Drift:
My first night out was not exactly sleeping in a wagon more like under the sod, a Bedford MK, see what I mean
My first proper night actually in a wagon was on the A49 in a layby near Colamendy, loved it as ill prepared as I was
just go.s to show what we had to put up with at our place we get new drivers who are not happy becuse the get actros with fites micro wave frige coffe maker all becuse they dont get the meger space cab
largebloke1969:
1987 in a bedford tl 7.5 ton driffield cattle market , sleeping on the parcel shelf curtains tucked in the trim above the doors round the cab gas stove as a nite heater !
and ice on the inside of windwos had that on a scammal on a cold morn 
Mine was 1991 (21 years old), in a day cab leyland 18t freighter, shockingly I had a class 1 licence but was cutting my teeth on a rigid (so to speak).
Anyway cushion across gear knob section and brown paper for curtains, frooze my ■■■■ off and woke up in the middle of the night to rev engine up for some temporary warmth but loved it, realised then that trucking was for me and soon after received the first sleeper cab rigid from new which although still a rigid was my trusty steed for 3 years. Still remember her reg ‘K29 THA’, those where the days.
Makes me laugh when you guys talk about the 70s and 80s like the olden days. My first night out was back in about 1963. I went out for a few days in a 12 tonner with an older driver. We had deliveries around Bristol and then South Wales. We got the Bristol ones done and then headed up to Gloucester (Go the long way via Gloucester and claim the toll) and stayed the night in a terrible doss house near the old bridge. I think it cost about five bob for B&B and one and six for a chip supper. We were paid ten bob for a night out and my mentor reckoned to make a profit on that.
Santa:
(Go the long way via Gloucester and claim the toll)
Lol, I used to do that at Dartford, when we used to do Sheerness in the 80’s, very rarely used the Dartford Tunnel, but as the traffic wasn’t too bad, I used to run up the A2 & over the Ferry or the Blackwall Tunnel, still claimed the Tunnel Toll though.
Did any one else do the diesel receipt trick- buy £4 worth of diesel & get a written receipt, but have a little forgery kit in your cab (black pen, blue pen & a pencil) change the £4 to £14 & Voila’ a quick tenna for doing nothing.
I know it was criminal, but then again so we’re the wages my Dad used to pay me (& he taught me the trick by changing his own receipts at the kitchen table when I was a kid)
Santa:
Makes me laugh when you guys talk about the 70s and 80s like the olden days. My first night out was back in about 1963. I went out for a few days in a 12 tonner with an older driver. We had deliveries around Bristol and then South Wales. We got the Bristol ones done and then headed up to Gloucester (Go the long way via Gloucester and claim the toll) and stayed the night in a terrible doss house near the old bridge. I think it cost about five bob for B&B and one and six for a chip supper. We were paid ten bob for a night out and my mentor reckoned to make a profit on that.
Across the road to the “Dirty Duck” for a few beers and then back to the so called B&B, that had more condensation dripping inside than rain outside.
Very little sleep,if any by the time the Welshmen had finished ■■■■■■■ and belching
wirksworth rod:
1981 21 years old first driving job wh phillips me and my mate sam both had sedi atkis loaded burnt lime out off hill head for llanwern steel works then back loadeds scrap for smethick sams dad and hi mate on same job told us to get back to worcester lorry park got there bout 5 pm asked were the drivers pub was soon found it the blue dolfin sams dad said were you two bin get lost did you who remembers cabs with no curtains you had to put up curtan wire with some cut down old curtain then sleep across the cab beter still on a frosty morn get out and put the cold start button in good old days eh all the best lads …rod
that brings back many happy memories , try and park near the front so you weren’t blocked in , up to the dolphin and being careful as the plod liked to bag the early starters . the vicar , ■■■■■■ and coffee mug on the cb , you could hear them for miles . there was another pub , the kings head i think that did good food and a nightclub round the corner from it . my gaffer once tried to ban me from there on the grounds that i’d get more work done if i parked somewhere else . happy times , dave
wirksworth rod:
largebloke1969:
1987 in a bedford tl 7.5 ton driffield cattle market , sleeping on the parcel shelf curtains tucked in the trim above the doors round the cab gas stove as a nite heater !
oh yes ! the joys of scraping that off before you leave 
Santa:
Makes me laugh when you guys talk about the 70s and 80s like the olden days.
I feel the same reading about lads who started their nights out in the 1990’s. You were ten years ahead of me, and I am 20 years ahead of them… its all relative really 
1991 in a french hire four wheeler somwhere in france no bunk slept wedged across the seats somehow half way between campsites
first uk nightout in an erf day cab delivering seed to farms in yorkshire ran out of time ( green as grass )
one of the first units i had with a bunk was a daf 2800 thin matress thin curtains why o why did i ever put up with it…the excitement and glamour i supose… lol
1987 in some old ERF at Lesmahagow, picked up unit and trailer from Avonmouth over to Thorn Lighting in Merthyr got loaded for a Paisley tip early Tuesday morning. I loved it.
