Sorry about length of this intro, but, was advised to do it this way. My first trip for Chapman & Ball was Michelin Stoke to Linz Austria with Fiat SVT385N My re–load was Kremsmunster glass to Coca Cola at Fareham back to Michelin & load same again.Idid 3 of these on trot then ,loaded groupage from Stratford L.I.F.T.for Portugal. Re–load off this was Oporto with T shirts to London ,Return to Stoke pick up Jenkinsons fridge and load Felling on Tyne 10 tons frozen mackerel then Saturday load at Frazerburgh 10 tons mackerel and report to agent in Dover for papers. Papers were for Koper Yugo so i shipped to Ostend, where i met John Roberts , who was also going to Yugo (Rijeka ) so, we ran together to Spielfeld. Was nice to run with someone. i re–loaded frozen groupage at Graz for London. after tipping i ran to Salford and loaded chemicals for Poland. This became a regular run, tipping Lukow , Novy Dwor, or Katovice, Re -load was always the same frozen blackcurrants to Ribena at Coleford (Schweppes ) then empty back to Salford.On 2nd trip Jack fetched me to Stoke to change my Fiat for F88 LHD 240 nice truck RWD 240 R .Mentioned earlier on TN it was cancelled order of 3 all Dutch M/E spec.i believe all this new work came from Jenkinsons, and after many months i got a Broshuis extending step frame.Loaded Portacabins York for France re loaded Dunkirk, tipped, then back to York loaded a 48x14 foot cabin for Portugal and shipped Poole and drove all way on R N s it was a nightmare. There then followed many trips similar to that and then trucks started to go for painting white with orange roof, and TRANS BORDER GROUP lettering on doors. Then two new people arrived in the office John Wishousson and Mickey Maunders. both great guys, but Jack had run C & B for many years and all at once everything was changing. in essence when these two showed up everything was a laugh no matter what you did. Mickey was the funniest guy you could meet. But it was time to move on and i brought a F 88 of my own.After subbing for the usual penny pinchers i went to Carmans, Scholar Green and pulled for them for many years on U/K Belgium and Holland, One day in Zeebrugge yard the boss Oswald Maes asked me to go pulling from Belgium depot.I accepted and there starts the beest14 years of my career. GETTING CARRIED AWAY WILL DO LAST CHAPTER SOON…
hey top cat leek
can we have some more stories please & with pics if poss mate
cheers
gaz
Hi Gaz, yes , like Bestbootees i could write a book (but couldn;t we all ) Some of the scrapes we got in,and out of, may sound like fiction but i can say hand on heart, that to the best of my knowledge , they are all true, there are so many different types of stories over the years, you would have to say which era you would like to hear about, EG ,british haulage from 40 plus years ago, Chapman & Ball era , or the Carmans // B-E-T. Belgium times, just let me know. Just a quicky you might like, Beresfords of Cheddleton sent ,my brother and me to collect 2 tanks for timber treatment from Mansfield to go to Gt,Yarmouth. i had a Scammel artic with own made 42 foot trailer and my brother had a Leyland Super Comet, rigid The tanks were very heavy, one was 48 foot long ,weighing 24 tons. the other was 32 foot long weighing 12 tons, what a joke, We loaded and as we were leaving i turned out of gates with great difficulty, looked behind and there was my brother ploughing the fields across the road… went back to see Comet front wheels atleast a foot off the road. The overhang weight was lifting the front axle off the road and you could turn it lock to lock with your finger.Brother said we should go back and take his off,so i went in and asked manager if anything else to go with the tanks, there were 3 pallets of cast iron valves, so we got the lads to squeeze these pallets on each side at front of the Comet, bingo. the front came back down onto the road, and away we go, It took us best part of eight hours to get to Yarmouth after being stopped at least 3 times and each time blagging the coppers with special load permits from a month before, the golden days of haulage,ha ha Hope you had a laugh at that bye for now, regards Terry,