Hi, Ive just been looking at the prof drivers site, where people try to get in the cab. I recall getting near Grimsby after a dodgey one,one night, when i picked up a hitch hiker, male about fifty and he had this bloody great suitcase. After a couple of miles he said that his mum had died and he was going to bury her. I immediately thought of her being in the case. His next words were after seeing a red x on a blue background was, is this a killing road. You could have cut 1/4 inch washers off my rear end until I entered Grimsby and dropped him off at a coffee stall, promising to return later, some chance. Bill.
Greetings,Bill and Terry.
Always good to hear from you both.Keep it up.Do you remember the petrol Scammell mechanical horse we had at Lambeth? It was used to shunt the Trader trailers. Regards,Ted.AKA 900x20.
In answer to Bills bit about hitchhikers,I was warned by Mac to be very careful about males hitching a lift,he said that Bill was quite parshal to a male hitchhiker,I will say no more.I remember brought on days to go to Scotland,stopped off in a pub in cable street for a few hours,got going three parts ■■■■■■■■■■ on the a1 near ST albands, very cold night saw a girl in a flimsey frock waving,so me being me not to leave a damsel in distress I stopped,noticed as she put her legs up to get in the cab she had no underwear on,this panicked me a bit and was thinking wish I had Micky Pickard with me to help me out,any way she wanted to go to Edinburgh,she seemed strange,and I was a bit worried,I saw a police car in a layby and stopped,she started screeming,the police said that a girl had run away from a nut house in Shenly near St albans they where looking for her.I was thinking good job i dint slip her a length.My arse was making buttons.But got the job done.But still thinking about Bill picking up male hitchhikers.Ha,Ha.
Keats, re the hitcher, I remember thinking "Ive driven best part of the way to Grimsby, and then I have to pick up a relative of the bloody Keating clan. It threw me a bit because he was white. Bill.
Tel, when ucc went ■■■■ up, on the last day seeing that the Sam Man was in Warley Hospital, Midge and I were asked to negotiate the office staff redundancy package, as the union officers wife was sick. Well after we had ended discussions Mike Norris looked out of his window and seeing the continental drivers returning from the pub said what an excellant bunch of men they are, I will never again be lucky enough to work with such a bunch of drivers as those. I was tempted to say " dont worry, they’ll be back working for ALI BABA next week, cos theyre better than the ones he’s got now. When we went to Midges funeral the vicar told everyone in his sermon that the ucc men knew how to take the trailer doors off without disturbing the seals, to obtain their goodies. AS IF. Bill.
Bill,that vicar should be done for defamation of character.Also,I agree with the statement made on the last day of the company.The drivers were the best I’ve ever worked with.All comedians.Regards to all,Ted.
Hi, thinking about the first entry on the UCC site re the gate man.
“ROVER EIGHT” ROVER EIGHT" was the call, from the man on the gate.
But nobody answerred they never replied.
To our security man, on who Union Cartage relied.
He was out in the wilderness there on the gate.
And the drivers all treated him as their mate.
And nearing the gatehouse they’d shout ROVER EIGHT. Bill,
I had a call from Mac,he was at his daughters,had a good laugh about old times hes still on the ball,ponsing off the Spanish,86 years old cant believe it,he said Micky Picard still owes him the money for a wash leather said it was the size of a car bonnet,ha,ha.Bill gone a bit quiet,must be helping out in the Romanian soup kitchen.speak soon Terry
Hi Tel, when Mac came over after a couple of weeks in Germany he came to see me for a while and we had a good old chinwag. Thats where he got your phone number Tel. He told me about Pickard and the wash leather, but as I told him , he wouldnt get the leather money as Mick had been cremated. He also told me that my good old mate Cookie had died but didnt know where he was buried, so I couldn’t keep a promise that I made and my dogs are bursting.The promise was that I would take them to pee up his headstone. I krrp seeing that Dave is watching the site, but there cant be much going on down there on the south coast because he stays silent. Bill
Hi,I am in the middle of installing a multi fuel burner with back boiler,I live 110 miles from London but dont have gas or a connected toilet,3rd world country this,spent most of the day up on the roof,think I have got a tan but it might be soot. Keep well all Terry
william sparrow:
Hi, thinking about the first entry on the UCC site re the gate man.
“ROVER EIGHT” ROVER EIGHT" was the call, from the man on the gate.
But nobody answerred they never replied.
To our security man, on who Union Cartage relied.
He was out in the wilderness there on the gate.
