started to learn all I knew about loading a different type of load and sheeting them up. also improvising.
As the majority of towns throughout the UK then had a B RS depot within the area as it was a government company Nationalised industry however it was gradually getting back into private hands.[ deregulation] so they need digs to put men in the same was with the BRITISH RAIL they would have accommodation that was called barracks the same as the military type used by working men within the industry who lived away from home and they would put us up for the night for a charge, also the SALVATION ARMY had large houses ,well large house the were ■■■■■■■ sleeping factory’s, for accommodation in the big cites
for the obvious tramps .down and outs etc ,however they always kept a floor free for overnight lorry drivers, different from the roughs, we then were not the second class for a change we did not eat breakfast there ,I must say we were in and out. i think it was 10/0 shillings a night now 50 pence…also if you parked out side the “sally- ann [salvation army hostel for men]” their were always kids waiting to look after your lorry for a couple of shillings if you did not give it to them your load and truck would be a problem the next day, it would be damaged…
Once you were on a regular run you would get to know the factory times and when they would load empty stilages’ and when they would not ,different fork lift drivers did different tasks so if you could you would try to get a full load of empty still ages if available loaded as you went around the deliveries that would mean a return load back to your base. However as time went by I got to learn the ropes as they say . At some factory’s they would have the empty stillages that would help you to make a nice return load back to your base all belonging to LOCKHEED , however they would not let you have them, so off you went empty to the local B R S depot and ended up doing the ■■■■ for some other depot ,as a lot of our Banbury based delivers were serviced by our depots lorry’s twice to 3 times a week.
It got me wondering why they would not load you up with the still ages as I was a new face to a lot of the fork lift drivers at a lot of the factory’s it did not take that long to ask around, and I had not worked it out myself ,what was happening to all the empty still ages it worked like this=.the driver who was a regular to the factory on a Thursday was giving away jars of coffee to the fork lift drivers at the factory as a [ bunce], backhander, or black market. Stolen coffee .
MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE so he would always have the empty still ages saved for him Well !what they did not know I was probably more into that sort of thing than they would believe, so it was game on ,[that was a challenge to me ] the ever ■■■■ you syndrome, now every where I went, once I had got my stash of coffee , if I knew I would need it on a trip I would bring it from home ready, it usual worked everywhere to give the fork lift driver a little bit of something ,■■■■ ,small amount of money when needed just to ease the way. I had been around a little bit however no one knew anything about me so I liked to keep it that way [I did know the score as the saying goes]
I have always given people the benefit of doubt in most circumstances unless they take the ■■■■ then it changes. Most of us drivers would not suffer fools gladly however a lot of the fools were other drivers ,not that I was perfect far from it I was just as much as a ■■■■ about, as most others .anyway, how we got the coffee?
General foods ,the name of the company that was originally bird custard powders from Digbeth the centre of Birmingham ,relocated to Banbury about 1965/6. how I know as I worked on the construction. Another story
.However they used to refine then the raw coffee beans and it ended up as MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE one of their many products they used to manufacture ,custard powder ,angle delights. All good family products that we all liked, so the security was very tight at the loading bays a lot of the goods were loaded into box vans that is as it sounds , a box fitted onto a trailer , a container .
.That had two doors at the rear, of the trailer that would be backed onto a ramp at the loading bays at the factory as it is done today at all factory’s.
The box van trailers were constructed of a marine ply wood board, very sturdy, with steel reinforcing in between the sheets of ply. The outside of the trailers were always painted red the B.R.S. Standard colour, inside the box trailer was a flat bar of
steel that run all the length of the trailer with holes drilled in to it that would take a spring loaded end of a 8 foot tubular steel bar that was to fit in the holes on the side, to form a barrier to hold the goods up in the back of the trailer that was stacked on pallets .
however it sorted of worked when the trailer was full to the back and it looked good from the loading bay as if the load was good and secure however once you had the first deliver off it was never nice and neat boxes ended up everywhere
.
