Just sat here musing and thinking back on the Good Old Times. I was thinking of some of the hooky and most comical blokes of those years. The years from the early 70’s to the early 90’s must have been some of the most entertaining, satisfying, and comical years ever experienced by Drivers, mostly on overseas work. It does’nt matter whether they were the Owners, Owner Drivers or Drivers, there were some real characters around at the time. Has anybody got any ideas or tales ?
I worked with a tipper driver who used to drive onto the quarry weighbridge fully loaded, then slapped the brakes on to wind the weighbridge clerk up, because the needle on the big face of the Avery scales would be going backwards and forwards for five minutes. 
Cheers Dave.
Archie, the Statute of Limitation prevents me from adding to this thread
But we know the same people, so you know what I’m saying
Anyone involved in tipper work in London in the 70s or 80s will know the name Dan Ryan some of the strokes him and his band of merry men pulled would make a gippo camp seem honest.
newmercman:
Archie, the Statute of Limitation prevents me from adding to this threadBut we know the same people, so you know what I’m saying
Shame on you 
Are you suggesting that I would mingle with persons other that the most respectable ?
I couldnt answer this either because some of the families are still alive and still involved in road transport, suffice to say if you can stay silent, it is much better to do so 
Most comical.A lad called Ken Cleaver worked on tanks at Felixstowe and then in the 80s came to work for Sadler Tankers at Oldham.Used to have you in stiches every time you met him,cracking fella was Ken,prehaps some of you tanker lads may remember him.
Too many to mention! One does come to mind, a driver fresh to tipper work got well and truly stuck on a site and stood little chance of going anywhere so one of the ‘old hands’ managed to extract it for him. Then he reversed it back into the ■■■■ again and told him to try again as he now knew how to do it, only he jumped in his own truck and cleared off! 
We then had to send a truck to the site to tow him back out again. 
At least we had a laugh or two back then…
Pete.
One of the old drivers who drove GMC lime-spreader in the 1950/60’s used to pull into a farm, and the farmer would explain which fields he wanted the lime spread on. This particular driver would listen,and the farmer would say, avoid that part of the field, as its very wet. Guaranteed this same driver would get stuck in the patch which the farmer had warned him not to go near. Hence loads of overtime booked while his mates got him out.
Cheers Dave.
We had a driver based at another quarry who would ‘nod off’ at the drop of a hat. He was put on the internal road sweeper for a while (TK Bedford) and parked up in the quarry and promptly fell asleep, a couple of lads got a tarpaulin and covered the cab over with it, he was still there asleep the following morning! 
Pete.
I was mad about lorries from an early age. Schools holidays, used to ride shotgun with dad or my big brother during the week, and weekends the next- door neighbour would knock on the door and take me with him if he was called out on a breakdown, he was the fitter at the local Esso depot, jolly Irishman with bottle bottom glasses. We lived in Fulham, at that time there were very few cars in our street, in fact sometimes, when dad, brother, and a couple of neighbours called home for dinner, there were more lorries than cars parked there. Us kids all played in the street then. The Esso fitter Mick, a bit of a joker used to come home for dinner most days in whatever lorry was in the yard at the time. If us kids were out, and he came home in one of his beloved Scammells he had a few tricks he’d play to amuse us. One involved adjusting the mirror so he could see the kerb and getting down on the floor, so we could see a driver-less lorry approaching. A better one was where he’d turn into the street, stop, get out, tie a long piece of string to the front, put the motor in bottom gear, and walk slowly in front with the string over his shoulder, “towing” it. The best one though was when he’d go past his house before stopping further up the street. Then he’d put it in reverse, get out and wave it back, shouting “plenty of room here driver, keep coming, right hand down a bit,” etc, the when it was outside his house “that’ll do yer, whoa”, reach in and stop it, go into his house chuckling. Precious memories!
Bernard
kr79:
Anyone involved in tipper work in London in the 70s or 80s will know the name Dan Ryan some of the strokes him and his band of merry men pulled would make a gippo camp seem honest.
Dan was a man of his times there were a few more like him as well back then! but some of todays “respectable” firms had those sort beginnings, then the younger generation who were better educated took over and built them up. I can think of one “geezer” though, who must remain nameless (to protect the guilty ) who is still about!
Can’t answer the first bit as I like to keep using the legs that God gave me… but for comical people: 1990 working at TIP in Chemical Lane, Stoke On Trent the legend that is Dave Scarlett was working for Baymex at that time, a very funny man to spend time with if he came in to collect a trailer and Ron Jones who worked at Vitesse in those days.
For the Welsh contingent, at TIP Cardiff, Dave Hobday was always terrific company especially if he was laying low between jobs at the Princes factory and so naturally comical it’s unreal. Phillip Escott was also a superb character to be in the presence of, more stories than the Beano.
At ATE Truck & Trailer Sales Wolverhampton, a driver Darren Millington is one of life’s lesser known unsung heroes again with natural comedy in abundance.
Finally in Newport, Dafman1 never fails to bring a smile to my face (unless I’ve bought a trailer blind from him over the telephone, then I’m occasionally reduced to tears when it lands…)
I hope these names are recognised by a few users on here.
Ade.
A Greek story from the past that i heard when I worked in a readymix company which used its own trucks along with sub contractors. The sub contractors were paid for each cubic meter transported so they tried to do as many as they could. One sub contractor was driving an old MAN 26240 long nose which was really slow geared. At that time company bought some brand new Mercedes which were really faster than the MAN’s and on the way back to the site could easily left behind the old Man. That meant that If the subcontractor looses the last load at the end of the day he looses money. So what he did when he was seeing in the mirror a Mercedes coming was to flag some money from the window to the coming driver and finally drop it on the road. The following driver would stop and pick the money so he could earn some distance and the last laod.
I remember once when I was tipping in Italy, I’ m not too sure where it was, but it was on a fairly new Industrial Estate, possibly Brecia. I had driven into the place and so when I was tipped had to back out onto the road. As I backed out, I had just got the trailer out of the gate when there was a loud Beep Beep, so I stopped and went forwards a bit nothing, started to reverse out again, again there was this loud Beep Beep, so again I moved back into the gate, got out and walked out into the road, nothing, very strange. Back to the Truck and tried it a third time, you’ve guessed it just got out onto the road, Beep Beep. I was now well ■■■■■■ off, so I got out went out into the road, nothing so I walked down the road looking for whatever was giving me grief. Just as I was passing a Wharehouse on the other side of the road I saw another English Motor parked up down in between the Wharehouse and the Iron Railing Fence, with a good view between two other Industrial Units of my Vehicle. I went in and there was Emmet, ( Lots of you will I’m sure remember Emmet ) just ■■■■■■■ hisself laughing, rotten ■■■■■ Wonder where you are now mate.