Round my way all the drivers I knew in the late 50s and 60s had to help with handballing these loads at the many brickworks and paving stone manufactures in the area.
Do you think this driver is having it loaded for him because of the fragile nature of the tiles,needing straw etc.?
when i was a nipper i used to go with my dad when he worked on the brick job it was a normal day to do two handball load of facing brick. with a collection of engineering brickpacked in straw from Accrington. very happy day’s indeed 
When I started driving for a living [1967] all bricks from London Bricks works in Bedfordshire were loaded by hand with the driver helping. You quite often only went 20 or 30 miles before handballing them off again . Oh happy days but it kept you fit
Back in the early sixties my Father ran two Leyland Super Comet artics on roof tile deliveries out of Marley Tile Company in Riverhead near Sevenoaks. In 1965 he put a thrid artic, this Scammell Handyman III on the road with a specially built 28’ Merriworth flat trailer. It was built to a very low height to facilitate the hand loading and off loading of tiles. The loaders loved it as you could reach 3 rows in from the ground. The tractor could not have full rear mudguards as they would have fouled on the trailer. Also not long after it went on the road the wheels on the landing legs were replaced by flat plates welded on to the bottom of the legs as the wheel kept grounding out. Only problem with it was that it kept breaking the body out riggers as these were attached to the sides of the chassis rails to keep the height down, not run over the top of them as was common at that time.
Yes he had to help load and also off load, although I remember him telling me that when he turned up on site with 22 tons of tiles all the labour suddenly vanished!! Good old days. In later years he ran a crane trailer on the work.
When delivering a full artic load of bricks to a building site the usual statement from the foreman was something like, “We’ll have them about halfway along the next road, Driver. If you can make a start I’ll send the lads around when they’ve finished their break”.
I soon got used to this one so my trick was to take off a couple of hundred then sit in the cab until the foreman had worked out that I was not quite so stupid as he had thought.
Brilliant old Thorneycroft by the way.
This is the best way to load and del bricks 
Loaded
Unloaded (simples 
)
Wouldn’t mind a pound for every brick this old girl carried in her days when new to Stonehenge Brick Co of Leighton Buzzard!
The old London Brick works at Stewartby and Calvert where I loaded thousands of bricks as a young man are now both landfill sites and our firm has tanks in there every day to remove leachate etc.
Did plenty of handballing bricks off eight wheelers and artics when I worked on building sites in the mid 60’s. Butterley Brick Company and BRS used to deliver them t the sites, used to lift up to seven bricks at a time off. Blue engineering bricks were the heaviest. Also loaded 2,000 bricks at a time onto a tipper by hand when I was driving, but tipped them off. Good for the bicep muscles.
Cheers Dave.
old 67:
Round my way all the drivers I knew in the late 50s and 60s had to help with handballing these loads at the many brickworks and paving stone manufactures in the area.
Do you think this driver is having it loaded for him because of the fragile nature of the tiles,needing straw etc.?
0
Regards. John.
Yea ! The lazy ■■■■ is sat in the cab by the looks of it !!! 
Bewick.
eric the judge:
When I started driving for a living [1967] all bricks from London Bricks works in Bedfordshire were loaded by hand with the driver helping. You quite often only went 20 or 30 miles before handballing them off again . Oh happy days but it kept you fit
Yes, even in the early seventies, the driver was expected to help load. Wood pulp from the borders to Bowaters Ellesmere Port was always handball. Easy unload though, a machine with a blade pushed it off the side. You had to make sure your body Ubolts were tight! If a log jammed, the machine was powerful enough to push the body off too.
I loaded roof tiles from a place in Wigan (Cale Lane?) for a while. That was work intensive. You would park next to the stack and 3 of you would load 20 tons of tiles. You had to wear gloves or your hands would get ripped to shreds.
One of the worst places I ever loaded was India tyres at inchinnan. First question was ‘where’s your mate?’
‘Why would I have a mate?’
‘To help you load - you need to go back to Tollcross (I think) and pick up a mate.’ I point blank refused. So they said they wouldn’t load me, so I said fine and got back in the cab ready to drive away. They backed down and generously let me ‘lace’ a 40’ van with tyres by myself.
When it was loaded I asked to use the lavatory to wash - I was black from head to toe and covered in sweat. ‘Ah ye canna, they’re for company employees only.’ I was about ready for a fight by then and I think he saw it - the lavatories were filthy, with no hot water, but I cleaned up as best I could.
