Never did big blocks of stone, but lots of crazy paving and dressed walling etc. That was normally roughly steel banded onto pallets. Preferably a brick net but if not an old sheet. Bit of rope and away you go.
Jeez what a choice to take down the road.
Itâs like being on a dating website and being offered Janet Street Porter, or Anne Widdecombe with Barbara Cartland sat in the middleâŚwhen really you want Laura Hamilton.
I did timber out of Tilbury once, but not round, bundles. This was before the strap era and we werenât supplied with chains and it was also before I had obtained my own. There used to be a cafe just outside Tilbury with the traditional moonscape parking and, even though I had double dollied and put in lots of extra, the load shifted a bit. I tightened down again all round and cautiously headed towards the smoke, but, on the N. Circular it was getting dangerous so I pulled into a little shopping area and walked across the road to a Pickfordâs depot. They kindly came out with a giant fork truck and pushed it all back nicely. Double double dollied all round again and made it to somewere in the north without further incident. I donât think Pickfordâs ever sent a bill.
We did a lot of sawn timber bundles out of Tilbury. Mostly with rope and sheets, but with straps and tautliners later on. Chains if we could snaffle a few and knew we were going for timber.
Often short of dunnage too. Had to beg borrow or steal if there wasnât enough on the trailer leg supports. We did a lot for SeaBoard directly, and for DJV who were at Noakesâs Cafe near Rainham?
A different world. Fun looking back through rosy specs maybe, but in truth I wouldnât want to go back to it.
Yes indeed, I think I am safe from prosecution now but we all obtained our chains and stretchers from various yardmen in the Transport Developement Group when I was on Midlands Storage. I am surprised I havenât still got them, used to guard them with my life. No doubt nicked by some felon over the years. 
More recently I have done a lot of English OakâŚfrom France. All for the same client in the UK and sold as English oak. It is apparently a reference to the type of oak it is, not the area it is grown in.
That was often 3 or maybe 4 different collections of sawn wood. All different lengths, widths, etc maybe 30 odd bundles and stacks. A right dogâs dinner to load and strap. It would take 12 to 16 straps to secure that lot.
One of those âbash your head against a brick wall jobsâ. A real pain, but a good feeling when you got it done and dusted.
In the early 80âs when I had 4 trucks on traction on SCAC we regular loads of steel bar or coil from around Sheffield, we needed dunnage and although RH&D had an account at a reclamation yard it took valuable time and effort to go and collect so I used to go to a sawmill at Durley and buy a load of offcuts 3x3 mostly and stored them under the diesel tank in our yard so when filling up we could collect enough for the load we were picking up plus we got ÂŁ5 for each lot we used, saved a lot of time that did.
Well i was minding my own business this morning driving up the M1 towards Garforth about 60 mph in my car when a Peterbilt came flying past me.It certainly woke me up
! UK reg?
Yeah there must be a show on up north east
One of the truck magazines ran a long-distance diary on one of her aid runs back in the day. She was slammed by the drivers for her attitude and the shoddy way she treated them.
Why what did she say or do?
She does come across as a bit middle class snobby type, I never liked her on the radio tbh.
Blondes in trucks 
âŚ
I still aint forgiven Kim Wilde a while ago when she was looking for a driver to accompany her from⌠was it Norway to London in a truck carrying a Christmas tree.
She never asked ME ffs.
A trip off in a truck with Kim Wilde?
That had my name written all over it.
Canât remember: this was at least 30 years ago! Might have been forty!
Thatâd be Robroy gone wild over Kim. 
As they say, the bunk only has to be one bum wide and two high. 
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The Alan Sammâs Commer cattle truck was one that my dad drove back in the 60âs, he actually changed his fleet from Traders to Commerâs during that period and was one of the first employers to fit radioâs into his lorries. The only rule the drivers had was that they had to switch the radio off for the last mil back to the yard to listen for any strange noises, rather difficult when driving a TS3 I think
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yes indeed! Why they ever put them Duple-bodied âluxuryâ coaches, I could never fathom. We should have been issued with ear-defenders at the door!