Back in days gone bye when mates were regular sights on haulage wagons were just a slave for the driver as you used to have to do most of the loading under instruction from the driver and then you had to do most of the driving while the driver got his head down in the passenger seat ( they could do this in a Scammell Highwayman ) after giving you all the do,s and don’t,s and not to drop a wheel in potholes so as not to disturb their sleep.
This was all put down as to your learning the job properly and if you were to make a mistake retribution was taken with a whack with a piece of 2x2 so it did have the benefit in that you did tend not to do the misdemeanor again, nowadays this would be classed as torture and abuse and you would be able to claim millions of pounds in compensation. 
cheers Johnnie 
i never did the mate thing , but my uncle taught me to drive a dg foden by the same tried and trusted method . mum used to ask " how did you get that bruise on your shoulder ? ", but i never let on as i was only 17 and she would have hit the roof .cheers , dave
I never did any jobs where you needed a mate, same with this double manning I would never have got into that. I am a bit of a loner and like my own company. Eddie.
erfguy:
I never did any jobs where you needed a mate, same with this double manning I would never have got into that. I am a bit of a loner and like my own company. Eddie.
I think Eddie there is a bit of that in all of us, that’s the gene makeup of a driver !
Regards Jimski
After the second world war,my Dad went back to the firm he worked for and continued driving lorries fetching and delivering animal feed-stuff which was all in 2 cwt sacks. All the drivers on the firm had drivers mates,most of then couldn’t drive, but were there to help with the hand-balling sacks up granary steps, and opening and shutting gates going to and from farms. A couple did pass their driving test ( car before HGV came in ) and then drove lorries.
In the late 1950’s the drivers mates on that firm were stopped, and the one’s that couldn’t drive worked in the stores/warehouse helping to load and unload lorries. From memory the drivers and the mate got on well, with most of them staying on the same lorry for years.
Cheers Dave.
Having been a mate back in 1970/72 on Banbury Buildings, it just depended on which driver you had, One I remember had a stick and if you fell asleep, would whack you on the arm, to the words,‘if I’m awake , you’re awake, the same driver would drink 5 pints of mild every dinnertime without fail, he also let me drive the Albion Artic down the M1, loaded early one morning when I was 16. Another one would just stay on the trailer, while you did all the Donkey work, heavy old slabs and posts, when your a skinny 16 year old. I did use to give as good as they did though, and would often have an argument over this or that. One occasion 2 lorries were delivering to a site in Cannock one Saturday morning, 2 Drivers 2 Mates, well my driver who was a really nice bloke, but would blame all and sundrie if thing started to go wrong, got the whole rig stuck on soft ground, trying to get along side the base, we were to unload on, lots of swearing, cab bouncing all over the place, with the 3 of us watching, it was going no where. The 3 of us were getting all the blame for just standing there watching. all of a sudden he jumps out the cab, (now this guy is over 6’3’', massive, could unload CWT panel 2 at a time) I just said Dave let me have a go, a few choice words from him and I just drove it out, why I don’t know, but it just came out, he never spoke for the rest of the day, but Frank the other driver was pi–ing himself laughing.
I was a trailer mate at Fridged Freight during school holidays through the sixties. I was never treated badly. I had to load the trailer whilst the driver loaded the wagon then whoever finished first would help the other, usually hand-ball at the docks. ( never got asked for a union card, but got a bollocking when we got back from lunch and I threw a bag of peas off the pallet onto the trailer before climbing up.) I loved trundling through the towns, looking at the girls in their mini skirts before the dual carriage-way were built. When we did get on them we played Gin Rummy on the bonnet to relieve the boredom or made up silly phrases from the registrations that overtook us. eg. EPW = Every Person Widdles. I grabbed every opportunity to drive - sod the law - and became profficient at reversing onto the plate, uncoupling and backing the wagon on whilst the driver went to the office, phoned in and sorted the paperwork out. Most of all it was the Craic that was continious and I was always disappointed going home. I think the comradery spoiled lonely long distance driving for me cos when I did it for a short time later and the motorways were established the job was tedious
and unrewarding, dominated by know-it-all schoolboys who equated an inch on a map to a gallon of diesel and twenty minutes driving so I got out. Jim
I can honestly say I was never mistreated by the drivers and most were a great help some more than others but it was a very good learning curve as some drivers would explain why things had to be done in a certain way and why you should not try some short cuts or different ways and what could happen as I started on heavy haulage there was a lot more to learn about loading than the actual driving and the location of our depot though small you had to blind side reverse in if the yard was half full.
I was taught how to double head and also push on the big outfits with a small tractor which had no communication so you had to keep your eye on the main tractors exhaust as for when to change down and listen to your own engine as there was no rev counters and when on heavy work you were not going fast enough for the speedometer to read properly.
I was taught how to line up the bogies for long loads using a piece of string as a plumb line so as when you had loaded the load did not run out of line on the road. We used to get quite a few pieces of machinery which were one side heavy so you used the centre of the cranes hook as guide for loading and not the centre of the load but most of the things I learned were common sense and treat the wagon with respect as it had to get you back as well as to the destination.
cheers Johnnie