Before I left I asked if they were all Union men. Of course they were. ‘Then why are you denying half a dozen men full time jobs by letting the driver pick up a mate and load the vans’
No reply to that. Didn’t load at India again!
I used to find all dockers had a similar mindset- they couldn’t see how shortsighted they were.
It was always a joy to load at Burtons Biscuits. Containers were coming in then under CMR rules - ‘chauffeur must rest’, so if you were willing to help load, they gave you a big goody bag of biscuits. If you were on Burtons for a couple of weeks doing inter factory you had enough biscuits to open a shop!
Dennis Pye, who worked for Alan Cooksey (removals at first, later vans on for Bowater Scott, then they sold out to Blue Dart) reckoned that even the dog turned its nose up at biscuits in his house.
Dave Cooksey, Alan’s son,told me that they used to go to one particular drop regularly, a hangover from the removal days, all handball and hard work. One of the lads found a surgical boot and put it on for a laugh when delivering there. They insisted he go sit in his cab while they unloaded him. Of course the next driver going there did the same. Dave was the third driver to work this scam. An employee sidled up to him with an embarrassed air, ‘is it like a Remploy type firm yours? It’s just that all the drivers seem to have bad legs.’
That may belong in the tall tales box, I don’t know.
John
John West:
eric the judge:
When I started driving for a living [1967] all bricks from London Bricks works in Bedfordshire were loaded by hand with the driver helping. You quite often only went 20 or 30 miles before handballing them off again . Oh happy days but it kept you fitYes, even in the early seventies, the driver was expected to help load. Wood pulp from the borders to Bowaters Ellesmere Port was always handball. Easy unload though, a machine with a blade pushed it off the side. You had to make sure your body Ubolts were tight! If a log jammed, the machine was powerful enough to push the body off too.
I loaded roof tiles from a place in Wigan (Cale Lane?) for a while. That was work intensive. You would park next to the stack and 3 of you would load 20 tons of tiles. You had to wear gloves or your hands would get ripped to shreds.
One of the worst places I ever loaded was India tyres at inchinnan. First question was ‘where’s your mate?’
‘Why would I have a mate?’
‘To help you load - you need to go back to Tollcross (I think) and pick up a mate.’ I point blank refused. So they said they wouldn’t load me, so I said fine and got back in the cab ready to drive away. They backed down and generously let me ‘lace’ a 40’ van with tyres by myself.
When it was loaded I asked to use the lavatory to wash - I was black from head to toe and covered in sweat. ‘Ah ye canna, they’re for company employees only.’ I was about ready for a fight by then and I think he saw it - the lavatories were filthy, with no hot water, but I cleaned up as best I could.
Before I left I asked if they were all Union men. Of course they were. ‘Then why are you denying half a dozen men full time jobs by letting the driver pick up a mate and load the vans’
No reply to that. Didn’t load at India again!
I used to find all dockers had a similar mindset- they couldn’t see how shortsighted they were.
It was always a joy to load at Burtons Biscuits. Containers were coming in then under CMR rules - ‘chauffeur must rest’, so if you were willing to help load, they gave you a big goody bag of biscuits. If you were on Burtons for a couple of weeks doing inter factory you had enough biscuits to open a shop!
Dennis Pye, who worked for Alan Cooksey (removals at first, later vans on for Bowater Scott, then they sold out to Blue Dart) reckoned that even the dog turned its nose up at biscuits in his house.
Dave Cooksey, Alan’s son,told me that they used to go to one particular drop regularly, a hangover from the removal days, all handball and hard work. One of the lads found a surgical boot and put it on for a laugh when delivering there. They insisted he go sit in his cab while they unloaded him. Of course the next driver going there did the same. Dave was the third driver to work this scam. An employee sidled up to him with an embarrassed air, ‘is it like a Remploy type firm yours? It’s just that all the drivers seem to have bad legs.’
That may belong in the tall tales box, I don’t know.
John
I’ve got to say that you got involved in some ■■■■ traffic Westy Dennis.
Bewick:
old 67:
Round my way all the drivers I knew in the late 50s and 60s had to help with handballing these loads at the many brickworks and paving stone manufactures in the area.
Do you think this driver is having it loaded for him because of the fragile nature of the tiles,needing straw etc.?
0
Regards. John.Yea ! The lazy [zb] is sat in the cab by the looks of it !!!
It may be he is in the cab as they are just finishing off the load with the ridge. When I did some work for Marley, didn’t always get out to help load the ‘fittings’ as by the time you had got out, the loaders had them on and wanted the lorry moved on to another stack.
