About 1994 ish,had about 40 hours off in Oporto,once loaded it was a green light to the ferry,due to time lost waiting,and on a rest period,the slate was clean.Stopped on the Irun peage,a young officer looked at the days chart,it was about 4 hours over the daily driving time limit,i sat in the cab,as if all was in order,he was just about to call his older and more experienced officer over,a bowel movement on my part to expect telephone book size fine,or in the cell for the night,as the young cop,smiled and waved me on my way,he saw the long break before,i never knew,if he had realised the offence or not.It was pedal to the metal out of trouble to get away.Guessing just out of training college.
That journey can be done in a legal day, it is only 489 miles.
May not be possible cos of that IP5 mountain road by Guarda to Villar Formoso border,about 3 to 4 hours are lost on the shift,worse if heavy,due to the design,and steep gradients,the builders fled to Brazil with the contract money and deposits.Porto to Burgos was the limit from Porto,and on the day i got stopped i could have been in the Guimaraes/Braga/Braganza area collecting shoes/marble/clothing etc and finish up with groupage in the warehouses of Matosinhos or Maia and Gaia industrial zones,thus using up driving time to get to Irun with excess driving time allowed in one shift,i never used a wire.
I did enough Spain driving for Davies of Southampton to know whether or not I could get from the Atlantic coast to Irun in one day. I was always able to manage it, but then I used to do Cherbourg to Toledo in a day and a half.
Not legally you didn’t. That’s 21 or 22 hours depending on the traffic round madrid. But then on Davies you would of been on the crocodile clip method.
Why would you go via Madrid? you prefer to go the long way round to your destination do you. Call yourself a driver. My experience of the Davies drivers was that they liked to take their time, seeing as they were on weekly wages.
Colonel:
Why would you go via Madrid? you prefer to go the long way round to your destination do you. Call yourself a driver. My experience of the Davies drivers was that they liked to take their time, seeing as they were on weekly wages.
which way would you go to Toledo then via Barcelona 
Vascoingles, we are talking about Oporto to Irun, not Toledo or Barcelona, but if you wish to discuss these then ask a question. Perhaps you ought to ask your father if you can stay up late.
Colonel:
Vascoingles, we are talking about Oporto to Irun, not Toledo or Barcelona, but if you wish to discuss these then ask a question. Perhaps you ought to ask your father if you can stay up late.
Colonel:
I did enough Spain driving for Davies of Southampton to know whether or not I could get from the Atlantic coast to Irun in one day. I was always able to manage it, but then I used to do Cherbourg to Toledo in a day and a half.
was followed by
Ex Haulier:
Not legally you didn’t. That’s 21 or 22 hours depending on the traffic round madrid. But then on Davies you would of been on the bulldog clip method.
then by
Colonel:
Why would you go via Madrid? you prefer to go the long way round to your destination do you. Call yourself a driver. My experience of the Davies drivers was that they liked to take their time, seeing as they were on weekly wages.
so it would only be logical to assume that we were now talking about Toledo
I suppose that I can also assume that as you obviously know little of what you post as has been proved on more than one occasion that you think a little bit of bluster will intimidate ■■?
Colonel ■■? probably another ex Army cadet with unattainable aspirations ■■? 
No wonder transport is dying, there no perfect drivers left are there Colonel ?
Here we go again
Not another thread brought down by this tedious game of “oh yes I did” ,“oh no you didnt”, “did”, “didnt”…FFS
Vascoingles,
Very nice post, just a pity that you have not understood what was said and when… Ex Haulier responded to my post by misunderstanding what I said and brought the second part of my post up, therefore changing the thread topic.
I responded by saying why on eearth would you go via Madrid to get to Irun from Oporto. This where the confusion has arisen.
I will maintain that I can do Oporto to Irun in a legal day.
I will also point out that Cherbourg/Caen to Esquivias, Toledo can easily be done in a day and half as that is 36 hours. Of course those drivers who like to spread things out a bit would take two days and tip on the third.
Please do not attempt to ridicule a driver who is able to perform.
I suppose I had better point out that the time of these trips was about 8 years ago, when I never ever encountered traffic that you are describing.
The rest of your post is not even worthy of comment.
Colonel.I found it better to tip on a 3rd day of running,it gave me time to find the place.(Before satnavs and worn out maps.)It was a rush to get tipped on the 2nd day of a run,and most times the staff had gone home,or we would phone up the agent to arrange staff to tip us.This would leave a clean card to start fresh the next day.In my wing spreading days,i could get a shower and a meal,to get up early to tip the next day.No one seemed to mind.One occasion for Garnett Eurotans,with pharmeceuticals on the load,on a friday night,the factory refused to tip,so leaving us stuck there for a weekend with about 5 drops to get off after that,a little word in the forklift drivers ear,we got it off.
