehouse last night. He said he decided not to wait so I will have to do it now. His attitude didn’t help so I told him 09.00hrs and shut my door and went back to bed. Anyway, he’d been on the phone to Norbets Aylsbury shouting and screaming. They just told him to keep banging on the door.
Another time I’m between Aosta and the tunnel and becouse the road was clogged with winter tourists my time had run out and I had parked up. I 'm getting hassled from one of the drivers as well as the office to make Grenoble. On many occasion this sort of thing happened. Demanding I catch the Zeebrugge freighter knowing full well I would have to run bent to make my Munich booking when the train or boat to Calais would have given me time to spare.
Years ago I thought nothing of working for cowboys but a time comes when I just want to do my shift and park up. I don’t want to run bent , drive trucks of uncertain reliability or work for crooks. I worked there for about six weeks and in those six weeks I saw 8 drivers come and go.
Maybe they just ■■■■ the new-bees about.
Re-reading your post, I suspect the time I’m talking about is before yours. I worked from their Aylsbury depot ( not Stone Depot) They were in the Norbet livery (not ACH). I know nothing of Polish registrations or the foreign work drying up. All this weekly sheet stuff and maticulate maintenance is probably the result of the Ministries intervention.
I’ve been trying to think when I worked there. The only way I can put a date on it is by remembering what car I had at the time. Sometime around 1999/2000.
Another thing I heard after I left and the Ministry had been in was that the traffic office clerk was now running the traffic dept as the other two had been sacked. The new boss was a 5’ 4"ish feisty brunet who knew a few good words if you ■■■■■■ her off.
berewic
I’m just trying to place who you could possibly in 1999 to 2000 – I can assure you that it wasn’t before or after my time as I was there (Stone, Aylesbury & Leighton Buzzard) untill the International work finished (as per circumstances of my previous posting) – all in all I had over 20yrs service/employment with ACH and I think at the finish I was something like the 2nd or 3rd longest serving driver there.
In all that time I had my tacho’s checked by police or ministry personell in numerous countries throughout Europe as well as U.K. and I can in all honesty say I never had one fine or summons in all that time for any tacho offence except for one occasion ! That one occasion was many moons back when the Italian police (not noted for their honesty) insisted I pay a fine for exceeding 8hrs driving. This was at Orte en route to Caserta, – I explained (in my best pigeon Italian) that the EU law now stated it was a 9hrs driving day but they insisted NO ! I paid up and got a receipt which I submitted to the office on my return – not only did I get the Lira but all drivers were then issued with a formal mult-lingual letter outlining the EU driving hours (did you look in your folder to make sure yours was there?) for any future problems !
I’m not sure of that turnover of 8 drivers leaving in that time – are you 100% sure you were on for ACH and not NDUK ■■ If I could just place you it would help – but if you were only there for such a short time I probably never even saw you !!
By the way the girls name is Charmaine and she’s a close friend !!
big leggy, I have to agree with you about the way ACH was run having worked for them as an owner driver subbie and as a casual driver in the eighties and early nineties when they were at stone and aylesbury although I did’nt do much after they became ND. Yes they did like to get their pound of flesh out of you but I was never asked to do anything which blatantly broke the rules and the only thing that really ■■■■■■ me off with the company was David Fowler and his total lack of man management skills otherwise the vehicles were good and well maintained thanks to fred (I sure that was his name) in the workshop, the work was generally well organised and straightforward and most of the drivers good lads, a lot of whom I knew from previous companies dow freight and radclive transport, a shame to see it disappear as another victim of the east european influence. I could go on for a good many more pages about how the EU, Gordon Brown and east european haulage companies have reduced the uk 's international haulage industry to its knees. When I started driving abroad back in 1974 the motorways in france and germany were full of english trucks, even in the middle east you would see several uk vehicles every day and now when I drive between european grand prix circuits during the season you might see one or two a trip. Maybe if the uk adopted a daily road tax the same as Benelux countries do as fat boy Prescott promised was going to implemented after the road hauliers protests a few years ago then then just maybe some of the thousands of poles and other undercutting east euro hauliers might not be so interested in coming to the uk. But as Quentin Wilson pointed this out on a programme about the carnage foreign trucks and drivers wreak on our road the tax idea has been dropped and is unlikely to be reintroduced in the forseeable future and it is probably to late to do any good for our international haulage industry anyway but the revenue raised could go a long way towards victims of traffic accidents and towards more motorway patrols targeted at the foreign vehicles who are not always as well maintained as they should be. The problem is that any revenue raised would probably go to the wrong place ie mr darlings pocket to help pay for all the banks misdemeanours. Anyway sorry to go on a bit but the above does ■■■■ me off.
hey ho just another soapy bubble in the enema of life.
chazzer
chazzer
I undoubtably must know you if you were a subbie – so for old times sake I hope you are well, I would say healthy, wealthy & well but no trucker can be all three ! You are correct the fitter in charge at Stone was Fred (Powell) no longer with us (RIP) died a few year ago of the Big C ! Yeah David did lack the basic man manager skills I’ll give you that, also I much preferred working for his father Les (RIP) ! We did work hard & they wanted a pound of flesh but like you said no one was forced or coerced to break the law. On the other side of that coin was the ££’s earned and we were on top dollar by any other companies standard, plus we got wage + expenses raise every year without fail !
