I was working for the co-op in Southampton delivering coal 40 years ago.
Moved on to road haulage in 1974. Sheeting & roping. 6 days a week and 10/- a night out! Sleeping across the engine cowling and ice on the inside of the windows. No radio, no showers and no money, lol. I wonder why I’m riddled with arthritis! Heady days.
yeah, great memories, great times 
a
Hi everybody, wow 40 years ago, it doesn’t sound much if you say it quick does it ! I had just left Elliotts of York as a drivers mate and started with Flowers Transport. I started in the warehouse during the sugar campaign 1972, we used to build stacks of sugar in 1cwt paper bags that were as big as a block of terraced houses inside the big sheds at Benningborough. I then went on to drive a fork lift and used to shunt trailers around the yard using a two pedal Leyland Beaver (see My Mistake) truck and driver 1972 !
The following year I donned HGV L plates and took my class3 and two years later my class 1 and the rest as they say is history ! Happy days. 
Regards Tony H.
“What were you doing 40 years ago?”
Probably double maths, or worse still, double history (zzz zzz zzz)
nosmoking:
I was working for the co-op in Southampton delivering coal 40 years ago.
My days, there’s a couple of cracking photos there. Much as I used to loathe lugging people’s flea-bitten, cack-infested furniture week in week out some days, I used to take some comfort in the knowledge I wasn’t hauling 1cwt sacks of coal all day. A job on general haulage must have seemed like money for old rope.
1969 I was driving a Mack B61 Thermodyne artic with 2 more 40 footers tacked on behind running cattle from WA to NT in Oz.
Either that or a Yellow Cab Co. taxi in Sydney
Or cutting cane in Queensland or running a little Bedford tipper 500 yards at the back of a sugar mill getting rid of waste from the heating process.
Somewhere in amongst all that was living in the bush while driving a road roller for the Main Roads Department and where I learned that if you knocked one of those out of gear there was no way to stop till you got to the bottom. 
What? It was over 40 odd years ago, am I supposed to be the memory man? 
Then I came back and did a Nottingham-Trafford Park night trunk for a year with a Leyland Redline and light 30 foot stepframe van for W.E. (Bill) Andrew and Son fetching cornflakes while waiting for a tramping job to come up at Midlands Storage.
Fun days. All of them.
I was nothing more than a sperm in my Dads nutsack.
probably at taunton market on my way back with the first load of barreners in my thames trader 40 years thats gone quick, market is gone now, lorries from all over the country use to be down there on a saturday.Busy old day that would be 1 load in several pick ups of calves pigs and cattle unload wash out and couple of load out.Not bad in a old mmb thames that cost £60 got two years out that old girl under 3tons unladen then we put the flat on.Had a parkhouse 19foot ali container on her and stopping was a challenge with 10 heavy barreners in the back and sometimes the steering use to go a bit lite.Anyhow enough of that first time of this caper best get on.
hi all , j c55 i was same thames trader 3 ton unladen ',into shrewsbury market. have you any pics of your truck. i have put 1 off oiurs on thames trader thread M J PARRY thanks charlie
I was miling cows on a farm & often wish I still was. It certainly wasn’t anything like todays rat race. I’d like to see any photos you have of those days too jc55.
BB
just geting knowles i,m geting summerholiday work on local busfirme as condactor (runningboy) already had diesel in blood (at4 old geting to codrive j6 bedford,i was 13 , never cam ower it ,fuel runs in my
Sitting in this during school holidays, as it was cheep child care at 1st til i got the bug (didn’t take long). Moaning about " why can’t have an F89 like uncle Barry’s ". I was only about 3/4.
I was at primary school lol
I was driving a 180 Percy powered Atkinson for Humber McVeigh’s Salford,probably taking a 40ft Seatrain container to either Felixstowe or Greenock,dropping it off and loading an empty back to Manchester to reload whatever back up the road again,good days,glad I’m not on the road today though!
Take it easy,
David
i was driving a brand new leyland six wheeler on nightshift for henry longs of bradford loading heinz beans out of wigan for delivery to supermarket mostly in the west yorkshire area
cheers
frank
Well I wasn’t born until 1974 but I know my Dad was driving for Steetleys on the concrete. I think he said it was a Scammell, I’ll check that though. Unfortunately no pictures but hey ho.
sorry chaps for not getting back before i haven t got a photo of the thames at moment but heres a couple of older moters i played with before i could drive on the road usually in the markets.
Was that a case of you take the beasts in and Cobdens take them out? (Dead)
i suppose thats one way of putting it but before all that we use to move alot of barreners to sheerness for cobdens.
Do you happen to know when they packed up. I used to know the chap who drove the AEC V8 for them and often wondered what happened to everyone.
Bill