One of the very best regular deliveries we had at Bewick Transport during the 70’s was into John Dickinsons at Apsley,Hemel Hempstead with 20ton loads of paper from the Mill at Beetham.We used to stop at Markyate cafe when we had these loads so we could get a “knock” at 4:30 am and be parked at J D’s gate ready for 6 am.You then drove right down inside the plant which just had headroom for our Atkys and the load of reels.The chap that unloaded us was called Ted ? (just can’t recall his surname) and believe it or not we would be coming out m/t by 6:45 am.When we did the first odd loads to this drop we soon got on well with Ted and had the SP sussed that if we were there “kicking the door down” at 6 am he would have us away pronto.Boy was it hot under those steam pipes booling those reels off as fast as Ted used to whip them away on his immaculate Lansing FLT,he’d give us a roll up with our sheets and lift them up on his plate onto the trailer,Phew !! We got that well in with him they wouldn’t have anyone else delivering these loads but Bewick Tpt and on the odd occaision the Mill sent one of their own motors there was hell to play as they never rolled into JD’s until mid morning and Old Ted gave everyone in his office grief including sticking in a claused signature once for good measure 
This line of traffic built up to anything from 2 to 4 loads a week and for a couple of years as I recall our future Transport manger did this job regular with MEC98K and then with OJM480L,3 loads down and three loads of woodpulp back per week,luverly jubberly!! Guess who got a bottle of Scotch at Christmas for a number of years ? Cheers Ted RIP you were a diamond me old mate ! We always found that if you adapted to the requirements of the delivery point you couldn’t go wrong,we had many great deliveries and,of course,some poxy ones which are for another post. 
Cheers Bewick.
Well I have two candidates for Worst Drop with a six wheeler tipper, both foundries in the West Midlands! Smethwick foundry was a nightmare, an awkward stockpile to access and also about six inches of ■■■■ to walk about in plus a settling pond which was unmarked and at least two driver’s dropped into it getting out of their cab! I think that Malmic on here was one of them? Then you had to negotiate the actual foundry to get your ticket signed with cauldrons of molten metal alongside you spilling stuff. Several driver’s refused to go to the place, one even drove through the barrier and knocked it off but still didn’t get banned as they had problems getting folk to go there anyway!
Thomas Dudley’s on Birmingham New Road was another, it was a four wheeler job really as they only ever had ten tonne of foundry stone but most four wheeler owner’s wouldn’t go there as you stood a good chance of getting a lump of metal through a tyre as the place was a tip and they never cleaned the ground of molten steel etc so we went with just ten tonne on six wheeler’s. They were never ready for the stone so you had to wait while they ran coke up the belt, then it was very tight getting a six wheeler in at right angles to the hopper. With my truck having a high body I could only tip up two rams because of a low girder so had to keep letting the body down, drawing outside and tipping the load to the back then having another tip inside again. The last bit had to be shovelled out anyway. Then trying to get the ticket signed was another issue as nobody was interested, you were supposed to go to another works further up the road to weigh in and out but I always pleaded ignorance about that so they made me wait for a signature.
In contrast most other foundries were clean and tidy, Cradley Castings at Cradley Heath (though you had to be carefull that you didn’t drop over a ten foot drop there in the dark as there was a tree against your right hand cab door and mirror which you couldn’t see around!) Worthington Simpson at Balderton, Clay Cross works, West Bromwich and Tipton Castings were all brilliant as you just drove off the weighbridge a few yards and tipped on a stock pile.
Pete.
Bewick:
One of the very best regular deliveries we had at Bewick Transport during the 70’s was into John Dickinsons at Apsley,Hemel Hempstead with 20ton loads of paper from the Mill at Beetham.We used to stop at Markyate cafe when we had these loads so we could get a “knock” at 4:30 am and be parked at J D’s gate ready for 6 am.You then drove right down inside the plant which just had headroom for our Atkys and the load of reels.The chap that unloaded us was called Ted ? (just can’t recall his surname) and believe it or not we would be coming out m/t by 6:45 am.When we did the first odd loads to this drop we soon got on well with Ted and had the SP sussed that if we were there “kicking the door down” at 6 am he would have us away pronto.Boy was it hot under those steam pipes booling those reels off as fast as Ted used to whip them away on his immaculate Lansing FLT,he’d give us a roll up with our sheets and lift them up on his plate onto the trailer,Phew !! We got that well in with him they wouldn’t have anyone else delivering these loads but Bewick Tpt and on the odd occaision the Mill sent one of their own motors there was hell to play as they never rolled into JD’s until mid morning and Old Ted gave everyone in his office grief including sticking in a claused signature once for good measure
John Dickinsons at Hemel was a top company to do work for, never done loads in but plenty of finished product out, if you were there on time you were loaded and on your way in double quick time to quick sometimes when you wanted to lose an hour, had a brilliant canteen as well.