Santa:
Makes me laugh when you guys talk about the 70s and 80s like the olden days. My first night out was back in about 1963. I went out for a few days in a 12 tonner with an older driver. We had deliveries around Bristol and then South Wales. We got the Bristol ones done and then headed up to Gloucester (Go the long way via Gloucester and claim the toll) and stayed the night in a terrible doss house near the old bridge. I think it cost about five bob for B&B and one and six for a chip supper. We were paid ten bob for a night out and my mentor reckoned to make a profit on that.
I was four or five years behind you, but loved going out with my old dad. I used to watch him like a hawk and soon knew what to do. In my early days you got a quid for a night out, dodgy or otherwise. Used to find the engine cover on the ergo cab leylands and aec’s alright until you slipped down with yer arse up against the windscreen. I can still look back and say they were happy days.
First night in a truck was sometime in 1978 at scratchwood services, getting woken up because dad hadn’t paid the £2 parking fee. Scania 111, reg SNO612R. loved it, and spent many a night out with dad from then on.
I spent my first night out in 1986 picking the brains of a bloke I was parked up with. He showed me that I’d been driving all day with my tacho card in back to front 
He was from Pattersons of Batley with a tanker and his name was Colin and I can’t remember where it was.
It was however a DAF 3300 reg D809 XGY
Anyone remember Mrs Ramsden’s in Leeds - right in the middle of the red light district. “Cabbage or peas?”
Nighting out in a day cab, I can’t think of anything worse 
Get the cab warm, switch the engine off and how quick did it get cold again? And how cold?
First time, in a nice recessed layby in Teeside - Leyland Boxer day cab , I was going to Monsanto at Seal Sands. Listening to Radio Luxembourg when they announced Elvis Presley had died - probably why I remember it!
As a mate in 1969 or1970 I think it was called Briggs? in Drighlingtion. AEC Mercury. As a driver 1974 in the same? lorry park in Swansea as already mentioned. This one was rough ground in the middle of a road junction with the digs only a few yards away. Oystermouth rd?? or something like that rings a bell. Parked up with the sheets under the rear wheels . Atkinson 4 wheeler.
passed my test in livingston at 10-30 a.m. back to the yard,ran empty and loaded glasgow for 5 drops south coast.drove through the night,did the 5 drops,no backload,so parked up early evening,grubbed up,got bladdered,then cabbed it in my big j4 with the sheets over the cab to keep the ice off the glass as there was no heater.bit of board oto the hump,and legs danglingin the drivers pit…woke up in the morning frozen to death,emptied my guts under the trailer taliban style in the snow.couldnt find the big lucas key thing to start the truck,the found it 5 mins later about 10 feet away from the cab at the end of a pile of projectile vomit(i remembered at that point waking up and spewing out the window in the middle of the night).changed batteries over as it had no alternator and wouldnt start(the pit had 3 spares to last me the week).turned the heater up ful blast/the sigle burner wee caming gaz stove about the size of a tin of beans to sit for 5 mins at the back of my knees when driving.no power steering ,5 gears and a massive gardner 180 to cruise along with…stop in the middle of the night at roadworks to nick the drums of red diesel to get you home again,change your own blowouts with a bottle jack and a scaffolding pole,3 logbooks,1 for days,1 for nights,and for when i couldnt fiddle the other 2 enough…oooohhhhh the joys.
dieseldog999:
passed my test in livingston at 10-30 a.m. back to the yard,ran empty and loaded glasgow for 5 drops south coast.drove through the night,did the 5 drops,no backload,so parked up early evening,grubbed up,got bladdered,then cabbed it in my big j4 with the sheets over the cab to keep the ice off the glass as there was no heater.bit of board oto the hump,and legs danglingin the drivers pit…woke up in the morning frozen to death,emptied my guts under the trailer taliban style in the snow.couldnt find the big lucas key thing to start the truck,the found it 5 mins later about 10 feet away from the cab at the end of a pile of projectile vomit(i remembered at that point waking up and spewing out the window in the middle of the night).changed batteries over as it had no alternator and wouldnt start(the pit had 3 spares to last me the week).turned the heater up ful blast/the sigle burner wee caming gaz stove about the size of a tin of beans to sit for 5 mins at the back of my knees when driving.no power steering ,5 gears and a massive gardner 180 to cruise along with…stop in the middle of the night at roadworks to nick the drums of red diesel to get you home again,change your own blowouts with a bottle jack and a scaffolding pole,3 logbooks,1 for days,1 for nights,and for when i couldnt fiddle the other 2 enough…oooohhhhh the joys.
now thats a real trucker dieseldog you are a hero
Jan 2015, I’d done my first drop at Asda Belvedere, and it took me about a dozen attempts to get it between the bananas, then probably another 10 to get it squarish on the bay. Next drop wasn’t booked until the following morning so in my infinite wisdom I decided to kip down at Thurrock services, hmmmmm what a deserted and easy to park at place that is at about 9pm on a Friday night. Took me well over 15 mins to get it in, and bugger me, before I’d had time to fill in my timesheet, both the swinebags either side of me had sodded off.