Saved one of the worst until last.Gutless uncomfortable Merc 2534 but at least it wasn’t lumbered with an EPS box although the heavy synchro was bad enough.
The last lorry i drove was a Volvo FH12,that was yesterday.
Last one that I drove full time (in 2009) was a six week old MAN with a 44’ curtainsider, no pics. For a year prior to that it was the same but a 2004 version not bad motors but didn’t get on with the buttons on the steering wheel on the later one, kept setting the cruise control without realising it, senior moment I guess.
Parked this in the yard about 2 hours ago… just to dumb to stop driving!!!
That’s not me in the photo… that’s the Captain nicking my gloves…I’m behind the camera…
Jeff…
Dave, I was going to reply but then I realised you specified “retired”.
Does being out of the game for 16 years then re-entering count? (NB, if so all I can contribute is a photo of poxy Hino 500, so consider your reply carefully).
Trev_H:
That will be a Daf XF 105, my last trip tomorrow , then my boots and alarm clock are going in the bin
Good man,enjoy your retirement, you’ve been there, seen it, done it…you’ve done your bit, what time there is left is all your own.
Last lorry?? Volvo FH10, dam thing was like a rabbit hutch inside, on nights out rolling OFF the bunk was the norm. They were a comfortable motor to drive but when you had to live in them…no thanks.
ParkRoyal2100:
Dave, I was going to reply but then I realised you specified “retired”.Does being out of the game for 16 years then re-entering count? (NB, if so all I can contribute is a photo of poxy Hino 500, so consider your reply carefully).
No problem Park Royal1200. I started the thread, but there aren’t any rules.
The last one I drove a long time ago, was a Guy Warrior with 22 ton of scrap steel onboard the trailer.
Cheers Dave.
Hi Dave,
I would like to say 'twas a Big J with a 240 Percy in it,but in fact it was a C series ■■■■■■■ powered ERF for Smith of Maddiston Manchester,seems so long ago!!!
David
robert1952:
Here’s the last lorry I drove for a living……and, more recently, here’s the last lorry I drove for the sheer joy of it (alas, off road)…
…and I do hope I’ll get to drive the odd vintage ERF while I still have a licence! Robert
(for Robert) And this is my son-in-law with his lorry at the Salt Box in September 2012. He says your old one is still going!
Steve
Retired Old ■■■■:
Bewick:
Retired Old ■■■■:
Catch yerself on, Dennis- that was the FIRST time I retired!
Are you sure you wern’t driving a rig similar to this yoke up ROF
Just hope there’s no VOSA chap around, Dennis, he’ll take a dim view of the way that blue trailer’s coupled to the dolly.
I’ve just received information that a certain retired ■■■■■■■■ haulier was seen heading for th’ills in an odd-liveried Big J. It is rumoured that, judging by the noise and the smoke, there may have been one of the elusive 8-cylinder Patricroft-built engines lurking under the cab. It is believed that the livery resembled that of the well-respected company, WRM although, without photographic evidence this cannot be confirmed.
Unfortunately, I cannot use this information in any official way, as it is based purely on hearsay. I would leave members to draw their own conclusions.
And if you come across that Punchard bloke, tell him to do his own stirring in future!
You appear keen to come out of retirement ROF ! so how about starting at the bottom again,when can you start ? £2 per hour straight through on week-days,£2:50 Saturdays and £3 on Sundays £5 per night subsistance,sounds about the right entry level for a new starter,“wet behind” the ears, plus your getting a “top of the range” motor from the “get go” so that is worth a hundred a week surely ,they don’t pay this kind of money in the Forrest of Dean !! Scrooge & Son (Hauliers)Ltd.
At least ■■■■ Turpin wore a mask on his hos !
Dan Punchard:
At least ■■■■ Turpin wore a mask on his hos !
I bet you aren’t paying much more than that to-day. 
Well ,all I can say is that it seams drivers would soon do easier work for less pay than do general goods on a flat for good wages ,and we don’t often sheet up either !
Dan Punchard:
0
Ooo! you are a one Dan !! Now if I was to pull that ■■■■■■■ trigger I wouldn’t be sure wether the ball would go forwards or ■■■■■■■ backwards,now I know which way you would like it to fire eh !! Dennis.
I do like the photo- Black Bess with a 240 Gardner, eh?
Them wages were a ■■■■ sight more than I was getting when you were a lad, Dennis, although I would need you to turn a blind eye to the five nights out a week that I would book, plus the extra detour to take me home on a dodgy five times a week. And of course there would be the extra sixpence an hour for early starts, plus another sixpence an hour dark money and the allowances for boots, wet weather gear, overalls, etc. And not forgetting the sixpence an hour for achieving the fifteen mph average, and another blind eye to be turned when ten gallons of fuel a week finds itself in my car’s tank.
All in all, you couldn’t afford to hire this former BRS driver, so it’ll be a toss-up between staying on the retired list or going to work for that nice Mr. Punchard, who has promised to treat me like a long-lost son including a company booze-up every Friday night, full roast dinner after washing the lorry on Saturday mornings and a new Mercedes car every three years.
Hi ROF,
Just thinking about dodgy nights out. When I subbed from Pritchett’s Ashton in Makerfield depot, there were some good lads there, driving for ‘the on time freight line’.
I had the mastiff at the time. One of the lads had a new K reg Foden, which had a bostrom seat with armrests, and a ■■■■■■■ 220. It was like sitting in an armchair!
‘Get thissen a Fodden’ he used to say.
He’d lost his last job through a ‘dodgy’. He’d run unit only from Stafford to either Wigan or somewhere close (don’t be too harsh - it’s over 40 years ago!) parked up on the square and come back at 7.00 to find his truck surrounded by market stalls - and they weren’t moving!
I’m sure he wasn’t the first or the last. Difficult phone call!
I ran an Amtrak depot for 20 years. Those phone calls always started with ‘Errr…’
My eyes always closed and buttocks clenched waiting for the bad news!
John
Ste46:
robert1952:
Here’s the last lorry I drove for a living…2
…and, more recently, here’s the last lorry I drove for the sheer joy of it (alas, off road)…
1
…and I do hope I’ll get to drive the odd vintage ERF while I still have a licence! Robert
(for Robert) And this is my son-in-law with his lorry at the Salt Box in September 2012. He says your old one is still going!
0
Steve
Blimey, those Premiums must be better than I thought: those lorries are double-shifted at a constant 44-tonne gvw all year round! Robert
robert1952:
Ste46:
robert1952:
Here’s the last lorry I drove for a living…2
…and, more recently, here’s the last lorry I drove for the sheer joy of it (alas, off road)…
1
…and I do hope I’ll get to drive the odd vintage ERF while I still have a licence! Robert
(for Robert) And this is my son-in-law with his lorry at the Salt Box in September 2012. He says your old one is still going!
0
Steve
Blimey, those Premiums must be better than I thought: those lorries are double-shifted at a constant 44-tonne gvw all year round! Robert
hey Robert, the premium’s were not so bad, but drivers disliked them and so you get easy a bad name.
Everyone has his favorite but the Premium, CF or FM were equal to driver, only drove (all) for MOT and so but you feel it immediately if you handle them. My cake is Fuller 
.
Eric,