I’d like to start this thread off in the hope of finding out what happened to at least some of the driver’s that I remember from my time with the company.
I started with Goodways sometime around the end of 1983,after having a fall out with Fred Archer.Work was a bit slack at the time,something of a mini-recession as I remember,but Harvey Macintyre gave me a job because when I used to pop in their to do the odd subbying job for Fred,I usually had an interesting t-shirt on that I’d got from somewhere on the continent.Harvey liked that.
The Goodways management consisted of,Peter Miller (Chairman),Roger Jennings (Managing Director),Harvey Macintyre (Traffic Operator) and Sue Cordell (Administration).Although in years to come,Harvey bought in to the company and also became a Director.
At the time,Goodways had just moved to a very small yard on Sub Station Road,which was actually a small bit of P&O Coastal Roadways yard.Up until then,Goodways had rented a pokey little office in P&O’s and parked there trucks in their yard too.
But now they had a portakabin as an office,but you could only get about half a dozen unit and trailers in the yard,luckily a lot of the driver’s took the trucks home at the weekends,as did a lot of driver’s at that time from virtually every company in Felixstowe,you’d see trucks and trailers parked right across Suffolk,Norfolk and Essex,something that was frowned upon several years later when the Eastern Traffic Commisioner,a certain Mr.Sims,put a stop to.
One of the driver’s,Dave May,lived in Hemel Hempstead at the time,and his truck was parked up there every weekend until he moved to Felixstowe.
The trucks at that time were all Scania 111’s,some had been taken over from Contship,some bought second hand,but the one I had when I started was originally owned by Russell Davies,although Goodways actually bought it,along with an identical one,from B&R when they lost the OOCL contract.
It was a Scania 111,reg no,HBJ 807 V,in the colours of Orient Shipping Services Ltd,who were the agents for OOCL.
OOCL had actually taken some of the OSSL units off of Russell Davies and was running them themselves.
I was put to work on the OOCL contract,which was a pretty good job as OOCL didn’t want you to run bent,simply because their own driver’s had to run legal.
But,Goodways paid driver’s on a bonus scheme,according to how much the truck earnt each week,which of course encouraged the driver’s to ‘do a bit extra’ and some of them used to really fly about.The management knew what was going on and un-officially encouraged it,after all,the more the truck earnt then the more the company earnt.
This in turn earnt Goodways the title of ‘The Concorde Squadron’,as we used to pass everyone on the road,that and the fact that the colours were red,white and blue.
We would regularly round trip York,Hull or Bristol.Bearing in mind that at the time,the maximum driving day was eight hours and a twelve and a half hour spreadover,and most of the M25 was still under construction as well as many by-passes yet to be built.
However,Roger Jennings was an extremely clever man,or devious to be more correct,as the driver’s would regularly find they were missing night out money or overtime from their wageslip.This,we believed,was down to what the truck had earnt that particular week,if the driver’s wages was above a certain percentage of what the truck had earnt,then they would knock off a couple of night out payments and some overtime to make the books look good.
And if you didn’t notice it,then you’d never get it back.So,all the driver’s kept a strict eye on their timesheets,and if something had been knocked off,then you’d get it back the following week.However,the following week they would make sure the truck earnt well,but you didn’t.
Driver’s I can remember from the beginning were: Dave May,Eddie Stokoe,Ron Burrows,Tony Giles,John Dale,Peter Pearce,Keith Jessop,Danny Palmer,Colin Pipe,Harry Canfield,Peter Suckley and Graham something or other.Peter Suckley and Graham left to work for The Sun newspaper at Wapping,earning more in a week than they used to earn in a month at Goodways!
Eventually my OOCL Scania was sold,Goodways had started a three year replacement scheme for the trucks,but I always seemed to get hand-me-down’s,the next one being another 111,reg no ODX444W,that was followed by another 111 TGV945X,which must have been one of the last 111’s built.
I was still on OOCL,but,got un-ceremoniously chucked off due to the fact that,although OOCL had given strict instructions for all the contract driver’s to run straight,I pulled off the docks one evening having run out of time,and therefore not loaded the box for the following day.
This didn’t go down too well,and was told I’d have to go on locals with a day cab 111 as they had put another driver on my truck and didn’t have one spare.