And the drivers all treated him as their mate.
And nearing the gatehouse they’d shout ROVER EIGHT. Bill,
Hi Bill, yes I am the son of George Wright, he did Tuesday to Saturday nights on the UCC gate at Warley from 1970 to 1973, had the metallic dark green ■■■■■■ GTW677H, there was an Irish bloke Pat Converey used to do days from 0on 0700 to 1800 and George would do 1800 to 0600. I was still at school then and would come to work with him on school holidays and friday nights, usually a lot busier than a saturday night. I remember one night there was a knock on the door, and some fat bloke was standing thgere, george unlocked the door, and in a high pitched irish accent said "who’s that, pointing at me, George said who the 'kin hell do you think it is, it’s my boy, oh ok then , he was the security mans mobile checker,
The fleet numbers allocated to us at Warley that I can remember were
401 - George Effeny
405 - Geoff or Jeff Hoey
406 - Charlie Westgate
411 - Smith (1)
412 - Chris Lambert
414 - “Daz” Herbert
415 - Stan Rodway
416 - Bill Burge
417 - George Barnes
421 - Doug Hannant
422 - ■■■■ Hartshorn
424 - George Hampshire
432- Jock Mckie
445 - Filthy Luker
801 - Sam Mcauley
802 - Ken Liddiard
803 - Ron Blakeway
804 - Charlie Wise
805 - Vic Staples
807 - Smith(2)
808 - Reg Revell
809 - Charlie Kent
810- Chris Wilson
813 - Midge Galbraith R.I.P
815 - Tommy Page
816 - Joe Lingwood
817 - Bill Rutland
819 - Terry Keating
820 - Tommy Bosher
821 - George Curtis
823 - Bill Sparrow
remember some other domestic drivers, Harto, Cox, Smith(3),Gibbins, Semain and Onyett
Remember the 3 Mercs, WYA946 and 947M and RYD219L
Mike Usher, Jim and Len shunters and yardmen
Jimmy Mcbarron who was the loading super at Sheerness
Johnny Sheen and Dave Leader over the “workshop”
Memories, seems like yesterday
George also did a bit of “casual” for Tate and Lyle as a drivers mate, i seem to recall he was employed permanent for a while before Tate and Lyle moved out the depot.
George Wright died on 30th June 1991, from lung cancer/ emphyszema and was cremated and has a plaque on the kerb in Fobbing Road Cemetary, Corringham . Sorry if i’ve posted wrong, I posted one that Bill responded to recently, but that was in 2009, if i’ve posted right, I hope the likes of George, Terry and Bill, respond and stay in touch, I’m 55 now, worked in shipping and transport offices, currently working for agency in Tilbury Dock, traffic marshalling lorries at the Bulk Terminal, Driving cars on and off ships, baggage portering at the cruise terminal,
It all seems like yesterday when I went to work with my dad at the gate at UCC Warley, hope to hear from you soon
Greetings,All.
Ref. the Fleet numbers list. It brings back memories of the Big “J” when they first came home at Poplar,(great after the old Traders) My one was 422, SJJ 612F.I took the redunancy package just after the move to Warley where I did a bit of Continental.A good post,even better seeing the names that I remember.Thanks for that.I hope they’re all still alive.Sadly,Midge has gone and also “Filthy” Luker,a character if there ever was one.Keep up the good work.P.S.Hope Terry’s boiler works now. Regards to all,900x20.,AKA Townsend 1.
