Tankerman:
A Montrose would be, load Monday, ETA Hull Thursday 10 AM. Back empty. Monday night dodgy from Ferrybridge, night out Dundee Tuesday and dodgy at Ferrybridge Wednesday. All that with a Marathon which was no slouch.
Chriss Webb probably did it up and down in the day and had three dodgies, reyt pal.
Not quite Russell but not far off,for example first day Saltend-Boroughbridge. Second day Boroughbridge-Prestonpans-Boroughbridge.Third day Boroughbridge-Saltend for about 1000 hours, = two dodgys.
Or (1) Saltend-Leicester Forest.
(2) Leicester Forest-Pirelli Southampton-Leicester Forest.
(3) Leicester Forest - Saltend for about 1200 hrs (snap at Woodside Rawcliffe en route) = two dodgys.
The above would apply to P and G Purfleet.If you got BXL Manningtree or Doverstrand Harlow then read Markham Moor for Leicester Forest. 
Hastings was hard work though,did it once and ran out of time at Newport Pagnell but had to keep going to find a safe and suitable parking place for the motorâŠ
There were so many ways to do runs,log books spoiled the job,log sheets were better.Sheffield,being the centre of the Universe was easy to get a lift to,however the suitcase full of dodgy night out money is now empty,I am now a skint Tax Exile. 
This was all done in a MK3 or MK5 Mammoth Major,nowt fancy.
That BP job was really soft Chris, they would sometime tell you there was nothing for you for the next two days. We would get a lift home to Accrington about 2PM with one of our lads who was going over to Lancashire and then have a day at home and back again on the third day for 10AM, maybe load for Lancashire and back to Bury. We were guaranteed 11 hours a day and the two nights out at Hull when we were home.
Some cheeky beggars would book taxi fares from Saltend to Hull and back as though they were going to digs and they got it.
Donât forget the wages were top shelf as well, we didnât work for nowt.
I never overdid it Russell,there was no need to but some blokes took some beating when it came to fiddling nights out. There was one particular Evans driver from Sheffield,like we all were,on the BP Saltend job that bragged heâd never had a genuine night out in all the time heâd been on that contract at Hull.I remember I was filling up at Bridgend one friday about 6-00 pm on my way empty for a night out in Neath and a load out of Baglan Bay saturday morning,and back to Sheffield.This driver came in from the other direction having run from outside his house in Sheffield that morning to a drop in Gorseinon - may have been 3Ms - and another somewhere else and when I asked him where he was parking up his answer was âour 'ouse,weers tha think?â That would put him back in Sheffield around 2300 hrs.Then heâd run into the yard on saturday morning from wherever heâd booked off,fill up,go home and start all over again at Saltend on monday.I was only a relief driver there having only just started at Evans so I did whatever was given to me.I ran in there one day and this same driver was trying to get rid of a load that had to be delivered at 0700 next day which would have meant a night out,he wasnât happy but darenât risk taking the motor home and getting up late for the 0700 drop,I think it was Bernard Wardles at Caernarfon with that greasy Phthalate stuff. When he saw me,the Rookie,he asked me if Iâd do it but the rest of the drivers in the room shouted âtell him to f*ck off palâ so I said Iâd take whatever the office gave me which turned out to be a nice run to a place at Ingles Green,Slateford in Edinburgh,a drop you know well.
I canât remember if he took the load or not.I loaded and ran to Berwick,tipped next day and sauntered down to Wetherby for a dodgy. That driver never spoke to me for weeks after that but he had to one day when he stuck the log book up in Doncaster one night as I was on my way to the yard from Easington BP Gas Plant with a load of condensate. His face was a picture when he saw it was me,Iâd been off the Saltend job for weeks and was on artics by then.
We remained good pals after that.
Tankerman:
I wonder who that would be Nick, I knew most of the lads on the BP contract from about 1970 to 1987. I also remember a driver called Nick who worked for Foreman, or P&O as they became at Saltend. His previous job was driving a car with a blue light on top.
