The danks boys were scooter boots and scooter pumps, scooter boots went on to Fransens I think. other name Johnny Mac and Hank all on for C&C
bestbooties:
dreva:
has trucker ash gone awol
He aint posted for a day or two,mind you,I was off the air for best part of a week last week when my box of tricks gave up,but obviously no one missed me!
Ian, of course we all missed you, especially your interesting articles that you always contribute to this web site. Thats why I have put a bridge on the Where Am I Forum , knowing that you have been over this one, many times.
Regards, Steve. 
i second that mushrooman.ian must be on a downer this week leave the easter eggs alone there no good for you.ps i missed you as well ian 
What happened to Johnny Mack…? The one I knew used to do Swiss.The last time I saw him was at Traf Park truckstop when they still had strippers.
dreva:
i second that mushrooman.ian must be on a downer this week leave the easter eggs alone there no good for you.ps i missed you as well ian
Aaaarrrrhhhh,thanks guys,I’m touched.(Sniff)
Was told that not long ago J Mac was still on c&c, don’t know if it’s true, last time I saw him he had that Foden doing Russia around 89-90
Different JM . The one I knew was a Londoner ,slim ,fair hair & I don’t think would have been seen dead in a Fod. He liked talking a lot as well . 
curnock:
was’nt there a big stink about the trucks useing balls pond road and truck magazine did a writeup about it a few years back ?
A lot of drivers from “Up North” used to use the Balls Pond Road enroute to Dover pre M25 days.
Does any body remember an incident in the early eighties when a French juggernaut demolished a house on the Balls Pond Road , causing major chaos around north London for about three days ?.
After pulling out two bodies from the cab it was a few hours later that they found another one in the bunk.
Allegedly when they looked at the drivers tacho it had, I.I.R.C. sixteen hours on it with only a couple of short beaks.
The protest groups were out blocking the roads and it put an extra three hours on my journey to Dover that day.
On a lighter note does any body remember Diesel Sally who used to wait on the Holloway Road and jump in front of any lorry displaying T.I.R. plates.? after a trip to Germany or Italy.?
I was the driver of the wrecker that recovered that truck. It had taken out 3 lots of steps up to the houses. The rumor of the 3rd person came about as there was a womans shoe in the cab. Tachos were in order,it was put down to driver errror as they were only 20 &21 years old & carrying hanging meat. I still recall having to climb round the cab to get their bodies out.
I can remember that smash on Balls Pond Rd was it one of Girauds (spelling)
No it wasn’t a Giraud, it was part of the Trans Artois Frigo group. I cant make out the firms name fully but it looks something like Transnoeux_ _. According to a cutting I have of the accident it was StPauls Rd,Highbury. Isn’t that just before the start of Balls Pond Rd ? I dont have an AtoZ anymore to check.
Yes, I also remember this accident happening must have been sometime in 1976 / 77. Pre M25 days it was the main route from the end of the M1 through to the East End, the Blackwall Tunnel & all points South. There were still some private wharves doing a lot work then after the Royal Docks had closed down I used to deliver into a private wharf down that way called ‘Bork Line’ it was up a narrow lane with the Thames on the right and a housing estate on the left sometimes they would be 30 artics queued up along this lane waiting to tip. Anyway I digress back to the accident, I believe it occurred in the early hours of a Sunday or Monday and it was definetly a French reefer carrying hanging meat. I think it was put down to ‘slow roll over phenomenom’ . High centre of gravity and with the road cambered to the left along with it curving to the right the whole lot went over. As previously posted the truck took out about 3 full garden walls and the front steps this had the effect of filling the cab with about 2 / 3 tons of bricks. As far as I can remember only 2 people were killed, the driver & co-driver who was asleep on the bunk at the time. I believe it took so long to clear the mess up because before they could right the outfit they had to remove all the debris from the cab and recover the co-drivers body. Also, if my memory is correct, the truck was an American cab over which was an unusual sight on UK roads at that time
when i used to go on the continent with my dad running from stoke to dover on the old route though london there used to be a snack bar inbetween a church ? and a brick wall is it still there enybody esle remember it ?
DaveL:
I was the driver of the wrecker that recovered that truck. It had taken out 3 lots of steps up to the houses. The rumor of the 3rd person came about as there was a womans shoe in the cab. Tachos were in order,it was put down to driver errror as they were only 20 &21 years old & carrying hanging meat. I still recall having to climb round the cab to get their bodies out.
dave penn 54, sorry dave it was definitely in the early eighties.
Dave L, as I said it , was definitely in the early eighties and it definitely caused major delays.
