hiya,
you’re alright Norm you’ll do for me, so long as you tell things as they are does’nt matter a tinkers curse what other people think just ignore, just post as normal and we enjoy your stuff, i bet people looking at BRS, lighthouse and this thread think we are a load of crackerjacks, could you care less?? i certainly could’nt as i’ve said before they can always turn the page, just keep over to the left, sorry over to the right this is an over the water thread i just forgot myself for a minute could’ve caused an accident, you see old mate i would never make a sand wobbler make too many ■■■■-ups.
thanks harry long retired.
Harry,one thing that I could do and that is shoot. Ive had shotguns 12 bore and 4.10,also done quite a bit with a rifle,so I wouldn’t have much trouble hitting anything. Mind you the elastic in my catapult has gone a bit weak,so that will have to be replaced. But otherwise ready for action.Norm, I will watch the one side. 
Cheers Dave.
hiya,
Dave nice to have the shooting hobby and you sound good at it, i only got near the rifle range twice when in the army and was rubbish on both occasions but a rifle would’nt have been much use i doubt you could let it rip when on the move but the old two bob sten gun held quite a bit of ammo and you could fire it on the move because you was trained to operate it one handed if you was a driver, never had to the Gurkhas always did our ■■■■■■ duties and they certainly was better at the shooting than me by the way this was during emergency in Malaya in the 50s.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry,
Got to come clean with you. I used to shoot,but don’t anymore,had a bad road accident years ago,finished my lorry driving also the shooting. I still drive,but not lorries,thats why I passed both the CPC exams national and International,lorries are in my blood,my Dad was a driver all his working life,and Ive been involved since a kid. The modern stuff hasn’t the character of the older lorries and the way of life is totally different,its a rat race now as you know. I live by three big quarries and they are going like hell for the same rates as they were getting ten years ago,less in some cases, mad world.
I will put my soapbox by now,in case I need it as a look out post.
Cheers Dave.
Norman
Say what you like there is no F------g way you got out of Austria after 12 miday on a Saturday unless you were already in the Q and the Austrians always asked for the Tacho, even worse on sunday morning at about 3 am which border did you use if it was speilfeld the Q would have been long and the border was shut open only to fridge or fresh fruit ,Klagenfurt was also shut, so please drawn the line mate,stories make great reading for thoes Drivers who never drove into Europe or beyond ,there is no need to blow the stories up remember other drivers can dispute what you write ,and your last one is in cloud cukoo land,
Roger Haywood
hiya,
Dave, may still need to resurrect the shotgun, all is’nt quiet on the western front you can always shoot from the hip, sorry about the accident although a long way back it would have been a difficult time loving your job the way you did, going down the road of getting a CPC would’nt have worked for me i’m certainly not brainy enough or as i’ve been described thick as two short planks but i’ve always managed to earn a living as a driver and not being the sharpest knife in the box has never held me back, with the practical i could always get by, but facts and figures was’nt my forte at all,so get back on your soapbox Dave and keep a look out, hope you’ve got room to hide Keith’s Scania should we need to take cover and beat a hasty retreat.
thanks harry long retired.
hiya,
Dave do you think old Norm would ever forgive for having an ex from Northampton but to be fair it was an ex one night stand and i was a bachelor she was quite bonny really and not a truckers moll met her in a nightclub only trouble was had to leave her place early and quite a walk back to the digs to get ready for work, happy days.
thanks harry long retired.
Hi Harry & Norm,
Got the string with a bit of oil on the rag, will try and clean the bore up. I think it works on shotguns quite well,but not on people who have a McCains on their shoulder. But no worry this is a good and interesting thread,we can all read what we want into any thread on any forum,we all have a bit of intelligence, otherwise we would not be driving a PC. Its a pity that certain people can’t or will not accept that there are more important issues in this world to argue about, than a bit of harmless nostalgia. I beg your pardon to anyone who takes exception to my bad punctuation or lack of grammer ,but I am only an ex humble lorry driver with no aspiration to sound like someone who has done it all,or seen it all. Me just a poor country bumkin.
Cheers Dave. 
hiya,
Dave looks like old Norm is having one off, i think he would agree the piece of rag was called 4x2 because that was the size 4"x2" and the string with a weight at one end slightly smaller than the weapon bore this was called a pull through the 4x2 was attached to the string and that was it,if you already knew that military terminology why did’nt you stop me, my typing finger is worn out.
thanks harry long retired.
