Portly son got sent out to a breakdown on the M62, fully kitted breakdown van etc etc. An hour later he rings in “send the wrecker out, this bloody thing is dead and needs towing in”. Does all the necessary, pulls the half shafts, and away they went. He followed in the van and he had a flash of inspiration…I did check the fuses…didn’t I ? 
No you didn’t you silly mechanic you.
5 minute job back at the yard and all was well. Just one fuse 
He still gets reminded. 
I did a service on the Thermo King on our 8 wheeler HVF111D which took me up to lunch break. When I returned to the yard the motor was gone - with my tools on the roof! The next day it was back, having gone to Covent Garden from Diss and back without any of them sliding off the roof.
Luckily I had filled her with oil - she was running when I left but I was kacking my pants cos the drain plug wasn’t locked off - I was going to change it again after she had run for an hour to give her a good flush. I never left a service part way through again. Jim.
P.S. Well done that steady Driver (Might have been Bill Robins)
jmc jnr:
I did a service on the Thermo King on our 8 wheeler HVF111D which took me up to lunch break. When I returned to the yard the motor was gone - with my tools on the roof! The next day it was back, having gone to Covent Garden from Diss and back without any of them sliding off the roof.
Luckily I had filled her with oil - she was running when I left but I was kacking my pants cos the drain plug wasn’t locked off - I was going to change it again after she had run for an hour to give her a good flush. I never left a service part way through again. Jim.
P.S. Well done that steady Driver (Might have been Bill Robins)
I remember our tyre fitter had fallen out big time with one of our drivers at A E Evans.I can’t recall what the upset was but when driver arrived early Monday morning for his wagon the tyre fitter had changed two front axle tyres ont AEC MM but put wheels back on tother road about so it looked like an Allis Chalmer tractor,just rayt for running down rows in a field. 
The Late Sam Hambleton, long serving driver at Ballidon quarry, (infact one of the very first employees back in the 1940’s when he started as a butchers apprentice and the owner of the shop then decided to start quarrying instead and Sam stayed with him!) once told me of when back in the sixties he broke a 2nd axle spring on an old AEC eight legger flat that he drove and left it for Arthur the fitter to deal with. Sam turns up for work the following day to find the second axle wheel several inches above the ground! Arthur could only find a ‘flat’ spring, the proper one was curved, so fitted that. He told Sam it would be fine with a load on, Sam did say that the steering was lighter than usual!
Arthur himself was quite a character, when I started there he had retired and lived in a cottage on Ballidon lane and was employed as nightwatchman. When we were working late, often with our fleet plus dumpers, he would come into the garage for a chat. He told me that whenever he got a bollocking from the original owner he never argued with him but waited until he had gone and then went to the stores and took a new clutch etc to the top of the quarry and chucked it over the face! “I hit him where it hurt him most, in his pockets” he used to say!
Pete.
Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.
P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.
P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.
P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.
P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.
P: #2 Propeller seeping prop fluid
S: #2 Propeller seepage normal – #1 #3 and #4 propellers lack normal seepage
P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.
P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what they’re for
P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.
P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.
P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.
And the best one for last.
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.
^^^
Classic!
Wheel Nut:
Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.P: #2 Propeller seeping prop fluid
S: #2 Propeller seepage normal – #1 #3 and #4 propellers lack normal seepageP: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what they’re forP: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyricsP: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.And the best one for last.
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.
That’s very amusing Wheel nut,well remembered!!
David
While driving for Hayter Mowers, one of the other drivers, cannot remember his name, only that he was related to my wife (that is wife No 2) anyway he had been hit head on by an army lorry somewhere around Alton Hants and was in hospital down that way while they rebuilt his face five of us went down to see him one saturday and took his wife as well, anyway back to the story, gets in the yard a few days later and was loaded for South Coast area and told to go into a garage and bring his motor back on piggyback, how the hell do I get the unit on the my trailer said I, they have a ramp and will load it for you, ok, seems sorted, Wrong, gets to the garage and their ramp is miles to small to load his unit and the motor was not driveable so it was on to plan 2, drag unit to a council depot down the road who had a ramp, right line his unit up with the ramp, drop my trailer and chock wheels, (no spring brake in those days of Scammell couplings) run a rope from my unit through the front of my trailer and onto his unit and tow said unit onto my trailer, gets so far then realises that with those Scammell couplings the wheels were not set far apart and unit and trailer could overbalance so had to stop with it half on and half off my trailer, so I coupled up and got the unit pushed on by the council workers, tied it down and brought it home. The driver did come back to work after around 4 months, at least they did bring him to a hospital closer to his home when they had built a cage round his face to hold it all together.
Think that was the worst job I ever had as his unit was crawling with maggots what with the blood soaked into the seat and on the floor, the following morning I unbolted the seats and burnt them and got the power washer out and cleaned the cab out only to get a rocket as the insurance agent wanted to see the motor for the claim, explained the maggots etc and got an apology. Why did I get all the best jobs■■?
Had never had a vehicle on the trailer before so had a quick learning curve on how to rope (no chains) a unit on as it had no brakes as the engine was pushed back around 4 feet.