JAKEY:
hell fire look at the size of that luton .
You can almost hear the spring shackles creaking 
ParkRoyal2100:
Suedehead:
Been a while,just unearthed these.
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New build nr Campbeltown.How long ago was that?
I think its 1970,the Bedfords reg was RMW 295H and was only a few months old.
Just for Jakey!! Sorry its taken so long Steve, but here is a selection of mine. Its not all of them, 1 is currently sunning itself in Spain, 1 is waiting to re-load in Geneva on Monday and 1 was in for inspection
All of them in need of a bloody good wash! No, I wasn’t going to do it today!!
My old girl,
8 pallet trailer that is currently being used for storage but I must get round to refurbing it and putting it on the road
The offices and warehouse
Hi James , great pictures , Though you could of washed your Volvo , she looks like proper removal wagon , 2200 cuft ■■ three man sleeper ?
Are you going to buy a new tractor unit when you have refurbished the trailer , that would take two days to load that trailer easy . 
Hi Steve,
The volvo is filthy and in dire need of a wash just haven’t got enough hours in the day at the moment. I even contemplated coming in on Sunday to do it but too much ale on Saturday night and a wife that is complaining she never sees me anyway put pay to that idea!!
You are correct, she is a 3man sleeper and 2200c/f. Runs on air front and rear and has a 1 &1/2 Ton underslung tailift so is very flexible. It has car ramps also. Have had tractors/trailers, cars, boats all sorts on it in its time. It spends most of its time now delivering shopfittings for an American chain that are hitting the UK hard. We receive everything into store in about 10 40’ containers and deliver as is required a little bit each week. Most of it is pumptrucked off so sure beats loading the ■■■■ thing by hand
I’ve neglected this thread a bit, so here’s a blatant attempt to revive it.
As any of the old lags on here (jdc, suedehead, jakey, Carl) who did (or still do) removals will know it’s all very well the guesstimator saying “1500cube” and the TM saying “you’ll be back by 3.00”, but the real skills of a good team are what make or break (literally some times) a good job.
Obviously firms differ in how crews are allocated, so I’ll stick to what I know. Depending on the job, as the driver I would have one or more of our own blokes plus one or more agency ‘porters’ (IOW donkeys). The knack to picking a good porter was an art won though many years of often bitter experience, but I got to the point that on a busy day I could walk into the canteen and out of half a dozen or more pick the one(s) I wanted. I would forgo and forget the big muscly types and take the wiry ones - even if they hadn’t a clue about lugging furniture they would at least still be carrying boxes after 10 hours while the beefy boofheads had thrown in the towel by lunch. If I got one who showed any interest in how to lift other people’s prized possessions without breaking them or wrecking their back, so much the better.
On arrival at the job, a different set of skills kicked in. Firstly, as the driver I had to know my wagon - what it could take up front (including in the luton, if there was one) or down the back (in the well if it had one) without overloading either end or making the thing list like a sailor on shore leave. Second, and in my view most importantly, was the walk-through. I make no claims I was the best ever, but after a couple of years at it I wasn’t half [zb] bad - I got to the point where I could walk right round a house I’d never been in whose occupants I’d never met and whose belongings I’d never seen, and in five minutes know roughly what I wanted from which room in what order. From time to time (depending on the job) I would tell everybody else to take a breather and while they were sat down go back in for a refresh, just to see what was left vs. what I’d packed vs. what was stacked on the back of the wagon waiting to find a suitable hole. Third, as the old saw has it, responsibility is the art of delegation - having one or more blokes on board who knew what they were about was invaluable, since they kept the porters not just busy but usefully so - these blokes were also my “eyes”, and also the people I wanted helping me lift valuable items or manoeuvering stuff in tricky spots (like lowering joannas out of windows). Fourth, knowing the location of a decent caff en route was invaluable - if I didn’t know, having someone in the crew who did helped a lot. Fifth, having a giggle - lobbing empty boxes at the bloke on the lorry off the 4th floor, locking blokes in the back and driving off, picking up a box that had something fragile and light inside but acting as if it had half a hundredweight in it and passing it to someone else etc etc. Sixth, if an agency porter had put their back into it, making sure the TM knew it and got them back. Seven, whatever sort they were making sure the customers were happy. Last but not least, make sure the wagon is properly tidied up at the end of the job - I hated having to tidy up someone else’s mess at 7 in the morning before setting off on a job, doubly so if it was my own mess.
