Muckaway:
Piston Brke, is that Sodbury in the second pic? I remember the Sed Atki with the white cab and blue bit above the grille from my days spent as a passenger.
I remember Fatherills (?) tippers, there always seemed to be one waiting for scalps when I went in Sodbury with Dad.
Hi Nathan
Thats Sodbury in the top two pics, Barnwood Glos in the 3rd and up on the M40 between Wheatley and Bicester in the last two…
There was a couple or three of those Seddon’s about at the time - George’s didn’t have the blue stripe but it was very easy to muddle them all up. After a moment or two, you could usually tell one of them by the speed he was travelling ( Not George )
John Hatherall had 6 or 7 at one time. Always a very tidy fleet and a nice bloke to know ( and work for apparently ). He only has 3 franchises now… The lack of work down here over the last few years has savaged the fleet considerably - when I went in there first there was over a hundred outside hauliers and 20 odd company trucks, and all were always busy. Its a different story now… Same everywhere I guess…
Sandpits (soft sand used in bricklaying type) always had an area where you tipped off if overweight. If someone wanted a barrowful, they were offered the tippings for free, but would they like to donate to the tea fund? Must’ve been using Harrods’ finest tea bags.
Muckaway:
Sandpits (soft sand used in bricklaying type) always had an area where you tipped off if overweight. If someone wanted a barrowful, they were offered the tippings for free, but would they like to donate to the tea fund? Must’ve been using Harrods’ finest tea bags.
Hi Nathan,
I built a garage for my car in the late 60’s and asked the manager at one of the local quarries how much 20 ton of scalpings would cost,as my boss said I could use the lorry to take them home.The manager who was a decent bloke said put some money in the Blind Box in the weighbridge and get the loader driver to load you with some from the edge of the heap.
Cheers Dave.
The tips did similar “donation schemes”. When Dad drove for a local builder (Fisher & Townsend) he’d go to the tip of an Oxfordshire company, (known for two tone green livery and fondness for Fodens!) the first load would be booked. The next load would contain some slabs and the Drott driver “forgot” to book the load. Third load would contain some bags of finest Blue Circle…
Although i hav’nt driven tippers for nearly 18 years, i still look back on my tipper days with fondness…my dad was a tipper man when i was a boy and i spent the entire school holidays riding out with him around Kent and the South East. Alot of the work was to power stations carrying Ash & PFA dust but we did quite a lot of sand and other agg aswell. I doubt very much if you would be aloud to even carry kids into these places nowdays…( do Smiths let their drivers carry their kids in the lorries? ). As for health & saftey, even when i packed up in 1994 we did’nt have to wear those poxy hi vis vests or silly clown trousers.
Here is a photo of one of the last tippers i had before going on the fridges, this was taken on a muckaway job near Dartford in 94…and yes, i still have a soft spot for a good old work a day tipper. Maybe i’ll go back to it one day!. Happy tipping chaps.
Smiths don’t allow passengers (officially). With child seat laws it’s harder I suppose to take kids. I used to duck down if a lorry came the other way although nobody complained as it was the unofficial way to teach the job. I used to ride in Priestman Lion draglines, Drotts, Akerman excavators, Bray shovels and Moxy dumptrucks.
I also endured a hot backside (ooh matron!) from sitting on the engine hump of a Leyland Bison once or twice.
the 80 90s going with my dad on muck shift great work all day work great lads on job a good crack when past my test in 2000 the job gone mad every job was by load so u had all idiots taken over you on tip just to get in front of u breaking sprins as they went along going down bus lanes cutting every one up i just bought a scania 113 380 started doin fridge work and now am bak on tippers on steel bulker haulin scrap just cant stay away from tippers it draws u bak
Muckaway:
Smiths don’t allow passengers (officially). With child seat laws it’s harder I suppose to take kids. I used to duck down if a lorry came the other way although nobody complained as it was the unofficial way to teach the job. I used to ride in Priestman Lion draglines, Drotts, Akerman excavators, Bray shovels and Moxy dumptrucks.
I also endured a hot backside (ooh matron!) from sitting on the engine hump of a Leyland Bison once or twice.
I believe you never got out of the habit of “ducking” down when you were driving a tipper Nathan !! Ooooo Look Daddy,there’s no one at the wheel of that Foden thats just gone flying past !!! Anon1.
bradfordlad9999:
when past my test in 2000 the job gone mad every job was by load so u had all idiots taken over you on tip just to get in front of u breaking sprins as they went along going down bus lanes cutting every one up
I know what you mean; Why does it attract these loons? It can be such an interesting and varied job unlike supermarket runs. I’ve done muckshifts, premix plants, stately homes, film studios, railways etc all in one week. We had a spell of hiring agency staff about 10 years ago, those who “drove for ASDA/Tesco!” to quote our ex TM. Apart from one, they were all hopeless. They’d tell you all about these tight deliveries they’d done but put them on a wet landfill with the instruction “don’t go off the haul road” and they’d be cooking the diffs within minutes.
One driver in this situation (when told off by one of our shovel drivers for doing so) said “I know my job, I’ve driven for Tescos!” My mate replied “and how often do a trailer full of bog rolls go axle deep in ■■■■?!”
Oh, and tipper drivers can cope with a dusty dashboard and muddy floormats.
Muckaway:
Smiths don’t allow passengers (officially). With child seat laws it’s harder I suppose to take kids. I used to duck down if a lorry came the other way although nobody complained as it was the unofficial way to teach the job. I used to ride in Priestman Lion draglines, Drotts, Akerman excavators, Bray shovels and Moxy dumptrucks.
I also endured a hot backside (ooh matron!) from sitting on the engine hump of a Leyland Bison once or twice.
Muckaway Would that be the 70’s 80’s Bison with the "dished"engine cover ■■ Would sometimes melt the butter in the sandwiches if the bait box was left on the top too long !! The ■■■■ things were heavy if you caught the support bracket when dipping the oil !!!
It was still the best site wagon in it’s day !!
Muckaway:
Smiths don’t allow passengers (officially). With child seat laws it’s harder I suppose to take kids. I used to duck down if a lorry came the other way although nobody complained as it was the unofficial way to teach the job. I used to ride in Priestman Lion draglines, Drotts, Akerman excavators, Bray shovels and Moxy dumptrucks.
I also endured a hot backside (ooh matron!) from sitting on the engine hump of a Leyland Bison once or twice.
Muckaway Would that be the 70’s 80’s Bison with the "dished"engine cover ■■ Would sometimes melt the butter in the sandwiches if the bait box was left on the top too long !! The ■■■■ things were heavy if you caught the support bracket when dipping the oil !!!
It was still the best site wagon in it’s day !!
Bison2, the AEC cabbed things. Great site lorry as you say, many old time Smiths drivers thought the Constructor was a backward step. I loved the individual Letters pelling LEYLAND across the grille. I loved playing around with those wingnut things you locked the windows in place with.
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