Well at 16 I was told to earn money, my dad was a docker and brought two kids up on his own.
As the eldest in 1981 I left school on a YOP scheme, loading/unloading wagons (handball at Canada cold store Brunswick place on the dock road Liverpool) , A lot of Norfolk line
I learnt a hell of a lot about work and people on that job.
I then went to a brush factory as a fitter, this mostly involved making brushes
Then while there I joined the TA (RCT) aged about 18, at 20 I was made redundant so got what used to be called an S type engagement (6 months regular work)as a port operator in Marchwood, after 9 months they remembered I was still there
I got my Class 3 a week before (1987) I left and started with a bus company the same week and got my psv class 1 (crash box I will have you no )
I did another 10 years in the now called RLC.
I worked as a driver for many years and got involved as a H&S rep and risk assessment and actually did some good for the drivers.
I had a very bad accident in 2003, (for the record it was non blame worthy) I lost the will to drive but tried for a while, I decided to jack it in but all credit to the company they did not want my experience and knowledge escape, so I was offered a 9 to 5 office job and car, ā ā ā ā yer
7 years on made redundant , but offered a transfer to Lutonā¦ no thanks, gimmi the 18k
So a few years on I am still rollin,not missing the office one bit and landed on my feet with a good company and (shhhhhhh) I am loving it
Drift:
Well at 16 I was told to earn money, my dad was a docker and brought two kids up on his own.
As the eldest in 1981 I left school on a YOP scheme,
I too left school in 81 and started on a YOP scheme and I think it paid Ā£25 a week and like your Dad I too was a docker for 17 yrs and what a brilliant job it was.
Was a greenkeeper at the local golf club for 6 yrs then around 1988 went straight into my class 1 passing with Peter Lane Transport at Portbury.
Spent 3 yrs driving then docking for 17 yrs till massive change of contract meant I couldnāt work there anymore so went back driving and been with present company nearly 6 yrs.
Married at 26 divorced at 29 then 2 yrs later met my current wife but it took me 11 yrs to pop the question but she hung around all that time so I guess she must like me a bit !! and next year we will have been together 20 yrs.
School year before mine left at age 15 but my year could not leave until age 16 - not for me so I got myself suspended for non attendance and went to work for 70+ hours a week at local filling station - school report said lazy !!
Age 16 went into junior leaders regiment RCT which was great for first 6 months of basic training but got really boring after that so changed corps for 2 months and went back to restart basic training = great until they realised I had done that so back to boring classroom - at that point I got out entirely but it did teach me a lot of self discipline etc
Age 17/18 worked a Lewisās receiving dock
Age 19/20 = night rigid + artic internal yard shunter for NCL (no licence at all)
Age 21 = NCL put me through my first driving test in a 7.5 tonner!! - 1st time pass
Got married at age 25 and divorced at age 29 = big mistake that marriage was
Age 21 to 29 = various 7.5 tonner and van driving jobs
Age 30 passed the old HGV class 1 - 7 day course - 1st time pass
Age 30 got married to current wife - daughter born in 1988
Age 30 to 46 mainly drove rigids on steel deliveries (15 years at one company)
Serious back issues at age 46 so had to give up that great job
Age 47 retrained in admin but no luck to it leading to any job
Age 48 to 50 = couple of LGV instructor jobs
Age 50 onwards ā¦ donāt ask !
Few more other little jobs not mentioned
Passed car advanced in 1997
Passed LGV advanced in 1998
Started car + LGV advanced observing in 1988 - still doing that now
I enjoy reading about peoples lives and what they have done in it,i have bought a lot of biographys over the years of celebs and blokes who man the nightclubs[doorman]and find both very good but having said that it would be nice to read a biography on a truckers life or even as the OP says a dockers life,i reckon there would be some good stories there,one story that allways made me laugh was one told to me by my dad when he was a young trucker on the docks and still learning the ropes,everybody had moved forward in the queue except one lorry in front,my dad was asked to move the one in front which he did,BIG MISTAKE,as my dad climbed from the lorry there was a shout of OY,as he turned he was met with a right hander and put on his backside,a few years on he said that was one lesson learnt the hard way,ie never get into another drivers vehicle without permission,quite a funny story and my dad and I had a good laugh about it in later years,i expect drivers from that generation could have some good stories to tell as well as todays lot,like the maoster with his story about the superglue
I left school officially in 81 but used to bunk off and go with my dad and granddads in their lorries most weekends were spent in the yard thatās where I was taught to sheet and rope
When I left school I worked at calverton colliery for 18 months in the fitting shop
1983 to 2003 I worked for
J Stirland transport in Nottingham (a TDG company)
I got a job there as a apprentice HGV mechanic I passed my city and guilds 383 HGV Mechanical engineering course
I passed my HGV Class 1 in 86in a Gardner 240 powered ERF of 1977 vintage
About 7 months after being 21 I had to pack up the spanners due to severe industrial dermatitis (a skin disease caused by constant contact with diesel used engine oil and other things)
I then went on to the driving side of Stirlands
Where you had to start at the bottom which meant being a spare man until you worked your way to the job you wanted or if a job was put on the board which went on seniority and service
I spent a few years on shunting and a shuttle job
I did night trunking day trunking then I finally got on to roaming in 87
On the roaming side of the fleet you also got the hand me down motors
I was quite lucky in being a young driver but Iād learnt a lot from my dad and granddads and numerous uncles who were all lorry drivers plus I was never scared to ask for advice
I left Stirlands in 2003 as I was offered a job with Imperial Tobacco in Nottingham as a yard Shunter it was too good of a offer to refuse
Iāve been on permanent afternoons since I started
My job is finishing in April 2016 as our site is closing and all production is moving to Poland then itās back to looking for another job
Left school at 16, worked as a waiter, got bored of that so got my CSCS and done some labouring, got bored of that so went abroad and done labouring. Came back and started working on trawlers, got fed up with reeking of last weekās balls and dead sea life so got work in a warehouse. 6 months bored me in there so I got work as a driverās mate delivering furniture. Passed my Class 2 then Class 1 at 20 and drove rigids delivering furniture. Got a start on general haulage Class 1 a few weeks ago and now Iām here!