If you mean me, almost correct, his next job involved driving a car with a blue light on top.
Redundancy from Formans was the third time in three years and a change of
career was necessary.
Iâm not ashamed of it, it gave me a good living for almost 23 years, until I took
leave of my senses and came back to driving.
Regards,
Nick.
ncooper:
Tankerman:
I wonder who that would be Nick, I knew most of the lads on the BP contract from about 1970 to 1987. I also remember a driver called Nick who worked for Foreman, or P&O as they became at Saltend. His previous job was driving a car with a blue light on top.
If you mean me, almost correct, his next job involved driving a car with a blue light on top.
Redundancy from Formans was the third time in three years and a change of
career was necessary.
Iâm not ashamed of it, it gave me a good living for almost 23 years, until I took
leave of my senses and came back to driving.
Regards,
Nick.
Hi Nick,it could have been you who gave me a bollocking on Anlaby Road late one night for errr speeding in a Mandator,this would be somewhere between 1971 and 77?
If it wasnât you I do remember the officer saying that normally a ticket would be issued but and I quote,âtanker drivers are normally law abiding so keep yer speed downâ.
Which tickled me to death.
Well well Nick, we have met in the dim and distant past.
When I first went into Saltend it was with a Scammells Highwayman in 1970, Foreman had some in green.
I was on for Shell then and was in and out of Saltend a lot. I went on the BP job in 1977.
Chris Webb:
Hi Nick,it could have been you who gave me a bollocking on Anlaby Road late one night for errr speeding in a Mandator,this would be somewhere between 1971 and 77?
If it wasnât you I do remember the officer saying that normally a ticket would be issued but and I quote,âtanker drivers are normally law abiding so keep yer speed downâ.
Which tickled me to death.
A bit before my time, I was made redundant by Formans in June or July,1980, I think and joined the police in December 1980.
I did spend 9 years of my career in traffic and really quite often did things like that.
I never once âdidâ anyone who wasnât taking the â â â â , as I too had been let off by some very reasonable âcoppersâ in the 7 years driving I had done before.
Times seem to have changed now, there is a new breed of copper and a new breed of driver.
I think I preferred it how it was.
Did either of you know Tommy Glenn or Sid Smith at Formans, there were about 55 drivers in those days, I canât remember many others.
Tommy had been a squaddy in WW2 and had some epic tales to tell, I swallowed them all in those days, but if only half were true,
he had lived a full life.
Both are long gone now, in fact Iâm 60 in a couple of weeks, where did the time go?
Regards,
Nick.
There were some dodges that you just canât forget like the one where I had tipped at a place called Blyth Bridge near Stoke and when I phoned to let them know that I was empty the â â â â â â â the reception said they have got you down for reloading at Longton in the morning. Thinking that itâs only a couple of miles away I thought I would nip round and try and get loaded that afternoon as it was only about 4 p.m. I asked her for the address and she said it just says here trailer blah, blah, blah to load at Longton Friday a.m. The export manager had gone off to see a customer and he would not be back in the office for the rest of that day. The best thing that I could do was to phone back at 9 a.m. the following morning.
So I decided to park up on the A500 near junction 16 on the M6 where there were two big lay-bys and a telephone box which was handy as mobile phones had not yet been invented. As I was climbing out of the cab with my log book in my hand a four wheeler pulled along side me and said âI am going northbound if you want a liftâ. I hardly ever refused a lift if it was going in the right direction so I got in and as we were going up the M6 we passed an old boy who I used to work with at Vitafoam years before who we called Jed Clampett. I waved the logbook at Jed and gave him the thumbs up and he followed us into Knutsford Services where I then got into Jedâs cab. The only problem was that Jed was also on a dodgy and wouldnât be taking the truck back to the yard which was only about a mile from where I lived but he did drop me off in Manchester on a local bus route and by 6 p.m. I was sat in front of the telly having my tea.