I knew,as did all the other driver’s,that this was a form of punishment,as the company couldn’t sack me for not running bent,so they hoped I’d tell them to stick their job.
But I was made of sterner stuff,or downright stubborn actually,so I stuck with it for a while until,at the next union meeting,all the driver’s told the shop steward to tell the management to give me another truck and start distance work again.
The shop steward,Mick (can’t remember his surname) wasn’t too happy about it,as he had got a cushy little number and didn’t want it backfiring on him.
Mick was actually the shunter,who also had a 111 day-cab,and he would come in at 8am every morning,pick up an empty skelly and go on the dock to load a box.
In actual fact,he used to drive straight to 77 park,which was also 3 Ro-Ro where the ferries used to come in from Sweden,there he would hide amongst the ferry trailers and go to sleep on his fold-down bunk until lunchtime.After lunch,he’d load the box and go back to the yard with tales of woe about how slow the docks were that day.Then do it all again.
During the early 80’s things really were that slow on Felixstowe docks anyway,you could actually sit there all day waiting to get a box on,as shipping and Freightliner got priority and,more often than not,you’d get told to move out of the lines because they were working a ship! So boat-rocking wasn’t really on his agenda,but the driver’s insisted,so he had no choice.
So,I then got Tony Giles’s Scania 112,which I think was VGV 586 X.
It was about this time that Goodways were visited by the ministry,and they found an awful lot of dodgy cards,which didn’t tally with timesheets or wage-slips and quite a number of driver’s were taken to court,as well as the company.As I’d been on OOCL for most of the time,as well as the fact that I’d stubbornly refused to run bent,I was alright.
But,the wage structure would have to be changed so the driver’s wouldn’t have the incentive to go the extra mile so to speak.So,we went onto hourly paid,with a mileage bonus,which was a good earner.
However,a year later we were all called to a meeting with the management who gave us many tales of woe about how things weren’t going too well and that if we didn’t give up the mileage bonus for 12 months,then there would have to be some redundancies.
It would have to be a 100% vote to keep the mileage bonus and say ‘Up-Yours’,if it wasn’t,then we’d lose it.Out of the twenty or so driver’s that were there,two of them voted to give it up and help the company out.Roger Jennings immediately had a smirk on his face,he knew he’d won.
We never did get it back twelve months later either,as they’d promised.
On 1st Janurary 1985 I got a new truck.A new Scania 112 Intercooler,with the new blue interior,B925NGV,a 4x2.
It was one of a batch of about fifteen that came home that month,and one of only three 4x2’s.The rest were 6x2 tag axles.
The reason I’d asked them to have a 4x2 was the fact that I refused to use my own money to put diesel in on the road.
Peter Miller’s father had had his own haulage company years previously,but his driver’s had ripped him off on the diesel agency cards,and Peter was determined that the same thing would never happen to him.
So,on long distance trips to Scotland and the like,driver’s were having to dip into their own pockets to buy diesel,and claim the money when they got back to the office.If they were lucky.On many occasions the office would say they didn’t have any cash,or they’d argue about the amount.
This in turn encouraged driver’s to ‘obtain’ blank receipts from various garages and fill in themselves,therefore making a substantial bit of money.
The only places I can remember where we were able to go and draw diesel from was George Taylor’s in Bristol,John Russell in Grangemouth and S.Jones in Aldridge,but that didn’t last long as Goodways were a ‘bit slow’ in paying the bill.
Also,there didn’t seem to be the amount of truck crime there is today.Parking up on a ‘dodgy’,where you’d leave the truck parked an hour or so from base in a lay-by or cafe and get a lift home from another driver,was a regular and widespread occurence.You’d book the night out,sleep in your own bed and go back the next morning to pick it up.With,usually,everything intact.
Chris Clarke was the ‘King of the Dodgy’.He’d usually park up at Brentwood or Bury St Edmunds and get a ride home.He had a wife and two young daughters he wanted to see,but he’d often be standing there at the Copdock roundabout at 2am waiting for a lift,in the pouring rain,in the middle of winter to get back to his truck.
I’d done it myself often enough,but,one time I got home and didn’t feel right about it.I’d loaded a 40’ box in Bristol with sherry,and left it in the first lay-by off the M25 at Brentwood.I was so uneasy about it,I got my missus (ex) to drive me back down there in the car where we both slept in the truck and she followed me back to Felixstowe the next morning.
