Hi Jakey’
As you saw on the tanker thread this is my daily horse. Yes we do have regular nights-out, although personally since I became Depot Supervisor I hardly do any at all, 1 cos I not bothered about them now, spent years away so much that I quite happy to go home at night now, 2 cos it works better for me to be in the yard in the morning & evening to deal with any queries/problems, I got 8 day drivers & 2 night men. We run out of Air Products @ Didcot, carrying Liquid Nitrogen/Oxygen, I will post pictures of a couple of our other wagons cos they not all DAF’S, also got some pictures of my old Seddon Atkinson cos I worked for Air Products for 8 yrs, so I will post them in case anyone interested.
Regards
This is our only Merc’, not loved by most of the blokes, find the cabs a bit like a Tardis in reverse, stand next to it & it looks big, get in it & you wonder where the space has gone, too much intrusion by the middle of the cab bits, & the roof too low, should have brought the raised roof cab particularly cos she’s on nights out all week, Ian has changed things on/in it & got it the way he likes it, & she does pull well which is handy cos she does 2 runs a week covering Wiltshire, Bristol etc, Somerset, Dorset, Devon & Cornwall, with anything from 12-15 drops on each run, so she earns her keep!
MERC looks a nice tidy wagon , we run a Atego with twin bunks and is fine for occasional night away , the porters tend to sleep in the back of the wagon in the summer , I drive a six ton Sprinter now with a fold down bed in the luton of the truck which suites me fine , I got night heaters in all the vans even on a 3.5 ton sprinter with no sleeper , I cant stand the wagons ticking over with the heaters on .
No mate I wouldn’t be too chuffed at them ticking over either if I was paying for the fuel!!! We switching from DAF to Scania now on anything over 17 ton, everything under 17 ton will be Mercedes, the DAFs have been really good wagons, the only real problems have been with the rear-steer axles which we have caused us several knightmares, & it is a vital bit of kit with some of our access problems, you know all about access headaches on the removals, I certainly remember some very long carries when I was on Lukers, certainly with my wagon-drag, frequently having to drop the trailer elsewhere cos I couldn’t get it anywhere near the house! This is one of our new Scania’s, we got 2, they are double-shifted night/day so they do have a busy life, so far they have been very well behaved & the drivers like them so we’ll see how they go!
This is me tipping at Sims Metals in Avonmouth Docks yesterday, the ships dock along the edge & are loaded with scrap from an overhead crane, how much those ships must weigh when fully loaded with scrap!!!
Keep the pictures coming Chris , wish I could post pictures , 
hey chris if ever your in Headington in the truck call in the yard , 76a windmill rd . let me know by pm first though . 
The front spoiler looks close to the ground ■■? 
( on the merc ) ,
Ha ha! Tell Jez about it, thats about the 5th spoiler he’s had on her since she was new! Thanks for the invite mate, I will do that some time, be nice to meet you.
Sorry mate, Me not reading it properly, thought you meant my mates DAF. Yes Ian does have to be carefull with the Merc, but he is 1 of those very meticulous drivers, the slightest chance of damaging & he stops & gets out & has a look! All his tools spanners/fittings etc are kept in nice neat rows, in the cab there is a place for everything & everything in its place! A very professional bloke!
Sounds like you got some great drivers on your team (Den would be proud of you mate) , his Roadtrain was a great truck .
I seam to remember a lot of BL wagons had some good drivers .Whats the guy who lives down Saxon way northway ? he kept his truck nice , he works with Mick Freeman over at the Bus museum in l/hanbrough.
Saxon Way, Northway? I can’t think who that was mate, I not been to the Bus Museum for a while, I’II have to take a trip over & see whose there now. I want to ask Mick what happened to the old GUY 6 wheeler wrecker they had there, Mick & I brought it back from Leyland Trucks, Lancs. It was in Leyland blue/white when we collected it, but the Museum painted it in the old Oxford Bus Company colours & it looked really smart, do you remember it?
Regards Chris
Ron Coles from Didcot, the Renault Turbo-Liner was Squibby’s 2nd wagon as an Owner Driver, she was a cracker & never gave him a seconds trouble!
This was Squibbs 1st wagon as an O/D, he bought her off Bushells & she was a knightmare, he ran her for about a year & barely a week went by that she didn’t have sommat go wrong!
See how clean the white tilt is, although whether an employed driver or running his own show, Squibbs wagons were always clean, when he bought this tilt it was like most white tilts, a bit grubby! Squib got about 50 boxes of brillo pads, a ladder & water 1 weekend & spent all day Sat?Sun scrubbing it by hand to get it gleaming!
Abingdon Transport International, anyone remember them?