The next morning at 7 a.m. I was stood in Middleton when another lad who I had worked with years earlier called Dave Burns pulled up in a James Nuttalls E.R.F. Dave was on his way to Ellesmere Port but he suggested that we pull on to Popâs cafĂ© at Lymm and have some breakfast. After that it was one lift with one of Ritsons from Liverpool who dropped me off on the slip road on the A500.
It was dead on 9 a.m. so I phoned the office and spoke to the export manager, ah yes he said you are loading from Longton near Leyland. 
did a bit back then myself but drivers would stop for you then with it nowadays they are been monitored
ie tracking systems and worried of loosing there jobs etc.remember leaving motors allover the country just
to get home. you dont hear of it nowadays 
oh how trucking has changed.
Not actually a dodgy, but still not appreciated by the guvnor. Drive lorry from East Peckham (near Paddock Wood) to Reading. Lift to station and catch train for Plymouth. Taxi to yard and drive Lorry to Shoreham. That was the easy bit. Problem was getting home again. Customer took me to Brighton station, but there was an hourâs wait for the next train to London. It was now quite late and I was not certain of making a connection in London. So, thinking it would be quicker and I would be home earlier, I took the coast train to Hastings, which was departing in five minutes, intending to get a bus back to Maidstone (home). When I got to Hastings the last bus had gone, tried hitching, but gave up and knocked on the door of a B&B at about 10pm. Bus in morning, rolled in about lunchtime at work. Oh dear, someone else had had to service the lorry I had been supposed to do that morning. B&B expenses very begrudgingly paid out.
My furthest âdodgyâ was from Hull to Manchester. Had a bad day, 20 odd drops over two days Hull and Grimsby and surrounding areas not long after the Humber Bridge had opened. Everything you could imagine to go wrong, did, 
so instead of being parked up in Cleethorpes for 4 oâclock I was still in Hull with some more drops still to do round there. So totally â â â â â â off I parked up. I could have quite easily rang the boss and told him what to do with his wagon .
Got a lift from Hull to Hartshead services then another, more a less straight away, to Trafford Park. Ring up her indoors to come and get me (spoilt her night ) and was home for just after 7.00. After calming down, I thought âoh dear oh gosh and goodness 
â how do I get back in the morning, first train doesnât get to Hull till after 9.30 . So next morning about 5.30 Iâm stood near the roundabout at Urmston, whatâs now M60, 30 minutes nothing, not even a car. Then this Irish wagon comes round the roundabout and stops, thank god for that I say to myself. Where you going driver? He shouts. Iâm going to Hull I reply. Oh bejesus he said, I can drop you at Birch. Thatâll do I said. So he drops me off at Birch and as he drives away I hear a toot on the horn and a Woolworths driver shouts, you want a lift Iâm going to Hull if thatâs any good. I couldnât believe it. He dropped me off 100 yards from where I was parked not long after 8 oâclock . Well not such a bad job after all is it 
.
Ray
Iâve had so many dodgy nights out itâs impossible to remember them all. We used to do a lot of local tanker work in Lancs and Cheshire so to make it pay log booking back to Sheffield over Woodhead and odd times the Snake became an art form. Iâve actually had 5 dodgys one week in Lancs,left the wagon at Stockport,home for the weekend with 4 hours travelling time saturday and train fare,back over monday with train fare and done it all again. There was a force field that included Ardwick Green,Belle Vue,Hyde,Mottram,Stockport,Cadishead and even further afield in Widnes and Warrington.Late regular lifts over the top were British Industrial Sand from Chelford who ran foundry sand to William Cooks in Sheffield,Smith and Robinson who did two runs a night to Sheffield BRS with 2 x 20ft boxes out of Protor and Gamble,Birds Eye Foods from Trafford Park to Grimsby who dropped us off at Flouch and P O Middleton from Sheffield who ran empty to Heinz Wigan and back early evening. these were regular performers but there plenty of others,Woodhead was always busy and still is.
