Robsons 'Frae Carlisle

Someone must have some tales about this Great old transport company, who wereTHE “origional” transport firm from Carlisle who were known the length and breadth of the UK,long before modern day “hype” and bollox and not to be confused with later Facsimiles from the Border City !

In the early '60’s there was a Robson driver called Sandy Shanks a native of Larkhall,Lanarkshire, who lived behind a fruit and veg shop in Wildman St. Kendal,he was a Scotsman probably in his late 50’s early 60’s at the time,and he liked a pint/dram or two or three.Anyway,he drove a Trader 4 wheeler for Robsons and his main job was delivering to Liverpool docks,he was a renowned pub singer and apparently was known in every boozer the length of the Dock road and was a “star” turn at lunch time sessions !! This “stardom” translated into Sandy’s ability to circumnavigate any “hold up” and get tipped against all the odds,regardless of the length of the queue !!However,for reasons which can be guessed,Sandy lost his job at Robsons eventually but got a job with a Kendal firm,C & J ■■■■■■■■ as their spare driver.But this job came to dramatic end one day when Sandy had been returning from Carlisle in a Commer 2 stroke and had called in for “refreshment” at the popular drivers “watering” hole of Stonebeck Inn on the the then main A6 road just north of Penrith.Anyway,later on that day when he had set off to Kendal Sandy was stopped by the Law when he was “clocked” flying through Shap village waving a bottle out of the window singing his head off.He got locked up for the night in the cell at Shap 'Nick" and this was well before the breathalyser came into force!,this brought a final end to his driving career and I believe he went back to Larkhall for the remainder of his life,but he was a true character within the,then,transport world.His loads were always immaculately sheeted and he kept his motor tidy,but his taste for the Amber nectar finally did for him. Cheers Bewick.

Local lads around here will recall a character like that Dennis, had a job to pass a pub! Be interesting to hear about Robsons, similar story to Alf Sutton I imagine?

Pete.

I remember a tale told to me by Willie Wuzzel from Abbeytown a Robson driver in the early 70s, a mate of his also a Robson driver got …romantically involved… with a girl who worked in the Jungle Cafe at Shap, when he told Willie he planned to marry her, Willie tried to put him off and told him that half of Robsons had been with her, his reply was thats ok, Robsons isn’t THAT big a firm , I also heard that on a Sunday Willie spent his day in the pub, and on Sunday evening when he set off down the M6, his young boy sat on his knee and drove while Willie was asleep, and knocked him on the knee every time he needed a gear change.

Bewick:
In the early '60’s there was a Robson driver called Sandy Shanks a native of Larkhall,Lanarkshire, who lived behind a fruit and veg shop in Wildman St. Kendal,he was a Scotsman probably in his late 50’s early 60’s at the time,and he liked a pint/dram or two or three.Anyway,he drove a Trader 4 wheeler for Robsons and his main job was delivering to Liverpool docks,he was a renowned pub singer and apparently was known in every boozer the length of the Dock road and was a “star” turn at lunch time sessions !! This “stardom” translated into Sandy’s ability to circumnavigate any “hold up” and get tipped against all the odds,regardless of the length of the queue !!However,for reasons which can be guessed,Sandy lost his job at Robsons eventually but got a job with a Kendal firm,C & J ■■■■■■■■ as their spare driver.But this job came to dramatic end one day when Sandy had been returning from Carlisle in a Commer 2 stroke and had called in for “refreshment” at the popular drivers “watering” hole of Stonebeck Inn on the the then main A6 road just north of Penrith.Anyway,later on that day when he had set off to Kendal Sandy was stopped by the Law when he was “clocked” flying through Shap village waving a bottle out of the window singing his head off.He got locked up for the night in the cell at Shap 'Nick" and this was well before the breathalyser came into force!,this brought a final end to his driving career and I believe he went back to Larkhall for the remainder of his life,but he was a true character within the,then,transport world.His loads were always immaculately sheeted and he kept his motor tidy,but his taste for the Amber nectar finally did for him. Cheers Bewick.

what a good story Dennis good to read things like this,i don;t remember with me being so young