I do remember some bits off of some trucks going missing though.Bobby Paige lived at Capel StMary and he used to park in a lay-by just near the A12.He’d parked it up one Friday night,but when he went back on Monday morning someone had nicked the grille,headlights and wipers.
John Dale used to park his in a supermarket carpark near where he lived in Ipswich.
He returned one morning and noticed a puddle of oil under the truck,looked underneath and found someone had nicked his oil sump!
It transpired that someone from the Harwich area had been caught nicking some bits of off another Scania in the area.When the police raided his house they found loads of Scania parts,including the bits nicked from Bobby and John.The bloke had had a front end smash in his own Scania and was collecting bits to rebuild it!
Driver’s came and driver’s went,but the ones of us who had been there virtually from the start became known as the ‘Royal Family’.I’m not sure why,we didn’t get the new trucks everytime they came home,we didn’t earn any more and certainly didn’t get better work either.
During the mid-80’s Goodways opened a depot in Chequers Lane,Dagenham.It was just over the railway crossing,right opposite the cafe who’s name escapes me.There was a couple of other small companies also there and the yard was owned by the bloke who owned Cammel Wagon,Kyle something or other I think.
I got chatting to him one day about one of his old driver’s who I’d been weekended in Athens with once,Tony,and he said he was now driving transporters for Abbey Hill,small world.
Sometimes we’d be working out of Dagenham the whole week,loading boxes out of Dagenham Storage and Containerways.It was a good laugh as there would usually be three or four of us from Felixstowe,so quite a few merry nights were had.
Eventually some local driver’s were taken on and based there,Gerry Baldwin (ex-General Express) and Big George Carling are two I remember.
Some time after that a depot was opened in Trafford Park,Manchester.Machins old yard to be precise,in Lyons Rd.
Again,several of us would work out of Manchester the whole week,with more merry nights out in Eccles and the truckstop alongside the canal (where a Turkish driver was drowned one night,gale force winds had blown the empty truck into the canal,with him in it).
A while later,big Albert opened the cafe called the 5th wheel club,next to the tank wash,the name of which again escapes me,but wheelnut will know.
The food was much better there,though the shower leaved a lot to be desired!
That was another thing with Goodways,we never had access to toilet or washing facilities when the office was closed.Even in Felixstowe,if you needed the toilet,then you had to drop your trailer and go onto the docks to find one,or try to find a space at the Routemaster.A certain driver,whom shall remain nameless,left a pile outside the office door early one morning in protest!
Goodways in Felixstowe had,by this time,moved from Sub Station Road to a new depot at Dooley Rd,just off Walton Avenue.At first it was ■■■■■■■■■ surface,but this wasn’t any good for container storage so we moved up the road opposite the tobbacco bond whilst it was block paved.
I remember quite clearly being in the office one day,which was just a glorified portakabin,when there was an almighty bang and the ground shook violently.
I stepped out of the door to see,just yards away,the container lift truck laying on it’s side.Next to that was a 40’ reefer box.The driver,who had only been on the job a few weeks,had turned too sharply and too fast on the slight camber of the yard,and with the 40’ reefer high up in the air it had tipped over.
It was a miracle that it hadn’t landed on the office,or any of the cars that were parked outside.The driver crawled out,shaken,but unhurt.He was asked to leave at the end of the week.
After 3 years,my Scania went and I got the choice of taking over Harry Canfields (who had just left) C reg MAN twin steer,or having a new P cab Scania.
No contest,I went for the MAN,which was a lovely motor,air suspension,big cab and it had a 13-speed Fuller.I’d never driven with a Fuller before but,as I mastered it,I began to love it.I became very adept at clutchless changes,much to the amazement of some of the drivers who could only play tunes on it!
Goodways had gone the same route as most of the local hauliers in buying small cabs,be they Volvo F7’s,FL7’s,FL10’s or P cabbed Scania’s.
There was also a sister company called Sabra.I’m not sure where the name comes from,or what it means,but the trucks were all on contract to Star Shipping,which was the UK agent for Zim Lines,a container line from Israel.The manager of Star Shipping was a guy called Terry Darling,a real nice guy from London,and he had an office next to Goodways.
Sabra later moved into RoTrucks yard in Felixstowe.