I’ve probably missed a few other things, so by all means tell me what I’ve forgotten.
Dont forget… when loading up the truck “NEVER WALK OUT THE HOUSE EMPTY HANDED”!!..and when unloading Visa-Versa!! 
Woe betide any lazy (zb) who used to do that, especially if there was a bit of a walk involved, I would robustly advise them of their over sight…they didnt do it again!! 
bullitt:
Dont forget… when loading up the truck “NEVER WALK OUT THE HOUSE EMPTY HANDED”!!..and when unloading Visa-Versa!!Woe betide any lazy (zb) who used to do that, especially if there was a bit of a walk involved, I would robustly advise them of their over sight…they didnt do it again!!
Hi everyone,
Our business started in 1919 and finnished 1986, so a lot of years have now passed, also up in North East England we didn’t have many four story flats, usually detached, semi detatched or terraced houses. I certainly was helping on removals at the age of seven about 1954-55, as a van door blew round an belted me up against the drop well, when I was carrying boxes out of the van and into a house. The customer put butter on my brow and my mother went mad with dad when I went home with a great bump on my brow, but even then I remember being told 'Never walk out f the house empty etc.Reading you comments made me realise how little things have changed over the years.
Except when I watched the sad program of Pickfords pathetic efforts on the TV of trying to make a drama out of nothing. How easy it seemed as there was very little heavy furnituure, and mostly boxes. Dad always said three was always a waste of time on a removal. Either have two or four, because with three someone is always watching the other two working, but today with so many boxes and not much heavy furniture I surpose things might be different.
It would have been much better viwng in the old days when a three bedroomed house had three double wardrobes, three single wardrobes and three dressing tables. vry often a pianola, those dreadful ton heavy old bed settees, and I wonder how many remember the pre war Bendix washingmachines that weiged ten times than a modern one. Then finally you had all the carpets and liano, as in the days before fitted carpets everyone took them, and finally in the days of coal fires the coal from the coal house.
Carl
BOTH OF YOU ARE BLOODY CORRECT , I could recall some many tales like your selves about this job , I still shout when some one comes down the stairs empty handed even when they are carrying there tea , what do you reckon Jeffk ? .
That Pickford program was crap but thats why we watched didnt we ? , we knew it would be hpype up crap what it was .
I rang my uncle who was my old dads partner when the program was on , the air was blue for the whole program .
Hi, Carl,
That brought back memories- I spent many a “happy?” hour bagging up coal in outhouses in my teenage years- firewood, too. And carrying garden tools from the farthest reaches of a long council-house garden!
To be truthful, and in the hope that all you furniture hauliers won’t send the lads round to sort me out for pinching your work, I have to admit that our removals jobs were a) mostly local, within ten miles and b) carried out using a livestock container which had been thoroughly scrubbed out the night before. Invariably the moves were carried out on a Saturday as this would save the customer having to book an unpaid weekday off his work. Imagine four lorry drivers struggling up the tail ramp of a cattle truck with one of those pianolas! Happy days.
A few other memories… putting a wardrobe, piano, anything large heavy and awkward,on your back to get it up and around the top of the stairs, or rolling said items (except the piano) over the top of the banisters to get them down the stairs!!
ALWAYS put a web around a bed settee because it WILL open up on you usually at the most embarrassing and awkward moment.
The tea pot,cups, kettle etc goes in its own box and is one of the last things out of the house and first things in!
Tailboard loads where a pain in the back side, always got you some strange looks and would never be allowed today!!
Never turn a colour TV on its right hand side otherwise the colour will run out onto the floor!
Never be surprised at what you find under a bed!!!