I was interested to see Windrush’s mention of Alf Sutton, I drove for Sutton’s (TeesSide depot) in 1975,
One of the runs was carrying Nylon Salt from ICI Wilton to ICI Billingham, there was a spare trailer on this job so I dropped one off to offload at Billingham and took an empty back to Wilton for refill, I could do 6 or 7 loads a shift.
Unfortunately one sunny Saturday afternoon I stopped at a mini roundabout at Middlesborough Eye Infirmary (the Parkway by-pass was closed for repair),
When I pulled away after letting some traffic around the roundabout the trailer didn’t, it became unhitched and nosedived onto the road with 5,000 gallons of Nylon Salt, luckinly the barrel didn’t split !.
ICI’s clean up squad were called out, the police arrested me, and Alf Sutton’s comment over the phone to the depot manager – SACK THAT BTD ! – his exact words!
I have never had much to do with unions, but they wern’t having any of this and they stood me in good stead, they took up my case,
it turned out that the 5th wheel was still locked, the police could find no fault on my part - it had been correctly coupled.[/i]
The union then looked further into 5th wheel problems and it turned out that there had been three previous incidents all using Hope 5th wheels, where they became uncoupled although still locked.
They took this info to the police and all charges were dropped and dear old Alf had to change all Hope 5th wheels of which he had quite a few.
They also demanded that I be reinstated and an apology issued and lost wages made up,
I was summoned into Tommy McKinstry’s (Transport manager) office in Billingham where I recieved a phone call from “GOD” himself telling me I was reinstated
my reply – “STICK IT, YOU OLD +++++++”
I walked out of there 10 foot high, hopped into one of Bobby Durham’s Atki’s and headed back into ICI !

in the early 70s i drove an ex Robsons Foden reg no BHH 563 B it had a 150 gardener and 12 speed box. i was pulling trailers in u/k for F C F Southampton. one sunday arrived at office and Peter Jones the manager said pick up fcf 101 in Poole and ship out to deliver Beziers in southern France and reload same place for Wirral. that was first continental trip for us both, it went on for us to do this run for 5 months, and she never missed a beat. brilliant lorry in its day.

Great stories , top men , weldone Dennis for starting the thread .

I don,t think I need ask but I suppose you Robson men have heard Mark Knoplers rendition of the 'Border Reiver" on the get Lucky album …It would bring a tear to your eye if you were with them in the 60,s My Scotstoun lassie … she,s an Albion

For reasons best known to Robsons they never established a UK depot system in the 50’s/60’s along the lines of Smith of Maddiston,Suttons,Ridings etc.From what I gathered they used the Silver Roadways network as their “agents”,although Robsons did run an extensive Trunking operation it was all operated from the Carlisle traffic desks and they just employed outbased drivers/shunters who got their orders via telephone from Carlisle.They had quite an impressive traffic office at Carlisle,each traffic clerk had their particular area of responsility,trunkers,roamers,shunters etc. and this was all prior to the Mobile phone era,all done from GPO landlines in an era when the drivers were also excpected to use their own “commom sense” much of the time,totally different from the operations of to-day, urr!! my head hurts !!! Cheers Bewick.

Bewick:
For reasons best known to Robsons they never established a UK depot system in the 50’s/60’s along the lines of Smith of Maddiston,Suttons,Ridings etc.From what I gathered they used the Silver Roadways network as their “agents”,although Robsons did run an extensive Trunking operation it was all operated from the Carlisle traffic desks and they just employed outbased drivers/shunters who got their orders via telephone from Carlisle.They had quite an impressive traffic office at Carlisle,each traffic clerk had their particular area of responsility,trunkers,roamers,shunters etc. and this was all prior to the Mobile phone era,all done from GPO landlines in an era when the drivers were also excpected to use their own “commom sense” much of the time,totally different from the operations of to-day, urr!! my head hurts !!! Cheers Bewick.

Stupid question,what was. . or is . . the difference between a tramper and a roamer?.

If you were a Geordie you were refered to as a Tramper, I dont know where the Roamer came from It wasnt a word used in my day as a driver that went where the work was, I used to leave on a Sunday loaded for the Smoke & loaded for anywhere with anything the kept me rolling & made me a few bob, & The gaffers I worked for in the 50/60s were pleased when the owld motor was making money for them, as well as me of course, How things have changed, no looking for a phone box to get a load Eh, Regards Larry.