As a deliver would have not just one size box every product was a different size box so you had to re stack the rear of the load after every deliver sort of slope the load back like making steps so as the whole lot never went ■■■■ up. so if you had 5or6 deliveries it got a right mess in the trailer ,
in the end if you did not do the job correct. that is how we used to end up with the coffee that we would keep ,[naughty] the odd jar. the customer would sign the load with a damage report however they would nearly all ways keep the whole of the pallet damaged then put a claim in later .for more damage than there was so we knew that was some for us thank you very much.
You had to keep it hidden when back at the depot and in them days they were very small cabs so not a lot of room to hide stuff away from nosey drivers ,no side lockers ,no sleeper cabs your driver seat was right back to the back of the cab.
.what we used to do was as you come in through the gate to the big yard ,every time you had to go to the fuel pumps for the diesel and there was the fuel man .a near retired driver and his job was filling up the lorries dish out the oil if needed. it was his domain he was the man you never ■■■■■■ off it was his little kingdom because he had hiding places and he was always in on anything that needed to be stashed away. there were some drivers who were greedy and they would nick off each other, but he would never give your stuff away and he would get his .
So once you had got sorted you would have to go a part of the yard to get your returned goods or damaged goods off the trailer ,some times with a shovel, powdered coffee ,and custard powder make a right mess all mixed up. however a lot of the mess was checked by the prick of the yard who worked for the maxwell house company.
They would try to see that the lids of the coffee jars were still screwed on to the broken jars and not been opened and the bottoms of the jars were broken they new you would not take loose coffee off the floor. So that is why we used to get it at the other end of the job the delivery…also they would count all the packets of crushed custard powder so as to see that you had not stolen any [how dare they].
Most of the food customers were small shops or small cash and carry outfits. Not big stores like now but if you did have a bulk order ,ie the whole trailer for one customer you never got a thing for yourself…
That was one part of the driving at BR S it was not all food delivers in box vans they were the cream jobs, the majority of the work was all roping and sheeting and it was nothing for us drivers to have to do sheeting and roping the load on your own if a load had been [transshipped]`it would be a load of lots of different delivers as well as mixed up goods of all descriptions maybe known as a ■■■■ load… within the yard by the yard gang they would disappear when they had done their bit and leave you to get on with it .if you were lucky they would have lifted the big 8 panel sheets on top of the load for you to begin ,it was normally good if it was ■■■■■■■ with rain and the wind blowing just the thing you did not want however all in a days. Good experience.
Sometimes when we had a load of the food from general foods ,on a flat bed trailer ,when roping the load down to secure it lots of the top boxes would end up damaged ,so by the end of the day of delivering you would have a nice mess on the trailer ,custard powder mixed with angle delight and also some coffee it used to get rather sticky and you could be covered in powder. Not good when you then had to find some digs [B an B] smelling rather sweet…
After a while I knew I had made a good move from the cattle trucks however the traffic manager was a right prick and sometimes you can have enough ■■■■ from a man so in the end the big bust up came. =
We had loads delivering around Nottingham ,after I had finished for the day I went to my in laws who lived just out side Nottingham on a R A F camp. I went to the guard house ,asked where to park, I was told it would all be ok ,parked up near the houses and went to the house ,got up in the morning all ok carried on finished my jobs ,collected pallets for the return and back to BANBURY.
all fine so I thought, Back in the yard ,did all the routine, went to the office to clear to go home, was told the depot manger wanted to see me. The story was a routine police car doing rounds saw the lorry parked up. Yes it was not normal for a commercial lorry to be there.
They went to the guard house at the camp, they new nothing as they could not see the lorry so they did not know it was there and it was not recorded in their book. [I never left a note in the screen to say where I was] so the police take over they have now got a stolen lorry on a R A F camp [I am asleep] so the ■■■■ starts they in the end find out its from Banbury ,wake the depot manager up, he wakes jock up [all by phone] god knows what else .so they never thought old on ,its locked up, all the sheets and load is secure, the police do not tell them this .so I am missing ,lorry stolen ooh zb
At 7 am I go back to the lorry start up and go no one stops me nothing. so you can visualise me in the office gob smacked… what is going on I did not know .so in the end I hold my own with the pair of them and that is sorted and go home ,however my dear old jock o. holds grudges
days later I am told jock wants to see me , so now I am ready for this ,the little scotch ■■■■■ and he was little. He wanted to suspend me for not parking at the Nottingham depot .so I told him to go ■■■■ him self and said I’m jacking [leaving] however. Little did I know but the union man was on my side, and told them [after]so long as all is secure ,and your are not off the load route you can stay where you like in digs so long as the load is secure.
