I worked for A One Transport Leeds,they had a nightly trunk from Lockerbie to leeds,as I was a call out fitter was told to check over the trailers they was picking up,lights ect so they could turn around quick to get back up ,any one remember that night,RIP to the victims,keith
From someone who is very local, let us not forget the events that happened 25 years ago tonight.
keith 2:
I worked for A One Transport Leeds,they had a nightly trunk from Lockerbie to leeds,as I was a call out fitter was told to check over the trailers they was picking up,lights ect so they could turn around quick to get back up ,any one remember that night,RIP to the victims,keith
I think there was 5 drivers at the time,two were brothers.keith
I remember it well, I was on my way to Norman’s Café in Brotherton and heard the first radio announcement which was at first said to be a plane crash. When I got to the café I asked the lads already in there if they had heard about it, one of those was Bumper who uses this site, they presumed I meant a small light aircraft had crashed and they were shocked to hear it was a 747, I said it would probably be on the telly so we went into the telly room and the news report came on. Of course the full extent wasn’t known then but we presumed there must have been many casualties on the A74 itself as well as Lockerbie. It seemed strange a couple of days later when I got a Scotland run and passed the area, I don’t think the diversion was in place at the time and I can remember seeing the damage and missing houses, it was quite a shocking thing but in passing you couldn’t take everything in. Being ex Forces I had returned home on long flights many times and thought about the poor people waiting for their loved ones to return for Xmas as a lot of the passengers were US military personnel and Students from Germany.
Very sad and without finding any real culprits a crime that has gone unpunished. For such a small place as Lockerbie to lose 11 people also it must have changed that place for ever. RIP Franky.
The wreckage was transported to a scrap yard at Tattershall in Lincolnshire by E.T. Morris of New York Lincolnshire. My late Father who was an auxiliary Prison Officer (employed as a lorry driver) was visiting the scrap yard as part of a model aircraft clubs outing, as the owner was an enthusiast I believe, was shown the cockpit part of the wreckage in an outbuilding. He said it was very eerie. He also visited the memorial at Lockerbie, as I have done myself and it is quite a moving experience.
poleman:
The wreckage was transported to a scrap yard at Tattershall in Lincolnshire by E.T. Morris of New York Lincolnshire. My late Father who was an auxiliary Prison Officer (employed as a lorry driver) was visiting the scrap yard as part of a model aircraft clubs outing, as the owner was an enthusiast I believe, was shown the cockpit part of the wreckage in an outbuilding. He said it was very eerie. He also visited the memorial at Lockerbie, as I have done myself and it is quite a moving experience.
Hi Poleman,funny how things come around ,I work on E.T Morris trucks at Normanton crossroads,thanks for the info,keith
keith 2:
poleman:
The wreckage was transported to a scrap yard at Tattershall in Lincolnshire by E.T. Morris of New York Lincolnshire. My late Father who was an auxiliary Prison Officer (employed as a lorry driver) was visiting the scrap yard as part of a model aircraft clubs outing, as the owner was an enthusiast I believe, was shown the cockpit part of the wreckage in an outbuilding. He said it was very eerie. He also visited the memorial at Lockerbie, as I have done myself and it is quite a moving experience.Hi Poleman,funny how things come around ,I work on E.T Morris trucks at Normanton crossroads,thanks for the info,keith
watching the news footage 25 years on its still eeerie,that far up they never stood a chance.
aye keith …raker & pony Mason,were the brothers,dennis saville,ian?,cant mind the other ,one parked at eaglesfield as well.
jimmy.
Hi Jimbo,yes remember them all,they made my wage up with the call outs 
,have a happy xmas an new year,keith
Loaded out of Hartlepool on morning for Glasgow tipped & left about 5pm thought about staying at Lockabie because a couple of mates of mine were regular stayers at Lockerbie when loading tiles. Change of plan when I rang in load of Bricks to pick up Dalry so went down there, sat in cab watching news about it gave me the shivers.
For me the recollections are as fresh as they happened last week.
I had just taken over the running of a fleet at Barnsley with a Scottish changeovers at Lockerbie, second at Carlisle, trunks to Avonmouth, Birmingham and Brentford (more of this later).
Changeover at Lockerbie was scheduled for 20:00.
I stayed over at Barnsley, most nights, but did the 2 hour commute home on this occasion.
Radio reports starting coming in about a military jet crashing in the Borders, becoming a small passenger jet, until the awful news evolved.
No mobile phones in that era (for me anyway), so got home and straight onto the nightshift.
The Barnsley vehicle left late, and the driver saw a ball of flame in the sky as he passed Southwaite.
The southbound vehicle was coming down the A74, and everything exploded in front of him (far enough away not to injure him or damage the vehicle, but he felt the heat). Much later the changeover occurred at Dumfries.
The 2nd changeover was cancelled with Scottish loads going via the A1.
We also did 8 night trunks per night to Brentford, a few weeks later the British Midland 737 hit the M1 at Castle Donington. Again we were lucky with some vehicles either side of the incident.
Missed it by 24hrs thankfully. I was heading for home after loading out of Aberdeen but seem to remember one of Freelands getting caught up in it.
Come to think of it, after the A74 re-opened, a mimimum speed was enforced in a bid to keep “rubbernecking” down while passing Lockerbie. But it is human nature to have a quick look, especially at something of that scale.
I missed it by 1 hour and the strangest thing led up to it, I had loaded in Aberlour for Reading in the afternoon and there was 2 loads to go, I had left there around 2 pm and was unaware who was picking up the other load ( just was the norm to run together for the crack) I met the other lad at Aviemore and he said would I wait, I said if I waited there it would be almost 3 hours so arranged to park at Southwaite and run from there together on to Reading the next day I stopped for fuel around the Pitlochry area and I remember waiting exactly 1 hour then setting off again. I remember asking myself why I had rounded my stop off to 1 hour when the other guy was 3 hours behind me? Could not work it out as never really waited around much in them days!
Anyway just reached the top of the 74 by Larkhill and seen a flash in the sky like a lightening flash, but the evening was a perfect winter night, continued on with no news of anything but after a little while noticed there was hardly any traffic heading Northbound. Then started to hear crackle through CB about a plane hitting the carriageway. Continued on and got to the Lockerbie exit and could see the glow from the crash site and waited in the few vehicles wandering about getting around the mess i looked at the time and it was 8 20 pm. I was dumbfounded to find out that the plane had taken out the houses and road at 7 20 pm. I am still to this day thankful that I did wait for that hour and I know all kinds of things could have happened otherwise but still a tale to tell.
I got to return up to Glasgow on the 23rd December 88 and see the devastation of the missing homes and the crater it left in the southbound carriageway, seeing the sections of fuselage and debris was a sorry site and I still pray for the soles lost on that fateful night . Rip all the innocent.