Left school at 18. Had no interest in going to university, went to work at the builders merchants I had a Saturday job at. Was a yard hand, then forklift driver.
Got a bit restless at 21 and went to Thailand for 18 months, worked as a scuba diving instructor. Enjoyed it a lot, came home to earn some quick scratch for me to do some more serious diving for myself. I met my missus after being home for a month, and I knew I wasnāt going back to the land of Ladyboys and easy lays
Went back to the builders merchants as yard manager, then got my class 2 through work, to be a cover driver, then I became the first choice driver, then Transport Manager of me and one other driver.
I sensed the builders merchants was going up the swanny, so when my current position as a driver came up I grabbed it with both hands. Have spent the last 2 1/2 years as ājustā a driver and I have loved it to be honest.
Left school at 16 in 1979. Worked on the A329M construction site for a few months. Passed driving test a few days after 17th birthday.
Started working for an insurance company but, after 2 or 3 years, decided I couldnāt hack working in an office (and the pay was rubbish) so got a job as a trainee driver, initially on 7.5t (in those days limit was 3t unladen), for the local Council.
At 21 paid for my own HGV test (went straight for Class 1 in those days).
Then drove rigids for a builderās merchant until I was 24.
Moved on to a large roof tile co. as a 6/8 wheeler driver, and relief artic driver. Back-breaking work as it was all handball then, but eventually we got Hiabs.
I got given the companyās first brand new T reg W&D, with Hiab.
Iāve been TUPEād twice since then, because they outsourced their transport, but am still working on contract to the same company, as a tramper.
Now got a curtain-side W&D, with Moffett though, instead of a Hiab.
So, basically, been driving for a living since I was 19, and been delivering for the same roof tile company since 1979.
Also during that time, I spent 12 years in the TA (RCT/RLC) driving fuel tankers and occasionally ambulances.
Iām 60 now, but expect to carry on driving at least for a couple of years. Unlike someā¦I still enjoy it!
Got married at 19, been together for over 41 years (being a tramper helps! ) No kidsā¦but various dogs over the years.
Christ Trucken, I must have been stuck in some temporal rift like something from Star Trek as I too left school in 1979 aged 16, difference being Iām 52 now, not 60!
the maoster:
Christ Trucken, I must have been stuck in some temporal rift like something from Star Trek as I too left school in 1979 aged 16, difference being Iām 52 now, not 60!
the maoster:
Christ Trucken, I must have been stuck in some temporal rift like something from Star Trek as I too left school in 1979 aged 16, difference being Iām 52 now, not 60!
I had a career in Her Majestysā Government until I was injured on duty and now walk with a limp not unlike Herr Flick of the Gestapo. I went to very interesting places and took care of some important business which I canāt divulge on here but I will sit next to you in an RDC and reveal all.
I then used a contact who got me a high class job in industry, and in my spare time I learnt to fly helicopters. Through a personnal problem I became disillusioned with the path my life took so I obtained my Class 2 and then my Class 1 through a favour owed to me by someone at the DVLA. I now drive for several agencies on blue chip contracts as it suits my circumstances.
Iām proud to say I earn more than most drivers and have a different Parrot bluetooth for each day of the week I work (I have 3 headsets).
Iāve kept things brief but if youād like to know more Iām the guy sat on his own.
I had a career in Her Majestysā Government until I was injured on duty and now walk with a limp not unlike Herr Flick of the Gestapo. I went to very interesting places and took care of some important business which I canāt divulge on here but I will sit next to you in an RDC and reveal all.