When I was on Glass Glover on the Littlewoods contract I got a phone call one friday afternoon on a day off,paint brush in hand and looking forward to the pub. âDo you want an extra shiftâ âIâm a shunter not a driver nowâ. âAye canât get a driver to do itâ. âWhat is it?â âTake a loaded motor to Penrith and come home ON THE TRAIN (laughing),itâs loaded ready to goâ. âAye,Iâll do itâ. âThought you mightâ. Rang the wife,away to Maltby for about 6-00pm,into a high powered Scania 81 
and away to Penrith for about 10-30 pm. Station car park,keys under the grill,log book under arm,â â â in gob and walk down to A66 Goat Track roundabout. Stood there about 5 minutes,into a Smith of Maddiston ERF,away to Stainmore in warp 7 mode,changeover with Stirlands of Nottingham in another ERF and away,dropped off at J1 M18,walk to yard,into car and home to Sheffield and in bed for 0330 hrs.10 hours pay at night rate,dodgy money for digs,5 hours travelling saturday plus rattler fare.
Them were tâdaysâŠ
When I was at Tilcon we had a tipper driver who would arrive in our workshop around 10.am and regale us with tales of his night out in Morecambe on his way back from Scotland, obviously a popular night out spot back then as a lot stayed there? Little did he know that we used to see his truck outside his house on our way home the day before as he only lived two miles from the quarry! Dont think the TM ever caught on though. 
Pete.
Hi lads,I had my share of dodgy nights in my time,I did a regular run to West Wales from Bristol âŠa 3 day run averaging 25 drops so 1st day was to break the back of it and stop out,the next day was an easier one and park up at Taylors cafe at J24 on the M4âŠgetting there for around 3pm and booking off at 5pm,but allways someone ready to give me a lift,on the odd occasion I did have to walk up to the sliproad and try my luck.One time I walked up and there was 5 hitch-hikers all spread up the onslip,the 1st said âIâm 1st for a lift,then him ,him nextâŠyoure lastâ,âOkâ I thought,as I walked 100 yards up the sliproad.within minutes a Dunkerleys Foden came into view,going home to Yate,up goes the log book and he pulls in,up I get giving matey at the bottom a well deserved 2 fingersâŠhave that â â â â â â â â â â â
When Tachoâs came in that spoilt things really cos suddenly I had to show that I did have to finish at 5pm so lifts were still there but the time I was getting home was making it a ballache.My boss at the time said look the gates are locked at 5pm so if you cant get in then all you can do is to take the lorry home,he said this with a winkâŠbut make sure you book off there!
So from that day on,I would stay at Taylors til 5pm and bring home any who needed a lift,sometimes 3 or 4 in the back of the box,taking the lorry home.One evening approaching the old Severn bridge with 2 in the cab of my TK there was an almighty âBangâ and the windscreen shattered ,we kicked the remains out and carried on,the 2 drivers were grateful for the lift but were glad to get out
It was noticably different when the tachos came in,it wasânt so often that drivers were in the usual spots waiting on a morning and a bit queer to see a single tacho card being waved instead of a log book and over the years hitching home has basically died out, also sleeper cabs have been the norm for a while so its not worth the hassle of chasing a lift.I also think drivers today would go past anyone waving a tacho card as they wouldnât know the reason why.
Good old days which brought back memories of the comradeship we used to enjoy.
Cheers Bubbs,
When I came off tankers in 1979 I went to Glass Glover on regular nights and apart from the odd occasion there were no nights away,all the motors being double shifted.So to try and repay fellow drivers who picked me up on dodgys I used to run into all the service areas to see if anybody wanted a lift early in a morning when I was running home. A cabful could be guaranteed from The Rocket at the Liverpool end of the M62,A S Jones drivers particularly,with various drops like Burtonwood,Birch,Hartshead and even Wooley Edge.Of course the usual route home was through Manchester and over Woodhead if nobody was wantin a lift over the M62,so Castrol drivers from Hyde were regulars in the cab to the Dog and Partridge near Flouch.