So I did not finish in the end but he had my card marked and he would and could make my life a misery but he never as it turned out he was ex RAF so it must have made a difference as my father in law was AIR CREW. [ Also a jock] Why I do not know but it worked out all right after that episode.
Within the B R S they had a lot of different categorise of drivers
Day Trunking.= drivers would drive from one town or city to another B R S depot drop the trailer ,collect another and drive it back to their own depot That is all they would do ,not touch the load at all ,
Night Trunking. =
they would do as the same as the day men but at night.
Trampers= They would start at their depot and just go wherever the load is for ,then just get sent anywhere with another load and so on and make a sort of round trip not allways getting home that week that was the start of things to come however the B R S did it first
Day men =That is what we were mostly working out of your own depot with the odd night away
Weekend Work = was unheard of unless you were Scottish they had such long distances to go we did the very odd Saturday morning but that would be all. However there was one very good weekend run but that was a special to Glasgow [■■■■■■■■■■■■ and one man to do it yes a jock ,double time for a Sunday, leaving Saturday, time and a half, good money .After about two years there I eventually got a crack at the Scottish run , Now I was driving where I had never been before
I had not been north of Manchester , the M6 only went as far as Preston ,Lancashire from the A5 Cannock, north of Birmingham .Then up on the dreaded A6 a notorious road with all the hair raising stories up the dreaded climb called SHAP with a café half way up called the Jungle .
Stories of lorry’s trapped for days on the Icy roads no gritters then ,well few if any ,well the time came for me and it was summer for me so ■■■■ it. it was fine ,however even to this day it was and still is a very dangerous road it was the only west coast road from Scotland to England., the M6 goes up SHAP now but it is 3 lanes. wonder where all the ladies went to
.
When we finished the delivery in GLASGOW we then went into the depot there and you would be loaded there from the depot most times it was called a Bonded load and it would be spirits whisky. Normally for the LONDON CUSTOM BOND via our depot .when we had sheeted the load and then roped it secure, the customs officers came round, and on every knot we tied in the rope [called a dolly knot] they would attach a wire customs seal in every rope knot on that load ,then you would be told when to leave and to stop only at B R S depts Preston for the first night for diesel and secure parking also there was a car ■■■■■■ running behind you however you never got to see it,
i think that was ■■■■■■■■ however no one ever knew or put it to the test and if we broke down we were to stay put at all times never leave the lorry ,if you had a flat tyre on the B R S you were not allowed to change a wheel, we did not have the equipment any how and wait for the police. So it would be Preston, then on to Banbury or if you could not make it you would go to WOLVERHAMPTON. Then on the next day to Banbury, where all the ropes would be checked over. by the local customs most towns had the own customs offices. Many people would not know that. so that would be the end of the trip for you ,if all went well you would wait for the next one, I had my share of then Distance work. As the years went by for me within the road haulage the custom officers were allays the same never said a word, unless they wanted to know something…
The fitting of a custom seal is still today the same as then,the seal=a soft circular piece of lead ,about the size of a new penny 2013 penny. not the old £.shilling and pence,penny .they would tie a piece of waxed string through the knot [like a figure of 8 knot] so it went around the whole rope knot then push the string through the rope[ the lay of the rope] so it was tamper proof ,get the two ends of the string together, push them through to small holes drilled through the lead penny, and put the lead into like a pair of pliers [made for the job] and squeeze together to flatten it so now it looks twice the size ,and it would also have a imprint of a crown on one side and a number on the other the number being of the office that did the sealing. it was up until the end of customs in the uk
r EEC export the same. out side of the EEC customs procedures would apply…i will elaborate later on about the ITALIANS CUSTOMS…
So life at the B R S was all right the money not the best, but we all seemed to manage . all drivers who lived in villages had to have a car if you did not you were basically zbked .petrol was cheapish you would be able to put 4 gallons of petrol in your car for £1 .beer was 1/9d a pint ■■■■ for 20 were about 2 shillings [2./00] wages were not brilliant £20 £30a week. Very, few men in manual labour jobs managed to afford mortgages, that was like a middle class thing, professional people only, in fact every one had their wages paid in cash . Bank accounts not heard of for workers .most people rented from the state or private and it was normal ,life was fairly good.