Those names brought back some memories,where did you get all that information? your dad must have had it written down.A little while ago I was working for Goldstar out of Tilbury,use to sleep there over night in the dock,pity we could not have met up.I cant say that I can remember any of the security staff at Warley,as I used to go past them very quick as I usually had a few fillet steaks in my bag,ready to put into Bills boot of his car,ha,ha.I think a lot of those names have left us now.I could not imagine fillfy Lucker going to Paris,you could not trust him going up and down the A5. Did you remember Bills coat 3 quarter length dark,all the places I took photos of him over the years he always had it on.I think he still wears it.Have the wood burner all fixed in,done all the plumbing myself,but have to get back on the roof to connect the flue liner to the chimney pot,will have a few pints first to get the courage,hope the next post is not from the A&E. Terry
keating@makita:
Those names brought back some memories,where did you get all that information? your dad must have had it written down.A little while ago I was working for Goldstar out of Tilbury,use to sleep there over night in the dock,pity we could not have met up.I cant say that I can remember any of the security staff at Warley,as I used to go past them very quick as I usually had a few fillet steaks in my bag,ready to put into Bills boot of his car,ha,ha.I think a lot of those names have left us now.I could not imagine fillfy Lucker going to Paris,you could not trust him going up and down the A5. Did you remember Bills coat 3 quarter length dark,all the places I took photos of him over the years he always had it on.I think he still wears it.Have the wood burner all fixed in,done all the plumbing myself,but have to get back on the roof to connect the flue liner to the chimney pot,will have a few pints first to get the courage,hope the next post is not from the A&E. Terry
Hello Terry, well as a 12 to 15 year old boy who was interested in lorries going to work with George was , even sitting in a goldfish bowl for 13 hours on a school holiday or friday night was great, and as well as George writing in the UCC in/out book he used to write the ins and outs down on sheet of paper for me, I still have them in a drawer in a desk at home, he had you booked in a few times overnight, long before the days of tacho’s nudge nudge and I can remember the gatehouse table looking like a delicatessen some nights, meat there, cheese there, prawns there and arctic rolls there lol, think you’d been to Finland and brought some finnish beer back called Koff lol i remember the drivers having a cuppa with George when they used to walk in and get their notes in the morning, the gatehouse windows steaming up and George or the drivers wiping the condensation off the windows with the day security man (Pat convereys) Irish bloke with gold rimmed glasses and bushy eyebrows) Uniform hat lol. Great memories with a great bunch of blokes.
Hi Keith, I’m sorry to hear that George passed away and we never knew. Dont be fooled that the Keats had a cab full of steak, he could hardly get in the cab for parrafin cans belonging to half of the African ladies in the local area. The drivers and lorry numbers brought back a few memories, I was first issued with 805 which turned over on the ferry with 19ton of hanging pork and was written off, then 811 and later 823. The company name for 805 was Indefatigable but their names were very seldom used. When Mike Norris called Midge Galbraith and myself to a meeting to discuss the redundancy package for the office staff, he looked out of the window and saw the continental men returning from the local pub and he said “What a great bunch of men they are and I dont think I will be lucky enough to work with such men again”. But I dont think he meant young Terence. It’s been nice to hear from you Keith, keerp in touch. Regards Bill.S.
Keith, I also noticed that You had Bill Staples on 805, this was actually 806. The first drivers on continental at Poplar were Sam McAuley, George Curtis, Charlie Wise Reg Simpkins ,Reg Revell and myself. Eddie Curtis soon followed after diabetes was sorted. Simpkins left when we moved to Warley. After the break-up Eddie and Mac went on the busses, Revel went in the print, Me to Blackwall Tunnel, Wise went to Hansens and later died, We never knew where the rest went. Bill. S.
Hello,Bill.Glad to see we’re once again on the front page.I’m trying to remember-was it your 110 I took on my first trip to Basle? I unloaded there and Charlie sent me up to Riom-es-Montagnes where I loaded Cheshire cheese for home.Quite a first trip,'specially up in the Auverne.After I left the firm,I finished up until retirement driving petrol tankers on Shell.I’d like to know how many of the firm still survive,as you’ll never meet a set of drivers like that again. All the best gentlemen,regards to you all,900x20. AKA Ted Townsend. 
Hi Ted, I think that you did do a trip with my wagon. I also fetched a couple of loads from the Auverne Laiteries at Riom es Montagn. Charlie Kent was the best traffic operator we ever had and nobody ever knew why he had to go. But I remember that the drivers had a meeting with him and his wife in a Brentwood pub. Incidentally, my first trip was to go and load beef at an old german airfield at Montreil Bellay. I watched them take the meat out of sacks and cut off South African produce stamps and restamp it Produce of France,put it in nice new boxes and load it for Smithfield. Thatll do for now. Bill.
I remember my first trip getting on that old wooden ferry in Dover on british rail,Dunkirk then on to Basel,reload in Lyon. Riom et Montagnes brings back some memories,had to get up the mountain before the snow,got to the cheese place,too late to load so dropped the trailer,went to a farm house cafe,sat with one of the daughters for most of the night learning the french way of life. When I left UCC I went to Simons international,first run to baghdad,£950.00 good money.Next to Pakistan reload Kabul with bales of cotton,then to Jordon with shaving foam,no firm like UCC,Bill would liked Afghanistan,he looked the taliban with that tree quarter length coat, ha,ha. Speak soon Terry.
Bill I think you meant Charlie King.