Hi Lads, just thought I’d post these pics of old wagons doing the shows.
hiya,
norm you might well have money one pint between the two of us,is that the tight or is that tight,the beer for me is only the chaser to the single malt which i like a lot, comes of spending a lot of time in lister st depot,did any of you guys ever carry whisky? once whilst en-route with the stuff perth to london docks we was told to park up in lancaster parcels for security,the lad i was running with from dundee depot said we would give the loads a good checking over before setting off for dunstable to secure parking again, in lancs parcels jock got on top checked mine then his only to find the sheet on his had been slit with a stanley knife police informed and quickly on the scene, 6 bottles removed out of one case and very quickly retrieved from a night fitters sideboard the idiot hadn’t even tried to hide the bottles in his house, bottles returned to case sellotaped up spare fly sheet put over load got away mid morning nice run to dunstable just in time for park up and digs never did find out what happened to the tealeaf but the old plod was on to him very quickly both into the docks next morning and tipped without problems,good job i was with someone who did whisky regularly i would have glanced round the motor and off to end up in the fertilizer business no doubt.
thanks harry long retired
hiya,
great pics tipit, done a lot of miles in motors like them only a lot more battered in my case, proper wagons.
thanks harry long retired.
Tipit, very good photo’s, it makes the heart pump faster, when you see the real old BRS wagons being looked after like those ones, I bet it made old Harrys eyes water at the sight of them, and if Frenchy gets his laptop sorted out, he will have a broad grin on his face, when he views them, thank you SAndman Norman
Ive got to tell you tipit our Bristols never looked like that , or the sheets makes you misty eyed though couldnt call them Red and Rust for sure , great pics . The secret milionair has one over on us , I could be comfortable in a French Chateau with that income here and afford a French maid , OO La La .
we had a lot of ancient 33fters for normal Haulage , but there were a few 40ft`s around , mainly dropped after night truck they were used to take them blasted containers that took off in Southampton Docks in the late 60s as a concequence we lost alot of our perks . 69 to 70 was qualifing time I got my exemptions when I was on BRS , alot of drivers did fail the medical or not make the 6 months qualifying nessesary for the new HGV and there was suddenly a shortage , soon we had the new type of proffessional that had taken an HGV test and for some reasons the accident rate went up . At the time in early 70 we were on £32 for 40 hours and 17s 6d a night out and a two day strike brought it up to the magic £1 an hour and 19bob N/O . Gee was we rich then .
Regards Frenchy
hiya,
frenchy you’ve got one hell of a memory,i’m useless at dates and how much the wages was in those far off days, it’s great to be reminded i wouldn’t know anything if it wasn’t for this site, i too got my qualifying time at the old red and rust but had to go back to get my paperwork filled up and signed i had been laid off because of work becoming slack, whilst in there was offered my old job back and jumped at the offer although that depot didn’t last long afterwards, it was still great to be back working for a proper outfit driving those fantastic bristol’s, real mens motors,time to do again it would have to be BRS couldn’t work for anyone else,oh happy days.
thanks harry long retired.
frenchy:
69 to 70 was qualifing time I got my exemptions when I was on BRS , alot of drivers did fail the medical or not make the 6 months qualifying nessesary for the new HGV and there was suddenly a shortage , soon we had the new type of proffessional that had taken an HGV test and for some reasons the accident rate went up [/b]. At the time in early 70 we were on £32 for 40 hours and 17s 6d a night out and a two day strike brought it up to the magic £1 an hour and 19bob N/O . Gee was we rich then .
Regards Frenchy
That’d be me then…
Thanks for the info guys - it actually makes sense now - it must have all been taking place just as I was getting into the game.
Smashing pics as well - can’t say I ever saw a BRS wagon looking that sparkling either.