Worst drop, any of the docks, I ended up banning myself from them all.
We used to collect from Kent Meters in Luton, I always timed it for lunch time, because we used to get Free Dinners. [emoji106]
One of the best drops I used to go to was Croda at Luton, I used to load at Cargofleet with chopped pigs feet & get straight away with the load as it had to be delivered ASAP, Otherwise it could become one big lump in the tipper body, They worked 24 hrs, The bloke in charge was great he used to let us use their pressure hose to wash out, And usually I ran up to Corby for a load of slag, Happy days they were, Regards Larry.
Candidate for worst drop in the 60s must have been Liverpool Docks. If they weren’t on strike they were on a go slow. I daresay there’s a few drivers on here who have queued on the dock road for two or three days before getting through the gate.
Best: Brocks (fireworks) at Sanquhar. Once they opened up they plied me with as much tea as I could swim in, and tipped me in very short order. It made up for the freezing ■■■■■■ cold kipping outside the gates overnight.
Worst: lots of possibilities. The one that comes to mind was BL at Longbridge, I could never find the right place to unload twice in a row and, when I eventually found what seemed to be the right spot, had to wait for hours for anyone to show any interest at all. That said, I’ve sat in queues at umpteen Sainsburys Homebase depots watching paint dry while still in the tins. And it’s no different down under - hardware stores (Bunnings, Masters - the equivalent of B&Q) are the worst of the lot - the goods-in areas are too small and always stacked backside to breakfast with stock, and only one person is licenced to use the forklift for no more than 6 minutes at a time.
Retired Old ■■■■:
Candidate for worst drop in the 60s must have been Liverpool Docks. If they weren’t on strike they were on a go slow. I daresay there’s a few drivers on here who have queued on the dock road for two or three days before getting through the gate.
PLEASE…pretty please…no more talk about the hell hole that was Liverpool docks. Those dockers were the laziest set of scrotes ever to have existed. I was only a young lad, they nearly killed me when I loaded hides onto a flat…and not one of the bar stewards would give me a hand, they just stood watching and smoking. 
liverpool docks set the all time record for awfulness , hull docks ran a close second at times . best drops was cement from kent to birmingham for the flood drain system in the 70s . always 2 , or 3 drops , big gang of navvies to unload so i never had to touch a bag , and somehow always finished up with a ton or two left on the lorry . what could i do with all that cement on the way home ■■ dave
One of our worst paper drops I recall was at a Birmingham packaging co. which was run by that section of our population that goes and prays five times a day 
,our motor would sometimes be half or nearly tipped and they would just abandon the job and ■■■■ off to pray for and hour or more so it dosen’t surprise me that there is festering aggro in the community nowadays ! Cheers Bewick.
Hiya…wow when i started on the Hiabs in the mid 70s.wow people was nice to you, like please and thanks…AND have a
drink with me drive.(just getting set up for the next load) we used to put bricks on the scaffold…(till some half wit
somewhere pulled the scaffold down)you was always in for a 5er if you put a pack or two of bricks straight up.
we used to run 3 or 4 lorries and i would unload them all. if i was waiting for a late driver maybe a pack of
timber or reinforcing mesh would come on site…ting ting would go the cash registered…i’ll lift that of for you mate.
now the jobs like all he rest. skivvy to all and sundry…good while it lasted…you could get on site at 4.50pm where
about,s mate. one there one there and a couple in the corner…easy 100 tons of bricks of after 5 pm no one around
job done.
John
Hi Den…Good subject…
Best drop…Anything on a pallet, and a forklift…
Worse drop…Anything handball…
Retired Old ■■■■:
Candidate for worst drop in the 60s must have been Liverpool Docks. If they weren’t on strike they were on a go slow. I daresay there’s a few drivers on here who have queued on the dock road for two or three days before getting through the gate.
Aye, I did my share of queuing for days, And sometimes had to cab it because all the digs were full, Maybels near Gladstone Dock was very good in those days, And then we had the little Scoucer gits wanting money to watch you motor overnight, Their old men must have been dockers I think, Wanting money for doing nothing, Regards Larry.