Hi Toby,
Everyone does the job differently and has a different way of running. Myself, having been an operator have always run hard, taking the minimum breaks and the minimum rest periods to comply with the regulations.
This policy stood me in good stead when I worked in the USA, as this is how all the drivers are expected to work, and because they do not pay for the unloading or loading time, it is imperative that one can do the miles to earn any decent kind of money. In the USA there was no requirement, under the hours of service regulations at the time, I was there, to have a break in a ten hour driving period. Consequently I quite often ran the ten hours straight out. Rest period was eight hours and then back on the pedals.
We have all come a cropper at some time or other with being stuck somewhere we did not wish to be, but that is the job. Planning ahead can make this a lot less likely, but as we know we do not always get loaded when we planned and the timetable for running then becomes different to what one does normally.
I am too old to drive HGV now, but miss it terribly. It is a lifestyle that does not suit everyone, but for those who can hack ones own company the rewards are fantastic in what one can learn about the different countries we get to.
curious colonel, can you give me times to irun(hendaya) from caen, cherbourg and st marlo at 37ton gross?
Interesting question, browncow2, I wonder what the motive for asking it is.
Personally I could not do that in a shift, Castets was about my limit.
browncow2:
curious colonel, can you give me times to irun(hendaya) from caen, cherbourg and st marlo at 37ton gross?
St Malo always found me at sunbilla, Caen would get me to Castets and Cherbourg would just get me to Cap de pin, but these would be on more than 9 hr drives, I could get a bit further up the road, but parking wouldn’t be so good
I used to ship with several of Davies drivers on a regular basis, and I recall there were a few test pilots there, although there were a couple of decent blokes, too. Were you one of the test pilots then? You would probably recall me if you were as you would probably have been on the receiving end of grief if you were acting like a fool.
I also used to beat them to Madrid every time, every one of them. Not because I was better, but I was hungrier and had others to beat to ensure a reload.
I always went to Toledo via Madrid because it was faster and I couldn’t do it in a shift and a half, which was your implication. Looking back, I reckon it was 48 hours because you had to take 2 breaks on the way, but it has been a while. Furthermore, I don’t recall ever getting to Irun from Oporto in a regular shift. That 5 took too long to get through.
You drove in the US and didn’t get paid for picks and drops? I do… all of them. I agree that it is normal to run the sheet out, but I think you are being overdramatic somehow.
And before you start on me, or on Vas, take a look at where we live. We do know what we are talking about. I have my doubts about you.
Colonel:
I will maintain that I can do Oporto to Irun in a legal day.
I never said that you couldn´t , should be possible getting a clear run although that would have been difficult at times with the rodaworks between the border and Salamanca.
Colonel:
Please do not attempt to ridicule a driver who is able to perform.
Have not yet seen any proof one way or the other
Colonel:
I suppose I had better point out that the time of these trips was about 8 years ago, when I never ever encountered traffic that you are describing.
You must have been of the extremely lucky few who never got caught in traffic around/through Madrid before the M40,M45 or M50 were built, I wonder why they spent so much money and time building these if there wasn´t any traffic ?
Bob the dog, I worked for Davies’s for only about six months and only knew one other driver by name, Billy Mallin, He was a very close friend of mine, a great bloke and renowned for keeping his motor immaculate, and now driving in the USA.Although a good driver he was incapable of doing more than three and a quarter hours driving at a stretch, which meant that it took him far longer to get anywhere than I did. The drivers that I did come across on Davies’s were a pretty idle bunch.
The chewing gum job to Esquivias is a case in point, this destination can be reached in 36 hours (A day and a half)from the channel ports, via Madrid… If you cannot do it in that time then you are of the same standard as the majority who worked for Davies’s at that time.
Now you have said that you got to Madrid faster than the Davies guys and if that is the case they were taking way too long to do that job.
As I have said, things in the USA may have changed but during both of my times working there, only time spent turning the wheel was paid. Of course the Company paid for lumpers. So what is being over dramatic about stating a fact. You now live and work in Canada, so does my son, he is over in Kimberley BC.
I am 72 now, and unless you are retired then, my experience in Trucking is more than you may have clocked up. I might add that I went to the USA a second time and re-took the CDL in a different State (Missouri) at the age of 65. The first time was in 1997 when I was 60 and I took the CDL in Little Rock (Arkansas).
FYI in 1997 I worked out of OKC for Rocor Transportation, owned by Rausch of Nascar fame. 3500 tractors, mostly fridges. In 2002 I worked for Pullen Bros. Sikeston, Missouri, again with a fridge.
So please do not attempt to patronise me.