Suedehead:

Bewick:
For reasons best known to Robsons they never established a UK depot system in the 50’s/60’s along the lines of Smith of Maddiston,Suttons,Ridings etc.From what I gathered they used the Silver Roadways network as their “agents”,although Robsons did run an extensive Trunking operation it was all operated from the Carlisle traffic desks and they just employed outbased drivers/shunters who got their orders via telephone from Carlisle.They had quite an impressive traffic office at Carlisle,each traffic clerk had their particular area of responsility,trunkers,roamers,shunters etc. and this was all prior to the Mobile phone era,all done from GPO landlines in an era when the drivers were also excpected to use their own “commom sense” much of the time,totally different from the operations of to-day, urr!! my head hurts !!! Cheers Bewick.

Stupid question,what was. . or is . . the difference between a tramper and a roamer?.

Same job I suppose,the term “roamer” was used in the transport world years ago and the term was definitely used at Robsons all those years ago!The term “tramper” that is used to-day is a misnomer,every motor nowadays has a mobile phone installed and the driver can hardly go for “a leak” without asking permission from his “planner”,the true Trampers and Roamers of yesteryear operated in a completly different way,they had to be,more-or-less,self sufficient and able to operate independantly and able to respond efficiently to whatever they were required to load and deliver nationwide,different world and very different times !! Cheers Bewick.

Lawrence Dunbar:
If you were a Geordie you were refered to as a Tramper, I dont know where the Roamer came from It wasnt a word used in my day as a driver that went where the work was, I used to leave on a Sunday loaded for the Smoke & loaded for anywhere with anything the kept me rolling & made me a few bob, & The gaffers I worked for in the 50/60s were pleased when the owld motor was making money for them, as well as me of course, How things have changed, no looking for a phone box to get a load Eh, Regards Larry.

Now ye suprise me Larry,the term “roamer” was definitely used over this side,same thing as “tramper” which was also a term used,while were on about long lost terminology have you ever heard of the term " being on the bench" ? ( not on the tools in the workshop either!),All the best for 2013 as well Larry ! Cheers Dennis.

Spot on Bewick, I remember loading for London 1963, When I worked for Smiles for Miles my late Great Uncle Isaac,s firm I had 5 drops & the late Fred Smiles told me I had a £100.00 on my back, Well that was good money in those days, & of course I got a return load, I cant remember where it was for but I did another two trips that week a Machester & a Glasgow loaded all the way, Its little wonder they could buy 10 new motors at the drop of a hat, Happy days Eh, Regards Larry.

And these days the return load will be at some cr*p rate that is best left alone, might pay for fuel and that’s about all!

Pete.

windrush:
And these days the return load will be at some cr*p rate that is best left alone, might pay for fuel and that’s about all!

Pete.

And the outbound “rate” will be uneconomic as well Pete,but obviously some current operators must still believe that two rubbish rates added together make a viable return,delluded or what !! Cheers Dennis.

Well in my day as an owner driver the return load rates were reasonable, But it was getting the bloody money off some of the greedy b…ds that was the problem, I used to try & load back off the local firms where I lived, Like for instance Jakey Adams they had contacts all over the country, And the money was there on the dot, The same as McGoverns the brick merchants who give us work from Wemmys in Scotland & various other places in the UK, Paid on the dot just like Adams, Bells of Ashington,Van Hee Transport T.James Ltd Bedlington, F.Short & Sons Ltd Felling plus quite a few more, But having said all this Im glad to be retired & out of it, But I must say I enjoyed my life in the haulage game, & Im now enjoying my just rewards for myself & my lads that made it possible, Regards Larry… PS Mind you I was ripped off a few times & Im still owed quite a bit of money which I know I will never re-coup.

rate chopping is as old as transport , always some daft sod who thinks it will work for them alone .ici rates were brilliant , they payed dedicated rates to regular hauliers to ensure that they always had transport on tap . one job was lime to s. wales @ 13 quid per ton and cement clinker back for 10 , lo and behold they were swamped with offers to do the round trip for 13 quid . ici refused on the grounds that they didn’t allow subbing of their work . when ici sold out the quarry division the rates collapsed within a few months and never recovered . cheers , dave