Who enjoyed working on a Saturday morning years ago. I used to like a Saturday morning, which meant more overtime at time and a half. Also the loads we did on Saturday always seemed at a good steady pace. Some of the firms I drove for, we greased and changed the oil etc on a Saturday afternoon and carried out other maintenance. It didn’t amuse my then girlfriend at the time, but I didn’t mind it.
What are your memories ?
Cheers Dave.
I like working Saturdays if I can be back before 9 when all the ■■■ holes come out .
Dan Punchard:
I like working Saturdays if I can be back before 9 when all the ■■■ holes come out .
I still enjoy my Sat mornings 7.00.am Walk down to the paper shop, Then stroll back home for my Bacon & Eggs breakfast, I didn’t realise that you had the ■■■ holes as well Dan, Where I live the place is overrun with them, But of course I just ignore them as you probabley do too, Regards Larry.
The best Saturday morning was when you were running back in off a dodgy night out ,booked off about 50 miles from home ,although you were at home!!,yes owner drivers will maybe be shocked ,however that was the way it was,union and office rules somtimes worked very well for us, you would only get 4 hours pay for the saturday morning ,but the very best was actually drawing the petty cash , saturday morning from the manager for maybe 3 dodgy nights that week.
the cash set you up for a good weekend, and look forward for the next week and it would go on and on .i am talking all 1970s.
Maybe some will say lazy bast----,but you was not there. i still go to the spit bank on a saturday morning and have a small draw,just to keep afloat…
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jimcab:
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I didn’t do that many Saturdays as I liked getting away for the weekend in the caravan! 
However, being on earnings, there was no time and a half etc when I did work although when I drove for Tilcon we did get overtime rate. That was a downside of earnings. Only thing was that I (and other driver’s) seemed to get stitched up on a Saturday as you went to tarmac gangs who were made up of casuals and they wanted plenty of overtime! I remember phoning the local Tarmac quarry one Friday to see about any Saturday work and they offered me a local load of stone first thing and then wait in the quarry for around three hours for two loads of tar to the A1 at Newark loading the first at 1 pm! They were not impressed when I told them that they could stick it where the Sun didn’t shine, their answer was “Don’t you want work then?” which says it all about that company! I also remember going to a gang of ‘subbies’ in Leamington Spa on a Saturday, they had me going around the town while they stood in the back of the truck chucking shovel loads of tarmac into dropped kerbs. That took over four hours, they were not at all happy when I booked them for daywork… 
If I did happen to get an early tip then I would usually wash the truck or possibly do a brake reline/greasing/oil change etc before going home as it saved doing it in the week. 
Pete.
i used to love saturday mornings , start at 6 am , go like hell and get all the trucks loaded for sunday/monday . break at 10am , into the canteen and the gaffer would cook a full breakfast for everyone there . it was great until some of the deadlegs made an excuse to come up for "something they left in the cab "blag a breakfast and go home again . if we did a run on saturday there was the price of your breakfast on the road in your pay packet .dave
rigsby:
i used to love saturday mornings , start at 6 am , go like hell and get all the trucks loaded for sunday/monday . break at 10am , into the canteen and the gaffer would cook a full breakfast for everyone there . it was great until some of the deadlegs made an excuse to come up for "something they left in the cab "blag a breakfast and go home again . if we did a run on saturday there was the price of your breakfast on the road in your pay packet .dave
Aye the good old happy days Rigsby, When us oldies did our bit for the gaffer and got rewarded for our efforts, Nowt like this happens these days does it, All gone Im afraid, The new technolegy factor has ■■■■■■ all & everything IMO, Regards Larry.
Last proper general (bulk mainly) transport outfit i worked for Saturdays you might have a local or maybe running in, but it was usually a wash down day, might acid wash the trailer if the alloy was looking scabby.
Into the workshops if anything needed doing, we as drivers often assisted the mechanics, well we got in their way more like it but meant well.
Sometimes it would be all day working, or Sunday if your turn, as we had a local council contract for shifting rubbish from the local householders tips to landfill, a job i used to thoroughly enjoy.
Late morning we’d all, boss included, pop up into the tea room, Hans our (now sadly gone) German driver would nip to the bakery to get an apple stroodle or two.
Were some real characters about then, maybe people didn’t take themselves so seriously, we had the sense to be able to laugh at our own ridiculousness, whatever it was the whole country was a better place to be as were the roads.
I left that job around 1986, never worked for a proper old school haulage company since.
These days my shift pattern includes most saturdays, and two sundays in my 5 week rota, get far more time off by being on shifts and with SWMBO now retired it suits us both fine.
I actually like working weekends now, lorry numbers are back to weekday volumes from 30 years ago, there’s still some stressed tailgaters and idiots in lorries that you find every other day but you can spot them easier (sewn on perma hivis easier to spot) and ease them past sooner, most lorry drivers on weekends seem to be a little less frantic than the legion of bulging-eyed-heart-attacks-in-waiting that infest the roads rest of the week.