The info about the house being demoished, the third person being a women and the bit about the protests all came from the Radio Two traffic reports.
The info about the tacho probably came from other drivers.
There is a big difference between a house being demolished and three sets of steps.
It must of been a horrible experience for you Dave and I now feel terrible about mentioning it.
Regards Steve.
I have just been on the phone to my old boss to see if he can remember dates.
He’s not sure but early 80’s as I thought. I passed class 1 in '77, moved to London Xmas '77, drove for Atlas, Thornetts & Solar Trading before starting recovery in '79. The Transcon with EKA wrecking gear I used on that job, was not bought 'til the early '80’s. I think the worst job I did was being asked to check the passenger footwell of a car by uncle Bill. They thought there may be a baby there & as I didn’t know what I was looking for,wouldn’t be as upset.
Luckily the drunken s##t driver had dropped her of at his wifes but had forgotten.
newmercman:
[I heard somewhere that old Atkis & the like could blow milk bottles off doorsteps with those front mounted exhausts, that must’ve been a hoot
Probably from me, it was a regular occurrence early mornings through Buntingford on the way to Sainsbury’s.
All this talk of the London through routes brings back memories - left at Highbury, St. Paul’s Rd., Ball’s Pond Rd., Graham Rd., right at the lights on to Mare St., then a swift left into Morning Lane…and onwards to Blackwall - happy days.
On the return journey I remember turning left into Graham Rd., there was a sign which said ‘Left turn unsuitable for long vehicles’ or something like that, did anybody ever take any notice of that? Nobody I knew. 
Hi All,
Been reading this thread with great interest and fond memories.
I only came across this forum last week, so this is my 1st post, pictrures of Comarts, Moorlocks and other Stoke based Int. firms are great, I will post some Comart photos and others in the next few days, when I get chance.
My old man drove for Comarts for about 12 years from the start, before having a bad accident in Munich in 81, I used to go with him all of my holidays and more from the age of 7 and when becoming a driver myself, did a few years International in the late 80’s early 90’s with a sub haulier from Frans Maas - lots of the photos posted bring back memories of the good days, trucks I thought I’d never see again and the MV Argo (free food and Beer !!!)
The Comart / Patrick photos are great, did a number of trips to Brescia with my Dad and remember washing the tilt out after tipping the hide’s and then waiting a day for the trailer to dry, before loading shoes back to the UK.
will post photos as soon as
keep up the great thread
Regards
Ant (Wheeler) Williams
Just as you DaveL can relate significant points in time and incidents to your driving career so can I, I passed my Class One in March 1975 but didn’t start doing regular multi - drop work into London until the summer of 1976. In the January of 1977 I was given my first real truck to drive, a Foden S80, 220 ■■■■■■■ 9 speed Foden GBox, 12 if you knew where to look. I still remember the reg; WHN 330M. I drove that until October 1978 when I got my first ‘Brand New’ truck. A Dodge Commando with a sleeper cab!! The company had only ran 2 artics, the rest were 4 wheelers and the boss decided that there was more to be earned with a fleet of rigids, so my Foden was the first to go and I got the first brand new sleeper cab he had ever bought. Again I remember the reg; BNB 216T. I’m sure if there is anybody using the forum who used to park on the Bishopsgate Lorry Park from 1974 - 1980 might remember the lads from Manchester, Henry Johnsons, Prescotts, Prices of Failsworth, Howarths & Ronnie Rudge of Rochdale and quite a few more with names I forget. That place was a nightmare to get in you had to cross 4 lanes of traffic on your blind side to get onto the ramp then stop and pay the NCP car park attendant the overnight parking fee, not sure how much it actually cost because the guy who worked after 6.00pm was a Nigerian student and he was on as big a fiddle as we were. He was a great bloke and we spent many a sad Friday night stuck in the smoke drinking Swan lager in his little yellow hut and putting the world to rights!!
The reason I can challenge the date of this accident with confidence is the fact that from March 1980 I was on for ‘Dukes Transport of Portadown NI’ and worked out of their Manchester Depot and the furthest south we went was Crick M1 Junction 18.
I am not trying to get into some big disagreement about when something did or didn’t happen but I know I was running into London 2/3 times a week, on for Henry Johnsons, and this accident was something that affected everybody who parked at Bishopsgate & ate at ‘Ginas Cafe’ on ‘Bethnal Green Rd;’ before 1980 and this accident had given the road protesters even more ammunition.
I have tried to find out more info about this specific accident in London Newspaper archives but have not been able to find anything that relates to it but I I know it for a fact it didn’t happen in the 80’s
Prove it .
Prove it .
Harry
What is it you actually want me to prove ?