(ducks quickly)
hiya,
did anybody ever exceed hours by a large margin legally, i did, and it was for brs blackburn depot, had tipped darlington with tobacco from glasgow, was told to go to fylingdales early warning station on the north yorks moors for a return load to manchester airport, cargo to catch a specialist flight to america,arrived at around 3.00 pm after a multitude of checks and being photographed for a special pass directed to loading area with an american soldier on board to make sure i only went to designated loading point, the load consisted of something that resembled a large cabin trunk, it was about 4ft wide by about 8ft long then they nailed timber all round the bottom so no forward, rearward or sidewards movement they then fastened it down with the thickest metal banding iv’e ever come across arrives back at main gate still with ■■■■■■ on board given paperwork, pass taken away given a packed lunch and told just drive until i reached the airport did the job, pushing midnight when job completed so drove home, in bed by about 1,00 am, airport to home was a dodgy so nice lie in run in about midday next morning total time on official duty 17 hours unofficial about 18 hours the 17 hrs all legal and above board and i had a rare nippy motor for that trip a mercury and single axle trailer had i had my normal bristol it would have been nearer 20 hrs, and i never found out what the load was but it weighed nowt ,but told i’d been monitored all my loaded running, told to stick to the given route like glue, although i never spotted anybody, and i ate the packed lunch on the hoof.
thanks harry long retired
Harry , breaking the rules , thats appauling and I thought you were a strait guy but usually dodgies wernt included in your legal hours . I did one , Liverpool and back , 500 + miles , Id loaded late in the afternoon and decided Id go home and leave at midnght to be there for 7.00am , which I did in a Mercury too and came home MT to arrive around 6.00pm , all off the record mind . Incidently I used to park in the Blackburn depot and get digs close by , blowed if I remember where but I had a fair walk , was that Bennington .
Ive still got my list of BRS depots I visited and totals around 60 , one day Ill stick them on the forum just to bore you .
gards Frenchy .
hiya,
all legal frenchy bar for the hour stockport to darwen (the dodgy) yes blackburn depot my home base bennington street didn’t know where the digs was though not having need when i was in there, totally undercover depot you would notice bit of a pig shunting about in there when the leggers and drawbars were on the go, still got the old depot listing booklet somwhere but haven’t a clue where to find it. my previous post just shows all rules can be broken when it suits them, got paid every minute though.
thanks harry long retired.
Shock, horror, whats a near honest ex-truck like me , doing, associating with bandits like you?, I cannot believe my eyes, and I have my new glasses on, I think I will go in to excile, and get started again on my book, I am completly dismayed, to learn after all these years, that BRS drivers ran bent, is life worth living? I feel like committing harry-carry, and dive into a large bowl of custard, Ha Ha Ha. Now to the nutty crunch, from 1975 to1978 was on Brs Overland, wages £100, which £75 was paid into bank, £12 nightout money, before that 1972, I was paid HGV1 rate and drove a pantectnicon, BRS contract for Camping Gaz, which was £30/28 a week, nightout £2. When I got redundancy, I done a few months temp, for WIM Bosman, 7to5 £1 pound per hour, any other £1-50, nightout £3 on the boat, £5 in Holland, always on the boat?, Wim asked me if I wanted the job permantly, I said yes if you pay me the same as your dutch drivers, but no if it is what it is now, my children would starve if I stayed too long, but he had no sense of humour, and he never said a word, so I started for Bulwarks, who had the contract for Carlsberg Lager, this was the best job in Northampton, £35 per week, £4 nightout, I started April 1978 to 1999, When I retired aged 62, in the 80’s we was earning 26/30 thousand a year, but the bubble burst in the 90’ and we was put on a salary £17000, but they couldn’t get the loads delivered, so with extra overtime, we crept up to 25k. But I have a transport book, 1965/66, top drivers wage BRS £13-12s and sixpence, nightout 10/6p, this was the drivers bible for the best digs, it cost 2/6p. Amen Sandman Norman
hiya,
tell you what guys it’s great to find that people took photo’s kept things on paper and in memory, i was just the opposite never ever took a pic of anything iv’e driven or kept anything of interest and i bought every issue of headlight just used to bin them when the new one came out, people like bubbleman amaze me the stuff they’ve got tucked away and everything of interest too,all the years i was on the road i only ever saw one pic of me standing in front a scania 110 climbing out of felixtowe back in the 60s and that wasn’t my motor mine was the scania 80 parked up behind, some of the stuff ive driven and the stuff iv’e carried i wish i could see again but was never much good with a camera, did quite a bit of abnormal indivisable stuff wide, long,heavy and high,( hated high used to give me a sore neck always on the look out for wires ) but that stuff is always of interest, love to see BRS pics and there’s some crackers on here thanks to other people and iv’e contributed nowt,if i ever get to come this way again i’ll make sure i buy a camera, a box brownie methinks.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, I was too lazy to bother with a camera, but then I thought, I would have no proof that I went to all those places, then I took one with me, I was never bothered to keep records of all my trucks, but I was glad I did sometimes, it is nice to put photo’s to your memories. Sandman Norman