The most unusual lift I gave was to either a Geoffry Reyner or a Smiths of Eccles driver,canât remember which,who I picked up on Shalesmoor in Sheffield at 11-30 pm (2330 hrs) 
and dropped him off on Chester Road,somewhere near White City,Manchester. He had fallen out with somebody in the office and told them to shove the wagon where the sun didnât shine,leaving it on spare ground at Pond Street Bus station in Sheffield.
One of our Warrington based drivers on the Shell contract parked up at Sandbach one afternoon on his way back to Stanlow. He got a lift to our depot which was right on the slip road of the M6 at Thelwall and the A59 from Manchester to pick up his car. The gaffer never minded because Shell paid the expenses and the lorry was parked legal.
He got a lift back the following morning and the lorry, a Scammell Handyman, was gone, no longer there.
He phoned the office and they got onto the police and then he got a lift back to the yard.
The lorry was found later that day pointing back North on the first lay-by up the A5, where it leaves the M1 after the Blue Boar services
Nothing in the cab had been taken, the mileage was as it would be for the trip down, no damage had been done and the keys were back under the bumper where the driver had left them, it remained a mystery to this day.
Arriving back in the yard after a fiddle the day foreman,would crawl under & feel the diff to see if it was warm,so a bloke I worked with used a blowlamp to warm the diff up.but he overdid it one day & the day gaffer burnt his fingers
Dodgys didnât always go to plan of course. A lot of our night outs were within a 50 mile or so radius of the depot in Manchester and were nights out because of being multi-drop. The âunwritten ruleâ was the man on day deliveries would pick up the man on the night out and all being well you would get a lift back the following morning. This particular day I was night out Liverpool so I asked the man on days, a lying self centred so and so, could he pick me up about 3.oclockish which was about the time everybody parked up on this run. Oh I donât know he said I might be early. I thought to myself, you lying selfish so and so, I knew thatâs what youâd say. So I set off and went round like the clappers, all the days work done and parked up at Huyton just off the M57 for 1.30. Could have done some of the following days work, but didnât trust this excuse for a driver. So I sat and waited and waited. At 3.30 I decided he wasnât coming so walked to the M way slip road. It was absolutely lashing it down so I stood behind a road sign. Iâd only been there 5 or 10 mins or so when plod pulled up, what you doing he said; Iâm waiting for a lift I replied, itâs illegal to be here says plod. Then he drives off. 10 mins later a wagon stops and says he can drop me off at the M6. I said thanks but no thanks itâs a bit awkward getting a lift from there. Just as heâs driving off plod comes back, wanting to know why that wagon had stopped, so I told him I flagged him down because he had a rope trailing, then the plod man accused me of coming up the banking from the M62 to the slip road of the M57 so I pointed out to him if he looked behind over the other side of the M57 he could actually see my wagon, so he muttered something to himself and shot off again. 20 mins later I was getting a lift from another driver who was going into Trafford Park. I often wondered if plod went after the driver who had stopped for me and if anything had come of it. Hate to think that he might have been fined for doing a good deed. Next day I collar the excuse for a driver and asked what happened, told you I was going to be early he said, I passed about 2.oclock. I thought you lyingâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠâŠ!!! Didnât say anything because he would probably have gone crying to his mate, one of the shop stewards. Anyway, the world works in mysterious ways, so they say. Several years later Iâm now working for a different Company doing a similar type of work. Iâm just turning off the A1 onto the M62 when I see a driver in the distance waving his tachodisc, I thought I know them colour overalls from my previous job, then I saw him and straight away I remembered one afternoon several years before, getting soaking wet, hassle from the police, the barefaced lies. Then he saw that it was me, he started waving and pointing, wiping his brow, a big smile on his face. Looked liked he may have been waiting a while for a lift. So I flashed my lights blew the horn, pointed at him and waved on the way past . Everything goes round in a circle.
Ray