had some sad news today .was told that a fellow truck driver that i had known for about 6years had a heart attack whilst he was at the same customer as i go to in fife.he worked for a company in preston who pick up scrape cable etc.he used to drive an old foden roll on/off skip.it had red and white stripes on the cab.bob was 56 years old and you could not have met a nicer man. he always had a smile and a good story to tell you. he will be a sad loss to his company and to all his friends that he made during his 17 years travelling north of the border.god rest your soul bob a gentleman through and through. 
Yet another fallen comrad, thoughts with his family at this time!
I get very down reading about these things on the site, puts things into perspective all the same…
May God rest his soul!
Kev
I’m sure Bob will be truckin’ the highways of heaven…god rest his soul.
Prayers to his Family
Shaun & Laura
I remember a story written quite a few years ago about a wagon driver who died at quite a young age, (might have been in T&D mag) & for some reason I’ve always remembered a poem that was written.
May the roping down be easy
May your road be safe and dry
May your luck be good and plenty
For that drive across the sky
Sympathies to the family …
marko’c:
I remember a story written quite a few years ago about a wagon driver who died at quite a young age, (might have been in T&D mag) & for some reason I’ve always remembered a poem that was written.May the roping down be easy
May your road be safe and dry
May your luck be good and plenty
For that drive across the skySympathies to the family …
beautiful marko’c
Bully
At a guess,due to his age,he was probably one of the old school as well,and I can imagine a good story or two would be told if you were in his company.
Thoughts and prayers to his family also. 
Ken.
There was a bloke at dad’s place (Hargrave International) a few years back who pulled in for his break. He lifted the steering wheel up and tipped his seat back to have 40 winks. But the poor old boy had a heart attack in his sleep. He died in the seat of his truck. The office went to ring him up when they found out he had been there a few hours and missed hid booking in time. They rang the phone and no reply. They only found out he was dead when one of the mechanics went out to see what was wrong. R.I.P
marko’c:
I remember a story written quite a few years ago about a wagon driver who died at quite a young age, (might have been in T&D mag) & for some reason I’ve always remembered a poem that was written.May the roping down be easy
May your road be safe and dry
May your luck be good and plenty
For that drive across the skySympathies to the family …
nice one marko
Shaggy:
The office went to ring him up when they found out he had been there a few hours and missed hid booking in time. They rang the phone and no reply. They only found out he was dead when one of the mechanics went out to see what was wrong. R.I.P
Going by previous experience of a TM now employed at Hargrave they probably thought he was doing something else…As always!!!
Sounds like a real nice bloke,sad news.
A heart attack is something that can strike anyone at any age, and driving a truck can produce high levels of stress. Couple this to the sometimes remote locations you can find yourself in means no immidiate help can be sought.
Some good advice for self help in this situation was published in a letter to the March edition of Trucking Mag, I quote:
All of a sudden you feel severe pains in the chest-upper arm-neck area.
This is the start of your heart attack, and without help the person whose heart stops beating properly and begins to feel faint has about 10 seconds left before they lose consciousness.
**However victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigourously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough and the cough should be deep and prolonged as if trying to produce sputum from deep inside the chest.**A cough should be repeated about every two seconds without letup until help arrives, or until the heart feels to be beating normally again. Then it may be helpful to take an asprin.
The deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs, and the coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain the normal rythm.
This infomation was attributted to the Rochester General Hospital, and should help anyone who suffers an attack to survive and get to hospital.
You know guys…its a lonely job we do. We go out at the start of our week leaving our family behind us trusting that come the end of another long hard rule ridden week we shall be reunited again for a short time with them.
I often wonder what breed of person we are. Its such a shame that we cant get the public to understand that we all need each other and that transport has been with us for a long time and is here to stay. I have at times over heard a trucker call home from over his dinner plate at a truck stop and then the next day you hear of or are stuck in an accident some place and find out that a trucker lost his life, who was he? did I know him? Maybe I did maybe I didn`t but he was a friend to me, a man doing the same as the rest of us, trying to provide a wage for our families at home, a man like many of us who said his farewells to his loved ones as he went out the door to work or he left in the early hours and had not spoken to them since leaving.
We must make sure that we never go out at the start of our week on bad terms with a family member, never leave home on a bad note because who knows what may happen out there. I have just returned to trucking after doing breakdown and recovery and boy have I seen some sights…so lets take it easy out here and just hope the idiots we meet along the way some how get aducated but not at the expense of killing some one on the road. I`m 48 and been hauling my ■■■■ around a truck since I was old enough to get my licence,18 in the forces, and I am thankful that I have never had or been involved in any accident
Nice to know that this old boy was thought well of by his mates. Not much more you can ask for is there.
I was once parked up and asleep in Coslada in Madrid. There was a screech of brakes and a thud. I got up. A German driver had been walking back from Fred’s, a young drunk car driver hit him, knocked him up in the air and against my trailer. As I speak German I had the sad job of phoning his family back in Hannover. He was 32, 2 young kids, owner-driver.
I completely agree about leaving home on the right terms. I always do that, no matter what we’ve been arguing about.