hiya,
but norm at least you did make the effort, without your initial imput of pictures and vivid memories this thread would have been a no no, tell you what mate iv’e enjoyed reading the text and viewing the pics by your good self and everyone who has put stuff on here, never having done M/E work it is good to see how you lads lived, and it seems to have been a hard old life and i genuinely don’t think i would have had the temperament to do it, i most likely would have got shot by some trigger happy git because i told him in truckers vocabulary where to go.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry, I wish I had posted on this thread photo’s, but Never took my browney with me, or in 1973 when I had a new ford artic on camping gaz ( BRS), only had it a couple of months, and a front Wheel came off, but I felt the viberation, and never touched my brakes, and slowly steered it into a layby, which was slightly starting to go up hill near Torbay area, then I but my brakes on , and the offside front wheel went rolling up the hill. almost 500 yards away on the oppersite side of the road. AA phone, I called out exeter depot, then PC plod came along, who is a naughty boy then, not checking his wheelnuts? , excuse me officer, if you check, the complete hub has come off, and as a ex- REME mechanic, it is my expert oppinion, it had a faulty hub nut, which has cracked in two, and the wheel came off, you were lucky driver, to stop here, wrong again officer, I felt the viberations, at least a mile from here, and with my experience, put it here before I touched the brakes, retrieved the wheel, called out the nearest BRS depot, well sir you seem to have everything undercontrol, I will be on my way, good afternoon to you, I cheekly whisled the tune to " Dixon of dock green", good job he had a sense of humour, he left with a broad grin on his face. I could have took photo’s, if I had a camera with me. SAndman Norman
hiya,
norm a similiar thing happened to me on the old red and rust, doing a hull tip and return empty job driving a four wheeler leyland comet the only one we had used by anybody for C & d work, got tipped at hull and giving it big licks on the return spotted some cyclist ahead travelling some two and three abreast as they do stuff coming the other way so had to take my foot off and ease up when road clear put the boot down nowt no drive, stops and gets out to find the nearside wheels hub the lot sticking out about a couple of foot seems a locking washer hadn’t been knocked over far enough which allowed the lock nuts to come loose, plod arrives with the immortal words you can’t leave it there driver,my immortal reply you shift the flipping thing for the want of better terminology didn’t get an early finish that day.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi to you old timers from the red and rust brigade.
I never did have the pleasure of working for BRS, I opted for the other lot Smith of Maddiston.
Anyway i came across this photo and thought it would be of interest.
hiya,
great pics mappo, i wonder why i never saw one like that when on the BRS, everthing i drove had the proverbial pop rivet patch the crumpled front wing also dents and scrapes aplenty certainly no shine, but the mechanics was always looked after for the most part, proper workhorses, have driven newish stuff but i preferred the old stuff hard work but there wasn’t so many obese drivers about in those far off happy days, you certainly earned your money.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Sir Harry
A similer thing happend to my father in the late sixties. He had a Commer 2 stroke 6 wheeler working out of Minera quarry and it was double drive with 2 Eaton two speed axles on Unipower suspension. When you were changing the two speeds it had a habit of leaving one axle in neutral thus loosing drive. The solution was to engage diff lock for a few miles until it had droped back in. Anyway one day just out of the quarry he lost drive so engaged diff lock as normal,after a couple of miles he had got fedup with the car behind flashing him so he stoped. He had lost the pair of wheels, drum, hub and halfshaft. the nuts had come undone as you discribed. He jacked up the axle and chained it up,went back and found his wheels,got a farmer with a tractor and loader to lift them in the back then continued to deliver his load. Unforturnetly when the half shaft came out it split the axle casing. He ran that truck with the axle chained up for three weeks before he could get another. No VOSA in those days…
Regards Keith.
hiya,
well d d sir is very apt, i did consider myself a knight of the road, thank you but like all well behaved Ks O T R you can call me harry.
thanks harry long retired.