jay0:
sorry for going off topic but i don’t get why its ok for all the veterans to come on here bragging about how they used to drive for days with out sleep and lying to the authoritys when questioned but if someone does it today they are branded the scum of the earth and they deserve everything they get and so on, it just seems a tad hypocritical to me
Lighten up were only reliving days gone by im sure none of us are still at it and rightly so
nedbro:
Tip Andorra on wed am load perpignan wed pm then up to le havre for Thursday nite boat back good 2 days work but quite easily done but then all goes ■■■■ up.tipped Andorra and saw a short cut on map traced route great no low bridges (michelin map)so off i go it was a bad road lots of cut backs about 1:15 down the road 3.8 bridge tried but she want for goin under b ollox!!!had to turn round with great difficulty back to start then to foix-carcassone-perpignan cost me 5hrs got loaded got to milau bridge on 10hrs drive(wed nite) still 12-13 hrs from le havre and only got 9s left so fuse out and 3hrs drive up to clement ferrand parked at peage.done it no prob Thursday up to le havre job done
Millau bridge 12-13 hrs from Le Havre■■?
We used to run Calais-La Junquera at best part of top weight in around 15hrs going that way before the bridge opened. Regularily got to Le Caylar south of Millau on one card on a saturday for weekending then away sharp monday to tip MercaBarna before midday.
Le Caylar from Ouistreham or Le Havre I should say btw.
Sorry meant montpellier-le havre
Montpellier-bridge about 1:15
Milau-clermont about 2:15-30
Clermont-le havre about 7:30-8
About 12hrs
nedbro:
jay0:
sorry for going off topic but i don’t get why its ok for all the veterans to come on here bragging about how they used to drive for days with out sleep and lying to the authoritys when questioned but if someone does it today they are branded the scum of the earth and they deserve everything they get and so on, it just seems a tad hypocritical to meLighten up were only reliving days gone by im sure none of us are still at it and rightly so
yeah true, it was just something that crossed my mind and I don’t have a problem with it I actually enjoy hearing about what it used to be like my uncle was doing the same back when he was driving on the continent, I suppose it was just seen as the norm in them days.
That’s exactly what it was, the norm.
In my era we did silly amounts of driving, not just on the continental trips, but also in the UK. Fuses were pulled, wires were attached, tipping and loading off the card was normal.
In my Dad’s era they handballed 20 ton on the trailer, roped and sheeted it, then started that day’s log book.
Things were very different, although the main difference was the lack of enforcement that allowed us to get away with it.
We took the ■■■■ and now the authorities have a zero tolerance towards it all, it’s a cliché, but true all the same, ye shall reap what ye shall sew…
Widnes to Exeter airport and back, most I ever did on UK or over the water
When I did euro work I used to wonder why I was given a sleeper cab when a day cab would have done just a well. 
One of those half cab Fodens would have suited most jobs 
Microwave sleep was the term used.Very little.Keep her lit.Ring when empty.No trackers.No snooping.Left alone for weeks on end.Phone ri.ngs.I got you a nice sliding roof job.
jay0:
sorry for going off topic but i don’t get why its ok for all the veterans to come on here bragging about how they used to drive for days with out sleep and lying to the authoritys when questioned but if someone does it today they are branded the scum of the earth and they deserve everything they get and so on, it just seems a tad hypocritical to me
I think most industries where the same ‘back in the day’ before the EU took control .When these lads where driving across europe in a shift i was climbing up scaffold wearing a pair of sandals and using a hard hat as a nail bucket ,all totally illegal now but that’s what happened
I don’t think drivers breaking laws had much to do with the situation we’re in now. It is only since the EU took control of it that it’s become stupidly over-regulated.
Why? Because it creates jobs of course! The UK can point to myriad EU directives and say well, we need ten or fifty or a thousand people to enforce this legislation, then cynically blame it on Brussels, whilst giving jobs to the happy beneficiaries of our open-border policy.
newmercman:
One of those half cab Fodens would have suited most jobs
And just where would we have stashed the cigs and baccy from Gib without a hollowed out matress ? 
billybigrig:
And just where would we have stashed the cigs and baccy from Gib without a hollowed out matress ?
Ah Gibraltar!, reminds me of another way to “keep er choppin” when double manning.
Driver one starts his 8 hours rest (double manning rules in mid 90s was 8 hrs rest in 30 hr period) while driver two does his last stint. Driver two then hits the sack and 4 hours later driver 1 has 8 hours break on the card. Swap cards and start the next shift while driver two is finishing us 8 hour break. Totally illegal but both drivers showing the required break all be it staggered. truck only stood for 4 hours. You’d be amazed how many times the cards were inspected, questioned about 8 hours rest, argument ensued about double manning regs and we’d be sent on our way.
Try that that sort of thing today and you’d be talking telephone numbers.
Cheers
Neilf
jay0:
sorry for going off topic but i don’t get why its ok for all the veterans to come on here bragging about how they used to drive for days with out sleep and lying to the authoritys when questioned but if someone does it today they are branded the scum of the earth and they deserve everything they get and so on, it just seems a tad hypocritical to me
It is hypocritical, just like how people on here moan about people like the Irish running bent or doing 58mph when the British went at it harder than anyone. But hey ho, it’s a forum, hypocrisy rules.
8 hrs rest 16 hrs duty time 
wasn’t needed as frisbees went out of the window or lots of snow in July many ripped up tachos! 
No PPE to climb on top of a tilt trailer.No training.No safety harness.No nothing.Working at height to pull the trailer sheet on.and off and alone too.
Potato season in Cornwall use to be manic, 22 ton handballed on then in one hit from Penzance, up to Glasgow or Edinburgh, tip then run down to Immingham or Ince reload fertilizer then back to PZ. 3 trips one week, 2 the next.
Did this for 2 seasons then we got double manned after that.
Then in the caulli/ cabbage season we was all afternoon handballing crates on trailer, put your card in and do between 3 - 6 northern markets that night, reload Immingham then back home again.
Going back then 25 years ago there wasn’t nowhere near the traffic you have now. With no hold-ups we could do PZ to Glasgow in just a few minutes under 10 hrs but that was flat out all the way & we weren’t paid by the hour but by the trip.
And the joys of no speed limiters in my V8 Scania 142.She used to sing like a bird and the motor was begging to be thrashed.
Once did Dover-Wrexham-Dunstable-Milan in about 36hrs, just so I could go on the ■■■■ with a mate for the weekend. Nothing subtle to how it was done with the tacho, kept the cards as legal as poss, just wound the clock on 12hrs & altered the dates afterwards. Providing the charts weren’t examined too closely it wasn’t a prob.
Managed a few hours kip on the Dover-Zebe boat & a few more down near Mulhouse early Saturday a.m. before squeezing through Swiss customs before they closed for the weekend.
I wasn’t booked to tip til the Tuesday & was looking forward to a good lie-in & recovery from the long drive & a weekend on the ■■■■, but, my mate fell over whilst hammered on the Saturday night & got a piece of glass lodged in his hand, which ended with a trip to hospital, him pretending to be me (he didn’t have a valid E111 card, I did), & a couple of confused Italian medics wondering how come I knew all my mates relevant personal details & he didn’t.
Instead of lazing in the sun on the Monday I ended up doing my mates drop & reload while he soaked up the sunshine ‘looking after’ my unit & load.
Not something I’d contemplate doing nowadays but back then it seemed to be a regular thing.
