Harry my old mate, by the sound of it, you and that old wagon, are both due for a re-fit?, my mate Bill is getting on great, today he was walking about the house un-aided, he is a bit like you, he said you go off and enjoy your trip to Bournemouth, then said you will read in the paper, old couple starve to death, this with a wide grin on his face. He has been taking care of his wife for 7years since her strokes, this 3 weeks he has been waited on hand & foot, but tomorrow will be the last day, and he will miss it. 
hiya,
Norm don’t think a re-fit would be much use to me i think put-down would be the answer, i’m as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike.
thanks harry long retired.
Come on Harry, I’d say if I knew half of what you have forgotten I’d be a wise man. They were just stopping to make all the interresting lorries just as I began driving them in 1977, the only BRS depot I ever got the chance to run to was the one in Kentish Town, my once a fortnight run from Rochdale done in a Dodge Hi - Line.
Paul.
hiya,
Yes TIPIT forgotten is the operative word in my case, and as for me being knowlegable about the haulage industry i very much doubt it, totally at a loss to understand the modern era, have never worked with tacho’s don’t understand sat-nav and certainly could’nt could’nt live with the timed delivery method of working, “when” the goods got there was more my idea of working i usually managed to do that in good time, i was really an old tramper which in effect made me the “boss” and had lots of experience of abnormal indivisable work which was done by me when a young man, so like i said not much use in this day and age,TIPIT you mention Rochdale i’m from over that way originally and worked for a couple of firms which i think must be non-existent now, Holdsworth’s and Rudmans the latter was quite a big outfit and had a lot of artics they must have been one of the first firms in that area to run that type o motor.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry,
I think you are being very modest about yourself,concerning the modern transport industry. You like a lot of us remember a very different transport era.You would if you so wished cope quite easily with the modern kit,you manage the internet,which is a bang up to date part of everyday life. I think with due respect,like a lot of older transport people,you have far more knowledge than a lot of the younger drivers. You found your way around the country with very few road signs,just a map,no moterway system,had to navigate your way through the big towns,before bypasses. I think Harry you coud still show them a trick or two.
Cheers Dave.
hiya,
Dave, not even going to attempt to prove myself, would get to the end of the road and would forget which way i was supposed to turn, i get lost pushing a shopping trolley and my old lady describes me as nuisance value.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry,
I expect you found yourself in some very interesting places during your driving career,and not all of them in the lorry. 
Cheers Dave.
hiya,
Funny places yes, but never a brothel don’t like broth.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Funny places yes, but never a brothel don’t like broth.
thanks harry long retired.
Wouldn’t have thought for one minute,that a man with your twitching skills,would have needed one Harry.
Cheers Dave.
hiya,
That’s a new one on me, “twitching skills” never heard that terminology before, go on Dave enlighten me make me look a proper twerp, i can laugh at myself you know, and am still willing to learn new stuff, i just hope it means something nice i do bruise easily.
thanks harry long retired
Harry,I see you are in the put down Harry mood, take a couple of happy pills and buck up, I am leaving you in charge, I am off tommorrow to Bournemouth, will check to see if Dave has booked me in any of the theatre’s.
harry_gill:
hiya,
That’s a new one on me, “twitching skills” never heard that terminology before, go on Dave enlighten me make me look a proper twerp, i can laugh at myself you know, and am still willing to learn new stuff, i just hope it means something nice i do bruise easily.
thanks harry long retired
Bird watching Harry,your having me on mate,bet youve done a bit of bird watching,or ornithology,without the H.
Cheers Dave.
hiya,
Yes i knew what twitchers were but did’nt realise their capabilities were know as “twitching skills” am i thick or what?? answers on a postcard please.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Yes i knew what twitchers were but did’nt realise their capabilities were know as “twitching skills” am i thick or what?? answers on a postcard please.
thanks harry long retired.
You could be right Harry,perhaps they only start twitching when they see a bird.
Cheers Dave.
hiya,
Bird’s once played a part in my life one morning was doing an urgent spare part run for Blackburn BRS to Queensferry depot stuff for one of our depot motors which was broken down at their place i was driving the only four wheeler we had a nippy little BMC when a couple of ducks took off from a roadside pond and one of them came straight through the windscreen and splattered on the passenger seat, what was i carrying ■■ a windscreen for one of our Bristols which was in the Queensferry depot with a busted one, that was quickly repaired and i had to come back passenger in the Bristol.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Fella’s,
This red and rust thread, was almost slipping off the page. Holiday over now,crank those moters up,lets burn some rubber.ropes and shees ready.
Cheers Dave.
hiya,
Slipping a bit, i agree Dave but the happy memories of a proper outfit will never fade, anybody who knocked the BRS and it’s working method had never worked for a “fair play” company, for instance if you started one day and was driving the same type of motor as a guy who’d worked there 20 years you’d have the same pay packet as the the long service guy and no exceptions, once worked for a “privateer” ran with his “top man” all week same work, only difference was i pulled 27 tons total more than him he came home empty one trip, he showed me his bonus for that weeks work and he had £13 more than me, lot of money at that time (1974) when i queried it with the boss his only reply was “he’s worked here 30 years man” i chucked it there and then.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry,
I remember BRS always thought of by most as a good outfit to work for,the nearest still running in my day,was Hereford. I worked with a few ex BRS drivers,after they closed the various depots they had worked from. Used to have a chat with the Gloucester drivers who brought bricks to the building sites I worked on as a young lad.
Cheers Dave.
hiya,
Dave have used both Hereford and Gloucester in my time the lads there was all long service guys one of the Hereford drivers relatives ran some cracking digs who would only take us red and rusters, mustn’t have liked the early starters.
thanks harry long retired.
BRS should have been completly de -nationalised in the early 1950’s full stop … In my expierience they were just a drag on the industry because if we as private hauliers came up against them they were able to cut rates to ribbons to get or keep a job i. e. Road Tax / Insurance/wages /NHI ect. meant nothing to BRS as they were just another government department ! I know they all had tax discs in the windscreen but that was just for legallity as no cash would have being paid -same goes for insurance HMG had no need for this either as the Tax Payer picked up the tab !!! But no matter how hard BRS tried over the years and even with the aformentioned advantages they still ended up being given away for a song toPeter Thompson and his cronies !! What a crying shame all that taxpayers money blown over all those years !!!