robroy:
If nobody believes this post I won’t blame you but on my life it IS true
A guy who worked for me in the 80s used to work for Robsons of Carlisle in the early 70s on an old split windscreen type Foden. This guy liked a pint or two to say the least and his favourite tale was telling me how he would spend all day Sunday in the pub and set off about 10 at night for London taking his 13 yr old lad with him.
He drove to the motorway where the lad would sit on his knee steer the motor down the M6, and when he needed to change gear would knock his dad on the leg to wake him, this happened numerous times and the lad grew up to be a driver himself. …I kid you not
I used to work with a bloke who told Me of when He was driving Coaches, one night He took a charter out and ended up on a pub crawl. On late runs He would park his Coach in a bus stop opposite his house rather than return to the yard. Next morning still rather hung over from the night before, he looked out off his bedroom window and the coach was gone, big panic thought it been stolen. He was chasing round and flew out off his house side door straight into the side off his coach. It took half an hour to get it out, sober, but he’d parked in there ■■■■■■ without a scratch or dent
Not quite the same but when I first passed my test and was on muck away and got 2 tickets for every load that went on the lorry and the loads very rarely got as far as a tip
Log book,then the ‘dot to dot’ book before the Tacho, Digital tachos and trackers…my oh my how things have changed for us.
Never used the wire over here, but to grab an hours ‘rest’ between parking areas on the way down to Italy was the norm. Then a day on the wire while collecting parts of your reload before hitting the groupage warehouse, getting your export paperwork in the last hour of the evening before a ten hour shift homeward and into your bunk at Chalons-sur-Saone
Running bent was a way of life, and on %age a good way to enhance your wage, at one point I drove F10 and F12, you could lift the tray from the engine hump, and pull wire from the block connecters to stop the speed and distance traces, a Renault I drove just needed the key turned back to do the same. Life seemed a lot simpler and work mates a lot less whingey
It is annoying sometimes on the digi’s, just this afternoon I was 45mins from a drop but only 30mins drive left on a 4.5hr but if i then took another 30min break to wipe the slate clean i would not make it before the customer closed in 1hr. So i drove it back to the yard for someone to deliver tomorrow.
The drop is only 45min from our yard so its not the end of the world but it meant i couldn’t get the load off and go somewhere else for a reload for Monday.
robroy:
1995ish, Had 21 fuse out of a 143 Scania booking break when driving. Had my 9yr old daughter ‘educated’ how and which one to take out…yeh I know
A copper on the East Lancs at Haydock followed me, my little girl put fuse back in and jumped on top bunk.
When he looked at my card he asked if fuse was out I answered no, he checked it looked surprised, pulled out a screwdriver and started removing fuse panel would you believe, looking for a switch. He kept me there for about half hour checking all the usual places ( obviously he knew the score and tricks)
He eventually admitted defeat and told me he would be reporting it and had to be checked out by the then Ministry.in next few days.
He never saw my little girl so he never cottoned on
Speaking of 143 Scanias,
It was one of your lot that showed me how to put the wire into the the little block of 3 wires under the passenger dash and then earth it out with a little crocodile on the bottom of the handbrake mechanism so it recorded rest when you were driving,
come to think of it all you Jocks are corrupt
Think it were the late eighties or the early nineties when running to Bailystock and beyond I’d get to Frankfurt De Oder flick the switch, no tacho or owt until I got back then flick it back on again, no speed limiter either. Drive when you feel like it and stop when you don’t !
robroy:
1995ish, Had 21 fuse out of a 143 Scania booking break when driving. Had my 9yr old daughter ‘educated’ how and which one to take out…yeh I know
A copper on the East Lancs at Haydock followed me, my little girl put fuse back in and jumped on top bunk.
When he looked at my card he asked if fuse was out I answered no, he checked it looked surprised, pulled out a screwdriver and started removing fuse panel would you believe, looking for a switch. He kept me there for about half hour checking all the usual places ( obviously he knew the score and tricks)
He eventually admitted defeat and told me he would be reporting it and had to be checked out by the then Ministry.in next few days.
