Hi Bewick,
I think you may have kickstarted the thread again. I wait in anticipation !
hiya,
Was only a driver did’nt have anything to do with the running of the BRS and having worked in the private sector who i found was manned mainly by people who did’nt care a toss about the workforce always having their favourites who always got paid more than the newbies immaterial how hard they grafted at least the BRS was fair to all employees and i’m glad i worked for a fine outfit and myself and every other driver who worked for them was sad to see it come to an end lots of them unable to work for privateers so got out of the industry as was the case of myself.
thanks harry long retired.
Bewick:
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 !!!
But now we’ve got privatised rail freight companies running on infrastructure paid for by the taxpayer,tax free fuel,where road transport has to pay over £1,000 per year just to haul one 45 ft trailer around rail pays nothing to haul a lot more,there’s no vosa bothering them,we get limited to 53 mph at around 40 tonnes while they can run at 60+ running at over a thousand tonnes.And if it all goes pear shaped then the taxpayer still bails out the rail industry so heads they win tails we lose.That all sounds like unfair competition against the road transport industry of a far worse type than anything which BRS might have been doing?.
Come on lads,settle down,three volunteers for this lot.Early start - 0300hrs - I’ll pay you night rate for a full BRS shift and book your digs at Tufnell Park.
We don’t want those bloody tin hats on again. 
I’m fed up with preparing missiles in t’Isle of Man to threaten you buggers in the UK.
hiya,
Chris hang me a pup on and i’m away, otherwise i won’t feel like i’ve earned my money that would mean i get no sleep worrying i hadn’t done enough for a good gaffer and that would never do, i expected to see all those leggers pulling trailers, maybe they’re already loaded and dropped round the corner for the trailer boy to rope up.
thanks harry long retired.
As a reply to bewick, I would say, before I ever joined the red & rust brigade, I would check my earnings against the BRS wages, which all drivers would know, if they purchased the 2/6p transport book with all the b/b and cafe’s in. Also when I was in that firm, a lot of private firms were greatful for the work they got off of Brs, and as for private firms in uk, they have always been undercutting each other for years? that was one of the reasons, we got poor rates compared with the Dutch & Germans, they had a rate they would not lower. Next it was not given away, it was privatised, and National Freight was formed, and employee’s could buy shares, and some drives who brought shares, made a fortune, when TNT showed a interest in them, as for the tax payers money, a drop in the ocean, what was used in the BRS saga, Railways, electric& gas, Motor Industry, Ship building, coal mines, all these were good things, and far more important, but far more money was used or lost to the tax payer, than good old BRS, in fact you are paying through the nose in heating bills still!. So I say up the REd & Rust, and may it still live in the memories of the men who worked for it. 
hiya,
Thanks for that Norm, i have’nt the ability to put into words what i feel, i guess i’m a bit thick, but must agree with you, my experience of working for private firms has’nt ever come close to the BRS, and private or BRS i always gave value for money even though the wages in some cases was rubbish.
thanks harry long retired.
Howay there Norm dinna boil ya watter !! I am only stimulating healthy debate among the Lads so dont get yersel upset ! However to answer the points in your blog re. BRS I will respond accordingly----The hauliers that were regular subbies of BRS should have looked for their own traffic as by woking for BRS they only prolonged the demise ! I agree with you about the German rate structure as that was dictated by the German (goverment controlled) railways , so the rates were artificially high . However the Dutchmen were quite the opposite — they would ,in my experience , cut the bottom out of any job if they wanted it and that is why the Germans hated them as when de- regulation came in the early 1990’s the Dutchmen swarmed into the Fatherland and caused mayhem !!! When I said the NFC was given away I didn’t mean it literally but if you dispose of an asset for 2 or3 pence in the £ someone is going to make a shed load of money and good luck to them is what I say !!! With regard to our railways I dont think it is as simple as you descibe !! The railways have been a joke since 1947 when they were nationlised — maybe heavy coal and container trains from the Ports have some merit but messing about like Fast Eddie is doing for Tesco ex DIRFT to Scotland with 6’ 6’’ high curtainsider lift off boxes is a farce!!! The train has to be assembled at Daventry --travel to scotland on 19th century track bed—transhipped in central valley Scotland—and delivered !!who are they kidding they will have us believing they are Union Pacific next !! If the traffic was loaded straight onto high capacity artics it would be delivered in half the time no danger !! Incidentally Direct Rail Services (owned by the UK Atomic Energy Authourity) supplys the motive power and the train returns empty to Daventry each day so how can that be economical ? So there you have it Norm a nationalised train operator running on nationlised tracks I rest my case . Regards Bewick !