I then used a contact who got me a high class job in industry, and in my spare time I learnt to fly helicopters. Through a personnal problem I became disillusioned with the path my life took so I obtained my Class 2 and then my Class 1 through a favour owed to me by someone at the DVLA. I now drive for several agencies on blue chip contracts as it suits my circumstances.
Iām proud to say I earn more than most drivers and have a different Parrot bluetooth for each day of the week I work (I have 3 headsets).
Iāve kept things brief but if youād like to know more Iām the guy sat on his own.
Can I sit on your knee? And do you have any wertherās originals?
Sorry maoster, when you see an opening, you just gotta go for it!!!
Anyway, I suppose I better be serious for a momentā¦
Left school in 1987, sat my car test in 89 when i turned 18 while working as a trainee site engineer. Did that for a few years while Maggie Thatcherās government killed the industry, so did a Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Upon completing that got an IT job for one of the big 3 computer companies (youāll have heard of them). Did that for many years and eventually left the industry, as i was fed up with IT and wanted a change.
And thatās how I ended up becoming an agency limping scumbag driverā¦
I had a career in Her Majestysā Government until I was injured on duty and now walk with a limp not unlike Herr Flick of the Gestapo. I went to very interesting places and took care of some important business which I canāt divulge on here but I will sit next to you in an RDC and reveal all.
I then used a contact who got me a high class job in industry, and in my spare time I learnt to fly helicopters. Through a personnal problem I became disillusioned with the path my life took so I obtained my Class 2 and then my Class 1 through a favour owed to me by someone at the DVLA. I now drive for several agencies on blue chip contracts as it suits my circumstances.
Iām proud to say I earn more than most drivers and have a different Parrot bluetooth for each day of the week I work (I have 3 headsets).
Iāve kept things brief but if youād like to know more Iām the guy sat on his own.
Can I sit on your knee? And do you have any wertherās originals?
Sorry maoster, when you see an opening, you just gotta go for it!!!
Anyway, I suppose I better be serious for a momentā¦
Left school in 1987, sat my car test in 89 when i turned 18 while working as a trainee site engineer. Did that for a few years while Maggie Thatcherās government killed the industry, so did a Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Upon completing that got an IT job for one of the big 3 computer companies (youāll have heard of them). Did that for many years and eventually left the industry, as i was fed up with IT and wanted a change.
And thatās how I ended up becoming an agency limping scumbag driverā¦
trucken:
Left school at 16 in 1979. Worked on the A329M construction site for a few months. Passed driving test a few days after 17th birthday.
Started working for an insurance company but, after 2 or 3 years, decided I couldnāt hack working in an office (and the pay was rubbish) so got a job as a trainee driver, initially on 7.5t (in those days limit was 3t unladen), for the local Council.
At 21 paid for my own HGV test (went straight for Class 1 in those days).
Then drove rigids for a builderās merchant until I was 24.
Moved on to a large roof tile co. as a 6/8 wheeler driver, and relief artic driver. Back-breaking work as it was all handball then, but eventually we got Hiabs.
I got given the companyās first brand new T reg W&D, with Hiab.
Iāve been TUPEād twice since then, because they outsourced their transport, but am still working on contract to the same company, as a tramper.
Now got a curtain-side W&D, with Moffett though, instead of a Hiab.
So, basically, been driving for a living since I was 19, and been delivering for the same roof tile company since 1979.
Also during that time, I spent 12 years in the TA (RCT/RLC) driving fuel tankers and occasionally ambulances.
Iām 60 now, but expect to carry on driving at least for a couple of years. Unlike someā¦I still enjoy it!
Got married at 19, been together for over 41 years (being a tramper helps! ) No kidsā¦but various dogs over the years.
Maths has never been my strongest point but if you were 16 in 1979,how the frec are you 60 now
Mr Truckman sir, I can better that. I have the last Gateway carrier bag made, prior to the Somerfield takeover.
Mr EvilBeezle as youāre so interested I will divulge a little celebrity titbit.
Remember This Is Your Life hosted by the late Eamonn Andrews? Well he had a red book moment all for me, until it mentioned my mentorsā first job running a book warehouse in Dallas in 1963. He passed away before the show was filmed, however he did lend a copy to ex Black and White Minstrel star Leslie Crowther who was proof reading it on the set of The Price Is Right before his tragic death in a car accident.
The red book was apparently purchased from his estate by pension expert Robert Maxwell who apparently drowned trying to retrieve it after it fell off his yacht in the early ā90s.
I spent the next 6 years trying to find it, turned out some bloke called Dodo or something like that half inched it from Harrodsā staff canteen and gave it to his bit of rough during a meal in Paris. Itās whereabouts are now unknown as it disappeared following a car chase in August '97.
Well got to go now, my elderly mother needs her bed bath.