When my MAN went,I got a hand me down P112 tag axle Scania,which had been based at Grays,it was in Morline colours,the Soviet state shipping line.
Goodways had moved from Dagenham to Grays,next to Morline’s yard,to expand.The yard in Dagenham just wasn’t big enough anymore,and the rent was too high.Being based at Grays also meant easy access to the M25,as well as Tilbury container terminal.There were now around twenty trucks based at Grays.
Towards the end of the 80’s Goodways ventured into european work.The work was mainly to Germany and Switzerland,usually loading beer back from the Alsace region of France.However,Colin Pipe (aka Tick-Tock) was the only driver to go,in his Furness Withy liveried 112 P cab.
Ther were only two trucks that had permits and green card insurance,Colin’s 112,and Richard Collier’s P113.
Now Richard had no inclination to go,so,seeing as I was one of only a few who had continental experience,I was asked if I wanted to do it.Of course I said yes,but with a certain amount of trepidation.
You see ‘Tick-Tock’ was quite famous for carving a job up.No matter where you were going,or where you’d been,he’d done it quicker.So,I wasn’t too happy about having to follow in’Ticker’s’ footsteps.Having said that,I’d rather be behind him than in front of him.That was another thing he was famous for,driving so close behind you he’d be able to read the seal number off the back of your trailer!
But,it never came to it,they stopped doing european work after less than six months.
There are many tales and stories I can recount,if I could remember them,but memory loss seems to be creeping up on me.
There were many good mates,many good carachters,many good laughs during my years at Goodways.
John Dale was one of them (or ‘Passing Wind’ as he was known on the CB).I remember one night out with John,we were at that famous cafe on,I think the A34,the one that had a nightclub attached to it.Anyway,the particular night we were there was the night it’s closed (Monday or Tuesday I think) so we wander over the road to the pub
Standing at the bar are three young girls having a drink,we were standing next to them,when John lets out a very loud ■■■■,turns round to one of them and say’s ‘You dirty cow’! They stood there opened mouthed,and John just turns around and carries on drinking.
It was actually quite rare for John to have a night out,well,seeing as we only live on an island,as John used to say,might as well go home.
That,and the fact that he never carried any night out gear with him.No washing gear.No change of clothes.But he was a real nice guy.
Another night there’d been a load of us on a night out in Eccles,including John.After chucking out time we were all walking back to the trucks,parked behind the cinema,when one of our’s (Dave Allen) starts scrapping with a driver from A.A.Griggs.Apparently they’d both been vying for the attention of a young lady in the pub,but neither of them had been lucky.Now they were blaming each other for their failure and rolling around on the ground fighting.
John Dale,as calm as you like,goes over to them,grabs them both by the scruff of the neck and bangs their heads together and say’s ‘Pack it in you pair of ■■■■■■■■■■■ was John.
The other reason John never had a night out unless he could help it,was the fact that his cab was full of telly’s.He had an arrangement with the council bloke at Wellingborough tip.John would call in there and pick up loads of old telly’s that people had thrown away,giving the council bloke a couple of quid for saving them for him.
John would take them home and ‘tinker’ with them,swapping parts around and generally poking about until he got it working.He’d then sell them on to second hand shops or anyone who wanted a cheap telly.He was entirely self-taught,he just used to sit and watch his mate fixing telly’s and thought,‘I can do that’.
I think his large supply of old telly’s sitting around the house was a factor in his divorce too!
I left Goodways at the start of 1991,after a particularly nasty divorce where I found myself being left penniless.I had to find a decent paying job,so I went to Holland to drive for Van Maanen Koeltransport.
Some other driver’s names from Goodways I remember: Joe Richards,Steve Hammond,Chris Clarke,Les Lee,Alan Bowden,Cliff Doyle,Mick Coombes,Jordy,Brian Thompson,Chris Jordan,Martin Fitzgerald,Bob Back,Steve Haddock.
whom they seemed to meet up with on a regular basis. Remember going into the manchester depot and the grays one often to swap a box. did’nt the fork truck driver at grays used to be called elvis.
he had 1 of the k reg 113’2 new k164 springs to mind. i left tracto the day it was announced that we had been sold to goodways. big brian i have not seen for years. buster the union rep passed away some years ago (rip) paddy and the doomonger ive not seen/heard off at all. eric balls ■■. last heard of at o’conners in widnes.