He never saw my little girl so he never cottoned on
Speaking of 143 Scanias,
It was one of your lot that showed me how to put the wire into the the little block of 3 wires under the passenger dash and then earth it out with a little crocodile on the bottom of the handbrake mechanism so it recorded rest when you were driving,
come to think of it all you Jocks are corrupt
Edit: were corrupt
Yeh ok, hold my hands up to corrupt, but Jock?..no
Its funny to read the media headlines of a driver that went to court for tacho offences, they will get a quote from the Police about the case which is always the same old cobblers of :
“We take the safety of road users very seriously, a tired driver is a menace on the road and the amount of damage that a Lgv can cause can be fatal, we agre with the Judges decision to jail Boristanivockoff Monravistinople for twenty years for driving for two minutes over a limit of what is permitted by EU law .”
In the days of fuses and wires, nobody got killed, nobody fell asleep at the wheel.
It was done for their benefit to meet your mates or a decent place to eat.
The Dutch had hidden switches in coffee percolators that would block their vision, the
ones with filter paper.
If you spent all day and night loading in a packing house, the agent would book the ferry on the time you left, but all day , you were driving and working on deliveries or collections, so should book off to rest at night.
If you did it legally, complaints would be what took you so long, when such a driver or rival firm got there quicker.
On the old roads in the 90,s, it would take four days to get from Dieppe to Lisbon, arriving late at night on the third day to unload on the morning of the fourth day.
It was normal for the rest of the drivers to do the trip in a day and a half, non stop, only stopping for the loo or a microwave sleep of ten minutes.
It would take two days to do groupage collections in the North of Porto, some factories would literally hand make the goods while you wait, then pack it and load it.Textile and shoe factories had workers that were under 16 years old.
Friday nights were hell.
Finish off the load at depots in Porto, cab rocking all night, while they loaded it.
Or move the truck or night, off the bay, on to another bay, move to the yard for an awkward side load, back on the bay.
No sleep all night , but booked on Mondays ferry, so the next day drive tired to reach Burgos or Victoria.
kr79:
Not quite the same but when I first passed my test and was on muck away and got 2 tickets for every load that went on the lorry and the loads very rarely got as far as a tip
hiya we had ajob covering for the rail in 1973…Stoke to Alloa …and back…the job was tipping work and
trailers was loaded…lots of miles a day with aS39 foden…60 mph all day empty problem was the A74 was 40 mph
from Iron bridge to lesmahagow. plenty of money on that job…
I find this thread funny because we know some firms liked it and there was those that didn’t but really they did. And judging by views to how many have posted says it all.i wonder did I really takeover from a driver who got out at Dover, did the wind really blow a tacho out of the window or were the gendarme’s at St omer really looking for the prettiest truck lmfao .bet a lot of people have their fingers hovering over keypads itching to have a comment but its to much taboo for them during 70s 80s and upto late 90s bet more did it than they let on.
Hi Janos. Funny you should mention Robbo. For a while now, I’ve been thinking about starting a thread entitled ’ figures of authority ’ and the first one on the list would have been Robbo. Don’t know if you’ve read ’ Juggernaut ’ by Robert Hutchison, but I was recently reminded of him when reading chapter four of the book when Whittle’s drivers encountered this [zb] on Knutsford services. I thought to myself, this could only be Robbo. This guy was one fundamental orifice, and was world famous in the Wigan area in the eighties. Forget running bent, you could be straight as the proverbial, but if this [zb]pig pulled you, you were done. If he couldn’t find anything wrong, he’d keep you there until he did. Failing that, he’d make something up. Rumour had it that his wife had legged it with a wagon driver and he’d made it his lifetime’s quest to wreak vengeance on the trucking fraternity. He did a pretty good job as well. He’ll be retired by now obviously. For all I know, he may even be under the sod. I don’t normally care to be impolite or disrespectful to anyone, but for Robbo, I’m prepared to make an exception. Rest in pieces you [zb] . Eddie.
would you believe, looking for a switch. He kept me there for about half hour checking all the usual places ( obviously he knew the score and tricks)