Doctors, solicitors and vicars were always the dirtiest of houses to move!
Keep your feet off the (zb)ing dashboard!!! 
Some scrote WILL take a dump in the customers loo, usually stinking out the upstairs and blowing any chance of some beer money at the end of the job
Just a few memories from quite a while ago!
And when taking out a sash window tie a knot in the cord,because if you let go of it you will never catch it,when the weight on the other end takes over.
bullitt:
Dont forget… when loading up the truck “NEVER WALK OUT THE HOUSE EMPTY HANDED”!!..and when unloading Visa-Versa!! :
How could I have forgotten that!? 
Teas must be on me then 
Carl Williams:
It would have been much better viwng in the old days when a three bedroomed house had three double wardrobes, three single wardrobes and three dressing tables. vry often a pianola, those dreadful ton heavy old bed settees, and I wonder how many remember the pre war Bendix washingmachines that weiged ten times than a modern one. Then finally you had all the carpets and liano, as in the days before fitted carpets everyone took them, and finally in the days of coal fires the coal from the coal house.
Ah, the stuff that slips from memory. Pianolas - dreadful back-breaking [zb]ing things. Bed-settees had to be ■■■■■■■ as they would always spring open and could take your fingers off if they closed up. I’d also forgotten about having to take up carpets and the underlay, probably something I wanted to forget - always a foul filthy job, lungfuls of dust and cack. Thank dog I never had to do coal cellars, but the lady of the house’s pot plants (about 40 of them, all big pots weighing a hundredweight each) made up for it, leaking water and soil - dog help you if any of them got mashed.
Not that I minded too much, I’d always take a household removal over an office or commercial move.
bullitt:
The tea pot,cups, kettle etc goes in its own box and is one of the last things out of the house and first things in!
Absolutely, gotta get your priorities right.
bullitt:
Never turn a colour TV on its right hand side otherwise the colour will run out onto the floor!
bullitt:
Doctors, solicitors and vicars were always the dirtiest of houses to move!
Have you ever moved any publicans? Eeeewww
bullitt:
Keep your feet off the (zb)ing dashboard!!!
This ^^^ Dog help anyone who tried that trick in my wagon.
These would catch you out if you didnt know what they were.So,this is in the upstairs main bedroom. It has to come down but to do that you have to take it apart.Looks straight forward,a base/plinth section, two end robes and a mirrored centre section with a top cover to lift off.Easy!!!
So you and another take an end each of the top section, lift it up and off of the whole unit, move off to the door to leave the room and…SMASH!!! WTF!!!
You look around in panic to see the antique, Victorian, mirrored centre door has pitched forward and is now laying in a million pieces on the floor and across the room!! Why? Well, that mirror is in fact a door that is held up by a pin that goes into the plinth and a another pin that goes into the top section…which you have just lifted off!!!
You only make that mistake once.!! Luckily it wasnt me that lifted off the top part, i was on the job but downstairs at the time …ohh there were some naughty words said afterwards!!
1 Like
bullitt:
…i was on the job but downstairs at the time
I just re-read that line …you can make your own minds up as to what I meant!!
bullitt:
0These would catch you out if you didnt know what they were.So,this is in the upstairs main bedroom. It has to come down but to do that you have to take it apart.Looks straight forward,a base/plinth section, two end robes and a mirrored centre section with a top cover to lift off.Easy!!!
So you and another take an end each of the top section, lift it up and off of the whole unit, move off to the door to leave the room and…SMASH!!!
You look around in panic to see the antique, Victorian, mirrored centre door has pitched forward and is now laying in a million pieces on the floor and across the room!! Why? Well, that mirror is in fact a door that is held up by a pin that goes into the plinth and a another pin that goes into the top section…which you have just lifted off!!!
You only make that mistake once.!! Luckily it wasnt me that lifted off the top part, i was on the job but downstairs at the time
Hi the first time I came accross one I fortunatly had a member of our staff with me who knew exactly how to take them appart and put back together again. Not a screw to undoo, but in pieces so easy to move, and not heavy like they look.
Carl