A lot of what he says is true, particularly about Indian/Middle Eastern “drivers”.
via John Murphy, 1962 Scammell Highwayman
1 Like
It isn’t too clear, but the black straps are first seen when the side is opening as the truck rolls in.
The timber is loaded, the side is shut down then lifted a little. The driver then reaches in to detach the straps from the side and attach them to the rave.
Standing between raised side and bed seems a bit!!
Same with dangler. She reaches up to slightly open sides and takes strap to hook onto rave.
The other side of the trailer has black cylinders under the rave. I’d guess they are the rolls for the straps and would tensioned by power, not by mere old fashioned sweaty drivers.
Abd then off to the office to wait 2 hours for the paperwork..
Oily, I think most of us are approaching the age where our greatest asset in the New Year would be good health. 
Have a happy and safe Christmas, everyone.
1 Like
Wow 2 days is a joke.I thought our training and test were easy but that’s bonkers.I have been driving artics nearly 40 years and i think it would be like starting over again jumping in a roadtrain.I would certainly want a damn sight more than 2 days.When we had the so called driver shortage here panic struck in.A few years earlier there was a rethink of the catogaries and class of licence you needed.Before this rethink it was a rigid 2 axle was class 3 a rigid 3 or 4 axle was class 2 and artics class 1.Just to complicate it you could at the time drive a 4 wheeler rigid with a drawbar trailer on a class 3.Then the rethink was rigids class 2 artics and drawbars class 1. Then another change , someone may correct me here if i’m wrong but the people in suits decided that you could no longer go straight from a car to class 1 oh no too dangerous.You had to take your class 2 first and a theory test all in the name of H&S. It was costing a fortune. The drivers cpc was here so there was a shortage of drivers coming into the industry and loads of drivers were leaving due to (in my opinion) the ridiculous cpc.Then when the penny finally dropped they wouldn’t discard the cpc so instead they went back to where we started and you could go from a car to an artic class 1 licence in one test. So H&S wasn’t the reason for the initial change.I’ve heard but again someone more in the know and more qualified could explain that you can now take your test in an automatic and drive a manual but you would be hard pressed to find a manual now , and the other thing i heard but can’t confirm is that they stopped the reversing on test so basically you could pass your test in the morning in an auto and in the afternoon set of with a Daf 16 speed manual with no idea how to reverse. Madness
That was the most baffling thing at the time. IMO it was a damn sight harder to drive a wagon and drag than an artic. And they were restricted to 40mph as well - bizarre.
The getting of a licence has never really been hard. That wasn’t a problem when tranport men were operating transport companies. Those men wouldn’t let just anyone out in a truck, you had to prove your abilities and responsibility, starting on small trucks and incrementally working your way up.
Now that accountants and other chair polishers operate the big companies, all that matters is that the seat is filled.
The test has now been privatised and conducted by the same organisation that teaches. It’s not hard to work out that the $2,000 for lessons and a pass go hand in hand. Some of the major companies have trained instructor/assessors.
The aerial view of a truck turning around at the entrance to Sydney Harbour Tunnel was an Indian. To his credit, he realised the truck was too high, so stopped. The emergency response and police attended to help him out of the predicament. The response fellows were going to open a gate so he could do a U-turn. That required him reversing a short distance and the police stopping traffic in both directions. He couldn’t reverse the B-double. It was then decided that he would have to split the trailers, to reverse them singley. He had no idea how to uncouple or couple. Not seen in the video is the difficulty he had reversing one trailer.
The Finnemores double, without wheels, at the beginning of the vid, was another sub-continental. That was on the Newell, he literally drove the wheels off it. He probably hit something, turning left, but whatever the cause, he kept driving until ther were no tyres or rims left. He then said there was nowhere safe to stop. You wouldn’t have to drive more than half a kilometre to find somewhere to get off.
Look for “Shane has tattoos” on YouTube, he has a few examples of why Indian drivers have such a bad reputation.
Well what you say at the start of your post mirrors what happened here with transport men running the show.I just missed out but my brother and cousin were both drivers mates and both learnt the ropes pardon the pun on waggon and drag flats being shown how to load wool rope and sheet and how to drive those old ERFs and Mandators.When they moved on they knew how to drive load and rope and sheet.That’s how it was.You started at the bottom and worked your way up. We have drivers now demanding new motors and trailers and they get them.
Yep and not appreciating them but taking them for granted.
I think I tramped for about 2 year before I got a sleeper cab ffs….I was like a dog with 2 wotsits. 
Something to chew over, Volvo 500hp 11mpg.
AEC Mk3 Mandator as driven by ..
3 Likes
Fantastic bit of film! As an aside, it does give me some impression of what life might have been like for Gordon Pierce driving his Astran AEC Mk5 R6 over Tahir heading for Tehran! Thank you parkroyal!
1 Like
2 whole days? 
At the end of 1963 I was 21 and passed my car driving test, those 2 things were all I needed and I left the test station just before lunch and at 3 pm was behind the wheel of an HGV. It took me some time to work up to abnormal loads but I could have done, that day, if someone had wanted me to. 
My first artic came not long after when the boss told me at knock off time on Friday that I was on an artic from Monday. I took it home and had my 2 day training with me as trainer over that weekend. 
1963! I wouldn’t’ve been able to reach the pedals, then. 
I think they are brothers from Nottingham area who rebuilt and own that.A replica of the one their dad drove. They restored a V8 Mandator and put a 9 speed Fuller in it.Graham Edge mentioned another V8 Mandator that he viewed but was sworn to secracy on who restored it until it was unveiled but he did say it was the best he’d ever seen.Steve Mayle one of the brothers hinted it was their work. Check out the videos of the Mandators they restored
1 Like
Great video! Gear shifting looks similar to what it was with 1960s Berliets, but I can see oonly one stick; only 5 or 6 speeds? Strangely, the engine, rather lively, looks as if it was fitted on the passenger side…
They’ve done some terrific restoration work on older wagons by all accounts, see what they did with the ‘Mickey Mouse’ Foden (I may be a junior here but I get it)
Their youtube channel is a bit of a riot.
Not at all. The work they do and the garage language is a terrific match.
1 Like