Harry you are not thick, sometimes you hold back, because you cannot remember all the facts, I wonder what old Frenchy would have to say about the subject, it was his thread, he must be ill or something worse, he has never been this long off the thread, I hope it is not a BRS depot in Heaven, better to be Prison, at least he may reach a laptop? 
hiya,
Yes Norm, Frenchy is a miss he did say at one time he was moving house and might find difficulty getting back on line, but you’re right the thread has grown quite a bit since he last posted anything, just watch he’ll pop up and give us a blasting for mucking up his thread.
thanks harry long retired.
Bewick, I like debates, but I state a lot of uk firms used to accept low rates from turkey, where the dutch& germans got more, and I said they did not have to pay for a ferry like we did, and it was 3 to 4 hundred more, so I refused to bring loads from turkey, unless I got the same rate, the french , german, polish, italian railways work, with out shareholders, making the ticket prices out of the reach of most families, there are somethings in life that should not be run by foreign companies, who squeeze every penny out of the working class, we are treated like mugs, it would never be allowed in France. 
Norman Ingram:
Bewick, I like debates, but I state a lot of uk firms used to accept low rates from turkey, where the dutch& germans got more, and I said they did not have to pay for a ferry like we did, and it was 3 to 4 hundred more, so I refused to bring loads from turkey, unless I got the same rate, the french , german, polish, italian railways work, with out shareholders, making the ticket prices out of the reach of most families, there are somethings in life that should not be run by foreign companies, who squeeze every penny out of the working class, we are treated like mugs, it would never be allowed in France.
Hi Norm I fully understand where you are comming from (allthe way from Turkey — loaded I hope !!) I agree that we in the UK could do with a dose of French militantcy now and again !! I remember in the early 90’s as part of my involvment with the RHA, meeting with our local MP (a tory genleman farmer) and when I asked why the French only paid cica £300 a year Road Tax as opposed us paying £3100 he took my breath away with his answer I Quote—" road tax has nothing to do with our road system ! it is a licence you pay to run on the roads we provide you with " I lost faith with politicians from then on !! However what are your thoughts on the Stobart/Tesco/DRS /Railtrack consortium ?
hiya,
No intention of getting involved with the politics and why’s and wherefores of what the old red and rust did what it did and,did not do, i was a driver and only a driver, who worked for what i considered the best and well organised outfit who practised fair play and equality to all the staff.
thanks harry long retired.
Well said Harry,leave the politics to question time,if any one wants to have a debate,get em on the telly with Nick Griffin and Dimblebey & Co. We only want Barrack room lawyers on your red and rust forum. I have reserved a good ewe for Bewick.
Cheers Harry.
Religion and politics,always kept away from those subjects especially in the pub.
Here you are Harry,I’ve upgraded you to a nice Bristol and drag.Not sure where t’trailer lad is,maybe he’s packing his case at home and stuffing newspaper round hissen in case you thrash him with that piece of knotted rope .I notice the wagon has got a towbar on t’front,will you need it to nose the trailer in or do you do it the "proper"way? Unless she breaks down regular…what’s tha reckon?
hiya,
Cracking pic again Chris, if there’s still any wagon and drag men left from the old days who tell you they’ve always backed the trailer in the proper way and never had to adopt the nose end method on the odd occasion i’m afraid i will very much doubt what they say but there are “better men than i am Gunga Din”.PS Chris will be sending you a PM later bit of info required.
thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
Cracking pic again Chris, if there’s still any wagon and drag men left from the old days who tell you they’ve always backed the trailer in the proper way and never had to adopt the nose end method on the odd occasion i’m afraid i will very much doubt what they say but there are “better men than i am Gunga Din”.PS Chris will be sending you a PM later bit of info required.
thanks harry long retired.
Eyup Harry,will watch for PM - you don’t want to borrow owt I hope,our lass has bloody skint me this week.
Here’s a bit of nosing in Ansell’s Brewery,B’ham.
hiya,
Chris as Mr Punch would say “that’s the way to do it”, only problem is it should be Tetley’s and being shoved up my drive,don’t worry old mate, i’m not on the scrounge and i know the feeling my old lady keeps me penniless too.
thanks harry long retired.
Chris I was in that brewery many times, the smell of hops still lingers in my nose, happy days
Bewick, comments on that subject, I think it was a publicity gimmick, to pacify sections of the public on getting lorries off of the roads, I can remember in the late70’s into the 80’s when it was hard for transport firms, due to the high interest rates, but a certain firm grew and grew, for he was in with a religious group who he could borrow money at a much lower rate, this was good for him, others could not compete, he gave land so they could build a church, and the colours are the same■■?