Mrs THATCHER WAS A LONG WAY OFF. she did the workers one good thing that was the right to buy Your council house it put 100% of workers who lived in council houses on the ladder to moving up to the better housing estates and owning your own property ,the government gave you a percentage discount for however long you had been living in a council property ,that reduced the amount you had to pay for the house you lived in, also you had to get a mortgage from a bank as most people did not have bank accounts that was the first step ,Banks then were rather how would you say middle class but they new there was a lot of “new” money going to be around. and their stuffiness seemed to mellow.
Also we had the new currency to contend with moving to decimal from the pound shilling and pence. Lots of horror stories flying around you would loose this and that ,however it did not really bother the average working man he had his weekly wage packet and got on with it. it is such a long time ago I do not remember now any mishaps to us. at least getting paid monthly to the bank had not yet arrived 1980s for that.
Now the 1970s were starting to change quite a few things for everybody ,some good and some not however the transport industry was at last starting to grow from the old drib and drab 1950/60 s
the government were starting to finish with the massive B R S industry that were 100% subsidised and let more work go to the private haulage companies ,they were always there but never in a big way so some of the work we were doing sometimes we would find a total stranger loading loads we used to do. so the union would get involved and try to stop the loading through the factory workers and it sometimes worked not in our area ,but in the big cities and docks where the union used to rule and that was the way it was especially in the car manufacturing facilities .[[that is a whole story on its own]
We just carried on doing our jobs not thinking then that the way we were working that was completely normal to us was in the throws of change.
I do thing my time at the BRS was about the best sort of learning anyone could get within the transport industry, all though I did have the occasionally ■■■■ up normally it was your won doing but at least you learned and hopefully it did not happen again. As time went on you got as they would let you do all type of loads and you trusted others to do their job correct ,wrong, big mistake .
The B R S had a contract to deliver to BROKE BOND tea and coffee company at ST ALBANS ,for us a local job ,the trailers were always loaded at the tea warehouse by one of our intrepid shunter’s roped and sheeted dropped in the yard and left, so you did put a lot of trust in them and you thought they would do a good job ,and they knew who would be taking the load the next day as the loads were always put on a notice board for all to see. So when you had finished doing whatever you would look for tomorrows loaded trailer hitch up ,check the ropes ,sheets. And all the other things and get home as quick as you could, next morning everything is fine start up the lorry, Pull out the yard, turn right no problem off I go.
It was a bit of country road ,well we were in the country ,and I was making for Towcester the main A5 that was one of the main junctions north or south or east west, busy place .The back road brought us out at near Silverstone, [the race track] that was the A43 then down to TOWCESTER the main traffic light there were horrendous at times with traffic, my route was sharp right turn at the lights through the small town and away .My turn came lights green and having to do a full 90degree turn your unit and trailer were at the maximum turn without jack-knifing into each other I was just pulling out to straighten up when I heard this crunching, wooden ship like sound ,i thought what the ■■■■ looked in my mirror thought I have crunched a car but all was well that side then I looked in to my offside mirror and all i could see going over the path and resting on a building a massive green bulge.
oh no. the whole side of the load had just decided to leave the trailer and rest in the sheets, the trailer was not clear of the traffic lights . I had made a perfect turn slowly ,however when a sharp turn is made the trailer will lean on the turntable .that tilts it to one side and that had happened, when a load is secure it will not or should not move this load ,in this instance something was not right with it and it slipped. In a big way ,no place to hide,
All the traffic was stopped all 4 ways at the traffic lights . My next move, gear stick placed out of gear ,hand brake on ,switch engine off… that done I run round to see if anyone is under the load thank god no one was walking on the pavement at the time.