Sorry lads, I have been roped in to emulsion the bedroom, poor old Roger has a phobia, because I did something that he never did, going on about tacho’s, never used them, I was on log book, only had a card in to protect the needles, then he rambles on about Klagenfurt, I never mentioned that place, I wish I had my journals, I wrote for my firm, that had my daily report, for every day for the duration of the trip, all I know is I put my trust in this greek driver, and he said we would get through, and we did, it was not busy, only one truck going in to Austria, and two who pulled out in front of us, when we came in, they could have come from the same layby as us, because the police informed , it would cost me 200 schillings, if I moved, I asked if I could pay it at the border, he said no, you must stay in the layby. But meeting “dim”, he told me he had done it many times, and he done it again, with me in tow, right up his rear end, I think the border was Riegersdorf, also lads, I have just thought of something, it was 60/70 kms from the border, left at 2.00am, so I would be going through the customs at 3.00/30 am, this would be Sunday morning, I still have my old passports, if they have stamped it, it will have the date on it, and it will prove that I told the truth, I wonder if that geriatric ex- middle east trucker would have a comment, like I was f**king wrong!, no lads pigs might fly before that happens, I’m sure if its there, and I put it on the thread, he will say I have forged it, all because he never done it, so it could not happen, it is not possible, I had no fruit & veg, ha ha ha,I have to laugh, it is so pathetic, but I will dig it out lads, just to prove a point. Sandman Norman
sinbin31:
Norman
Say what you like there is no F------g way you got out of Austria after 12 miday on a Saturday unless you were already in the Q and the Austrians always asked for the Tacho, even worse on sunday morning at about 3 am which border did you use if it was speilfeld the Q would have been long and the border was shut open only to fridge or fresh fruit ,Klagenfurt was also shut, so please drawn the line mate,stories make great reading for thoes Drivers who never drove into Europe or beyond ,there is no need to blow the stories up remember other drivers can dispute what you write ,and your last one is in cloud cukoo land,Roger Haywood
In Norman’s defence, ( not that he really needs any ), I seem to remember that the Austrian weekend driving ban was from 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon until 10 p.m. on Sunday night. It may have been officially until midnight on Sunday but I can remember leaving Paulines at Golling Services near Salzburg on a couple of occasions at 10 p.m. and never getting stopped by the police or being asked questions at the border. There was a lorry ban inforce after 10 p.m. each night of the week while transiting Graz but there was a way around it.
I have no reason to disbelieve Normans story, drivers often did a runner when driving bans were on, we all took a chance and we all knew the consequences. If you remember Sinbin, we once did a runner in Czecho one Friday afternoon during the summer driving ban just before Bruno, oh yes, you told me, you can’t remember that either.
Regards Steve.
Hi Steve, we have all done the odd runner at different times, but the processing of complex paperwork, by two different countries in the early hours of the morning, when the ban has been in effect for half a day, is something that I have never been able to get away with.
Colonel:
Hi Steve, we have all done the odd runner at different times, but the processing of complex paperwork, by two different countries in the early hours of the morning, when the ban has been in effect for half a day, is something that I have never been able to get away with.
Hi John, I dont think that the Jugheads would of been particularly bothered about what happened in another country, unless they were about to be invaded, the border post still had to be manned. I don’t know if you had to pay overtime in those days but I am sure that some borders you crossed in the middle of the night you felt as though they couldn’t get you through fast enough so they could get back to what ever it was that they were doing.
Hi guys
Just want to say I’m enjoying the thread and all the tales of adventure, tall, short or otherwise! It makes for an interesting read and must have been an interesting and, obviously, challenging job.
A question for any of you, although The Colonel may be best placed to remember… Can any of you remember Mottrams from near Chippenham, Wiltshire? I don’t believe he was around too long although I do remember most of his wagons…all a dark, rich green and very smart. A 110, L reg (‘72 ?), a Maggie, M reg (’ 74 ?) and the first one I can remember in the immediate area and 2 transconti’s, P and S reg’s. Lastly, just before he finished he bought an AEC mandator with a sleeper pod nailed on the back. I know it was a '69 G reg but God knows what he used it for… I can also remember all the trucks and the family disappearing virtually overnight, never to be seen again… 
Regards Paul
Yes, I remember Don Mottram very well as I used to go to his house quite often.
He did the odd load for me but when I packed it all in at the end of 1979 I moved to Spain so lost contact with all my old buddies. I did have a guesbook entry on my website the other day from one of my old subbies, Jay Taylor-Webb, but he did not leave any email address for mew to contact him.
He lived on the old A420 which bypassed his village of Marshfield.
Colonel:
Yes, I remember Don Mottram very well as I used to go to his house quite often.He did the odd load for me but when I packed it all in at the end of 1979 I moved to Spain so lost contact with all my old buddies. I did have a guesbook entry on my website the other day from one of my old subbies, Jay Taylor-Webb, but he did not leave any email address for mew to contact him.
He lived on the old A420 which bypassed his village of Marshfield.
Thanks for that, Colonel. I had a feeling you would remember him. I’m a Marshfield lad myself and went to school with Don’s sons, Ian and Glen. The last I heard of them they had moved to Chippenham although that was umpteen years ago…!
Do you know why they packed up? He had a nice fleet and seemed to be doing ok, though I was a spotty teenager at the time… 
Tis a shame we all lose touch with people…
He did have a nice fleet, as well as nice farmhouse. I have no idea where he went or what he did with his trucks. As you said, he used to keep a nice fleet, well painted and always clean. I lived in Hallen at the time and my yard was on the Pucklechurch Trading Estate.
Hi Colonel
I was only curious, being nosy I suppose, about Don.
You being at Pucklechurch would explain why your lorries were familiar to me then, I think it was Bubbleman that posted the pics of them on another thread? Wouldn’t it be great if he had some pics of Don’s?
When I was a nipper I always wanted to do continental driving but never made it. I got into the quarries and got stuck! 
Hi Piston Broke, it was a complete shock to me to see those photos by Bubbleman, I can tell you. I would love to know how he got hold of them.
Hi Harry,
Hope you haven’t been thinking to much about Aintree and all those jumps. Would be very adventurous,but me being a country bumpkin would find it a bit daunting. I would think you will have to find an indoor arena for that sort of thing otherwise you will get a bit wet.
We called the gun cleaner a pull through this way as well,haven’t got much wish to shoot anything these days. Got softer as I got older,swerve if a rabbit runs out,they have a right to live,as long as they keep out of the garden,got a Cairn Terrier that would soon sort them anyway.
Cheers Dave.