Best thing about saturdays in the yard used to be the chippy run for everybody fish and chips for dinner ,eaten out of the paper with mucky fingers
Hiya at Hulland Ward (you,ve all been there for a back load…) At Hulland Products you could load until 4 on sat and noon on SUNDAY
no one ever did a fiddle on Sunday to get loaded for a good start Monday…i know the young ones will slag that off… remember
we was young…earnings was on what you did… the pubs was only open 11 till 1. many drivers didn’t have a car so driving out was a NO
so we’d load Sunday have the crack(that,s talking to another driver and having a joke)…then stop off in the pub(full of drivers) and home about 2ish…good old log books…just nice and supple to bend a little…thanks Coppers they must have know what was happening
they said nothing.
If coming back through Dunkirk - Ramsgate in the 1980`s I would always try and time things so as to get the 2200-2300(■■) disco boat back from Dunkirk on the Friday night, park up in Ramsgate then run back in on Saturday morning. Leave Ramsgate 0900-1000 back in the pub Saturday Lunchtime by about 1200
Brings back memories from many years ago this thread but I can broaden out the “theme” a bit ! Out of a bunch of drivers,dosen’t matter how many,large or small fleet,general haulage,the drivers fell into a number of classes.Well in our case at Bewick Transport we had “horses for courses” and no way could you hammer a “square peg” into a"round hole".Some of our lads were quite happy to run Sundays (some more than others!) then there were some who did not like Sundays but were quite happy to run in on Saturdays and tip in many cases,then there was those that just wanted days and home every night,these lads could regularly perform miricles some days and still roll back into the depot at night having done a number of drops AND re-loaded as well.Then we also had our share of deadlegs who were happy to get away with 5 days,and the odd night out in the week and they would moan like ■■■■ when they found out that many other lads had earned 3 or 4 grand more in the year,they didn’t want to do it their selves but objected to others doing it as well !Then we had the “must be home on Friday night hero’s” but not just the odd Friday night for some family function or other but EVERY ■■■■■■■ Friday night if they could swing it,now this Friday antic really did get the traffic managers annoyed big style!! In the main we were usually able to run “horses for courses” and you’d be surprised how well we were able to operate smoothly,apart from the “Friday nighters” who were dealt with ■■■■■■■ severely at times!! Some other firms I have known fought running battles with their drivers about work patterns,and lost! But it was down to understanding your drivers and manage them accordingly,the job was hard enough without having to battle with drivers over weekly work patterns! We had a number of drivers over the years who were happy to leave the depot on a Sunday and not return until Friday afternoon! Interesting and happy days cheers Bewick.
Dave the Renegade:
Who enjoyed working on a Saturday morning years ago. I used to like a Saturday morning, which meant more overtime at time and a half. Also the loads we did on Saturday always seemed at a good steady pace. Some of the firms I drove for, we greased and changed the oil etc on a Saturday afternoon and carried out other maintenance. It didn’t amuse my then girlfriend at the time, but I didn’t mind it.
What are your memories ?
Cheers Dave.
Haven’t done many Saturday mornings, but last year I had a job that required working every Sunday and I much preferred it to weekdays - next to no traffic for starters. I got every second Friday off, which meant I could go into town and miss the crowds and was more likely to get my washing cleaned and dried on the line without it smelling of the neighbour’s barbecue smoke.
IndigoJo:
Haven’t done many Saturday mornings, but last year I had a job that required working every Sunday and I much preferred it to weekdays - next to no traffic for starters. I got every second Friday off, which meant I could go into town and miss the crowds and was more likely to get my washing cleaned and dried on the line without it smelling of the neighbour’s barbecue smoke.
I did a lot of Sunday work myself, and also nights on resurfacing work along with Gavin (Malmic’s top driver 
) and loved it. The rate dropped of course when Tarmac took over running the quarry but it was still a decent payer, we would do a couple of night runs and then finish off with one in the morning before heading home to bed ready to start again that night. Sunday work was easy, no traffic to speak of! It mostly fizzled out for us when Tarmac brought their contract hauliers in but it was good while it lasted.
Pete.
last place i was where this was common was Stevens of Gt Ayton, we used to come out about 7am have a potter about then clean the truck, about 9.30 we would have 30 minutes for a tea break and a Petches pork pie from down the village, bit more pottering about then home by 12, we used to get 4hrs at time and a half and a fiver for washing the truck, most of the time you would easily have had time to wash it on Friday afternoon but it was an unwritten rule you left it until Saturday morning
Saturday mornings on Flitwick Oil (Esso) Oxford was a nice (easy) perk, Richard (Planner), who if he was any more layed back he would have fell-over, would come in the rest room end of day Thursday & ask if anyone wanted the Saturday (small Depot, 5 tankers/ 5 drivers, ! planner, 1 yard-man, lovely!), whether he had work or not, because if he didn’t but someone wanted it, he would hold back a bit of local/local work, 2 to 3 hours work, guaranteed 04-30 hrs pay min’!
When on Cannons of Milton, used to like running in Saturday morning for another reason, bit soft this one but its a bit of nostalgia that I miss & the last firm I had it on, to have done a weeks work, drop the trailer, wash/bunker/hook up to load ready for Monday (if loaded), then go to the office window & get, wait for it, 2 envelopes, “WAGES IN CASH” , 1 with your wages in & the other with your expenses (night-out etc), you had your reward . No bank-transfers for them to ■■■■-up , cash in the hand always felt as if it was worth more, & made me feel better 
.
Regards Chris