We used to load a fair bit in about 1970 from Bowater Scott to Parkers Storage at Dukinfield.You could take 4 hours plus tea breaks to handball off one trailer! I think the unloading lads were related to the Liverpool dockers (Oops, sorry GOM - I won’t mention them again!)
John
I once had the “pleasure” of delivering a full load of shoes from Portugal to Bata shoes, think it was Bradford or Dewsbury… Only took them 9 hours to tip… Tea breaks and whining and wringing included…
Another fantastic day out was tipping in Land Rover Solihull with production line stopping urgent parts from Spain… After a non stop one hit from Vitoria, being told we’re on tea break. Fine, until 1 hour later still no one appeared. I found a fork lift and offloaded myself. You’d have thought I’d started a war… As when a well rested native reappeared I was putting the side back in the tilt, as was now empty. I was quoted in what I think was Punjabi or some such the whole of land rovers health and safety working practice blither… He then refused to sign the cmr… After a gentle word, very kindly put, and without any threat or indeed insults he agreed to sign the papers…
He finally did and I was then escorted from the factory by the security bod as was kindly asked never to return to Solihull or any other Land Rover plant… A proper result !!!
Can’t work out why British industry went down the pan hey ?
Best drop was in Frankfurt. Loaded with boxed garments from Whitechapel on a Sunday morning.
For delivery to Frankfurt Monday morning… Easy !! The exporter / importer used to load and then drive to Frankfurt in his van to sell them to the garment warehouses on a Frankfurt ind est.
Every time I did the load he used to give me a 30 Deutschmark drink and buy me breakfast for arriving on time. I once beat him to Frankfurt and got a 50 drink!! Was a truly nice man and made a nice change from the usual Groupage depots that I was doing around that time.
Fergie47:
Hi Den…Good subject…Best drop…Anything on a pallet, and a forklift…
Worse drop…Anything handball…
Better still Dave-----Crane on and crane off—and even better (not too good a rate though 
) two Ford tractors ex an SOM trailer at their St Albans depot for Kendal,well it was a flying load to get back home PDQ which was OK occasionally but it was no good for J & A to have a motor m/t in Kendal in the middle of nowhere. Cheers Dennis.
the best load and tip I have ever done was working on tankers and a Yorkshire water job about 10 mins to load 19 ton and about 20 mins to tip but it was effluent or human ■■■■ I only did it one day as the stench was to much for my delicate stomach but 4 loads a day paid about 16 hours
cheers Johnnie
The worst i had was a drop at Seaton Delavall in the North East , it was to a large American company whose name i`ve forgotten , we brought full loads of aerosol dispensors from Germany into there and they would send a full load back for one skid broken on a pallet this happened regularily. They had to be unloaded through the back doors onto a loading bay with an electric pallet truck. I opened the back doors on one occasion and the first pallet had the bottom skid cracked , they said take the full load back ,i offered to hand ball the pallet off they said no , i said well unload the rest from the side they said no take it back it was too dangerous to unload outside . The next time i went they said open your curtains driver we will unload you outside ffs !!!
Another good drop in 1958, Was J, Stocks Ltd, Hanging Ditch Manchester, 15 Ton of Danish Bacon Loaded on the Quayside in Newcastle, On a Monday deliver 7.30.am at this delivery in Manchester,Tues all handballed off in less than an hour, Dropped onto sack barrows 1 at a time a down the lift into their cellar, When MT you were invited to have a bacon sandwich & a cuppa, On the house of course, Then a £1.00 Tip from their gaffer who was a Dane called Ostendfeld, He was a true gent, And all his employees were very good too, There was a few more drops in the vacintey Matty Hudson Greenwood St, Sam Harrops Ltd All hand ball but quick and plesent deliveries, But then one proceeded to Thos Hedleys in Trafford Park to Reload, Now P&G Ltd, You could be in there till 9/10at night then off course the load had to be delivered at 8.00am In Rutherglen Glasgow, Or City Rd Newcastle, The ■■■■■ that loaded you went home to their bed & didn’t give a ■■■■■ about the driver who was still sheeting up .But
its little wonder that drivers got annoyde with people in those days, Who couldn’t give two ■■■■■ for them , Im pleased to be well out of the haulage game now, Im pushing 80 years old, And lucky for me if my brain had worked in those long gone days like it does now I would have been locked up for life for punching these arsoles, Regards Larry.