Bewick:
eric the judge:
When I started driving for a living [1967] all bricks from London Bricks works in Bedfordshire were loaded by hand with the driver helping. You quite often only went 20 or 30 miles before handballing them off again . Oh happy days but it kept you fitI’ve got to say that you got involved in some [zb] traffic Westy
Hey, someone had to the ■■■■■ while you were doing the milk runs out of Libbys, as Eric said - it kept you fit! 
John
John West:
Bewick:
eric the judge:
When I started driving for a living [1967] all bricks from London Bricks works in Bedfordshire were loaded by hand with the driver helping. You quite often only went 20 or 30 miles before handballing them off again . Oh happy days but it kept you fitI’ve got to say that you got involved in some [zb] traffic Westy
Hey, someone had to the [zb] while you were doing the milk runs out of Libbys, as Eric said - it kept you fit!
John
Possy never much hand ball either,I lifted the sheets onto the loads !!Cheers Dennis.
old 67:
Round my way all the drivers I knew in the late 50s and 60s had to help with handballing these loads at the many brickworks and paving stone manufactures in the area.
Do you think this driver is having it loaded for him because of the fragile nature of the tiles,needing straw etc.?
0
Regards. John.
Sorry, i don’t know, what I do know is that is a very handsome Thorny.
Anyone know who made that very modern glass fibre (?) cab?
nyk473l:
Back in the early sixties my Father ran two Leyland Super Comet artics on roof tile deliveries out of Marley Tile Company in Riverhead near Sevenoaks. In 1965 he put a thrid artic, this Scammell Handyman III on the road with a specially built 28’ Merriworth flat trailer. It was built to a very low height to facilitate the hand loading and off loading of tiles. The loaders loved it as you could reach 3 rows in from the ground. The tractor could not have full rear mudguards as they would have fouled on the trailer. Also not long after it went on the road the wheels on the landing legs were replaced by flat plates welded on to the bottom of the legs as the wheel kept grounding out. Only problem with it was that it kept breaking the body out riggers as these were attached to the sides of the chassis rails to keep the height down, not run over the top of them as was common at that time.Yes he had to help load and also off load, although I remember him telling me that when he turned up on site with 22 tons of tiles all the labour suddenly vanished!! Good old days. In later years he ran a crane trailer on the work.
I’m sure I remember your father from when he used to come into Marleys at Beenham, I’m still based there but fortunately now I’ve got a wagon and drag with a forklift attached to unload the tiles. I well remember the vanishing labour, or turning up on a site to see a sign saying “tiles here please”!
I’m sure I’ve seen you up and down the M4 near Reading in a truck with the same name on.
Ken
trucken:
nyk473l:
Back in the early sixties my Father ran two Leyland Super Comet artics on roof tile deliveries out of Marley Tile Company in Riverhead near Sevenoaks. In 1965 he put a thrid artic, this Scammell Handyman III on the road with a specially built 28’ Merriworth flat trailer. It was built to a very low height to facilitate the hand loading and off loading of tiles. The loaders loved it as you could reach 3 rows in from the ground. The tractor could not have full rear mudguards as they would have fouled on the trailer. Also not long after it went on the road the wheels on the landing legs were replaced by flat plates welded on to the bottom of the legs as the wheel kept grounding out. Only problem with it was that it kept breaking the body out riggers as these were attached to the sides of the chassis rails to keep the height down, not run over the top of them as was common at that time.Yes he had to help load and also off load, although I remember him telling me that when he turned up on site with 22 tons of tiles all the labour suddenly vanished!! Good old days. In later years he ran a crane trailer on the work.
I’m sure I remember your father from when he used to come into Marleys at Beenham, I’m still based there but fortunately now I’ve got a wagon and drag with a forklift attached to unload the tiles. I well remember the vanishing labour, or turning up on a site to see a sign saying “tiles here please”!
I’m sure I’ve seen you up and down the M4 near Reading in a truck with the same name on.
Ken
Hi Ken
Yes he did used to go into Beenham. He used to deliver the granules in a bulk tipping trailer when there was a burner at Riverhead. He then started doing them from Burton with the tipping trailer, as he was cheaper than Marley Transport using the bins. He also started working out of Beenham with both a flat and a crane trailer when Riverhead ceased production. Eventually stopped working from Beenham when there was only the interworks transfer loads being subbed out as it didn’t pay.