Once again I will repeat what I said earlier – as is news now British jobs fo British Workers means nothing to this Labour (LOL) Goverment it is just rhetoric, so the likes of many good UK hauliers (like ACH) can just go to the wall and I’m afraid can never be returned to the “good ol’ days” !!
As for charging a form of “road tax” for incoming vehicles what could be easier because as we are an island with a limited number of points of entry so tax could be collected at point of ferry. This could be on a daily basis (similar to Benelux) at a rate of 1/365th of the top rate of UK road fund licence - simple - possibly to simple for this N.L. who would rather hit the transport industry with the highest Derv tax in Europe !! A.C.H. – R.I.P.
Hi Guys
Blimey gentleman George Ginn if u are reading this how is the gearbox u made me strip down then only to discover there was no oil in it.Luvly man went to his house to buy a VW that he claimed was great but it was a dog still good day out .Yes I only new them as Andy Capp Haulage .Have a pic of him somewhere will dig for it.
Roger Haywood
sinbin31
Gentleman George Ginn – still amongst us I’m pleased to say but grounded from “trucking” !! George has driven trucks to places most drivers have only dreamed of – Great guy, started on A.C.H. (when Les was boss) a while after me !! Crack the top of a litre of scotch & throw the cap away “we won’t be needing that anymore” he would say !!
Over the years there were some great characters on A.C.H. and everyone of them came to the company with a wealth of knowledge from their previous companies and experiences !!
Chazzer, Big leggy, got to say I have to agree with your views and thought you may like this poem I wrote. Though I usually write more jovial stuff in the style of Pam Ayres, this one was prompted by the decision to remove the Britannia from our coins, which the government made with little or no consultation, and it just sort of all came out!
Rule out Britannia. (Or just an old Englishman’s view)
Yes, why not, lets get rid of Britannia, well we’re not very great anymore,
Gone are the days when we ruled the waves and banished the foes from the shore,
History shows in the past we could take on the world, our brave men laid down there their lives in the wars,
But for some reason then with the stroke of a pen, politicians just opened the doors,
Now I’m not saying that’s definitely a bad thing, or that the things we did in the past were all right,
But with this turning of tide, and the loss of our pride, well I can’t say the future looks bright,
Imagine the embryo of this wonderful dream, a united Europe, living forever in bliss,
Forget fighting the cause, or who started the wars, all now embraced in a double cheeked kiss,
No more border controls or customs checkpoints, frontier queues would be a thing of the past,
And I have to admit it seemed good for a bit, but I feared maybe too good to last,
At first they called it the Common Market, for easier export of our goods, so they said,
'course what they’d forgot, by then we didn’t make a lot, but we were swamped with cheap imports instead,
Now, they told us, we’d get more for our money, but our manufacturing declined near to an end,
So with the loss of the trade, job redundancies were made, and many found they’d no money to spend,
Then the goalposts were moved and the EEC was born, you could travel throughout Europe with ease,
But now we’ve been overrun, without firing a gun, and it seems they can do as they please,
Once we’d buy the best from the world over, better they said to buy from the countries next door,
So now we eat tinned Euro ham, instead of New Zealand lamb, but I don’t know who that’s better for,
Well as more countries rushed to join the big gravy train, and with more power the name changed to E.U.
As they signed up each new Euro state, at a staggering rate, like an uncontrolled cancer it grew,
Now they make up the rules in Belgium or France, to which members are supposed to adhere,
But it seems a lost cause, when they override our laws, that have served well for so many a year,
So our hauliers are told to compete with the rest, but with our taxes and laws still have to comply,
While over on cheap fuel they come , and they run and they run, 'cos to them British laws don’t apply,
They tell our farmers what, and how much to grow, who struggle on as if one hand were tied,
But now they have time to stand and look over there land, 'cos most of it’s been tagged “set a side”,
And our fishermen are told how much fish they can catch, they tell them in the harbour to stay,
Saying "tie up your boats, 'cos you’ve caught all your quotes”, as they sit and watch their jobs slip away,
Our authorities enforce the law to the letter, 'cos we’re British and we play by the rules,
While those over there, do as they like they don’t care, and they laugh at us, thinking we’re fools,
So our fishermen stand by the quayside, our transport and farmers ■■■■■■■ in red tape,
And some see their lives, well, criminalised, by the rules the men in Brussels dictate,
So come on some brave elder statesman, be a voice for what so many of us feel,
Someone with some clout, must stand up and shout, we’re in on our terms or no deal,
Can’t you see, we should think British before Europe, and make a stand before it’s too late,
Or I’m sure there’ll come a day, when all we can say, is we’re Britain a European ‘hell of a state’.
Copyrighted.
BigG-Unit
Says it all realy !! And the guy who dragged us into this mess (Edward Heath) actually got an honour for it !!
As for trading partners we were in the best “common market” – British Commonwealth , ! If we could trade with our commonwealth partners in the days of sailing ships & early steam boats – and supply British engineering skills world wide – what was in it for us in the modern world to join the EEC (EU) ■■
I believe that the U.K. & Germany are the only 2 nations that are contributors to the E.U. & every other country is a net beneficiary !! A.C.H. R.I.P.