20foot containers mainly. House moves were the worst.
London is a ■■■■ hole, but than so is Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool. … the list goes on. Did I mention swansea? (I digress)
Driving in London is easy. Take your time, don’t let anybody out of side streets, and simply alow double the usual time to do a job.
Franglais:
Ste46:
Franglais:
Parking: Tooley Street? Aldgate? First out, was last in, reversing in off the roundabout. Saw my first strippers at the Red Lion Aldgate. Had some cracking good nights out there.+1 !!! - and don’t forget the plastic beer glasses, too!
Steve
Got memories of coupla good restaurants there too. A Greek one? In a basement?? Must be all tower office blocks with no parking for a hundred miles now.
The Red Lion strippers, that was where I first saw the strangest ever way to smoke a cigar. 
The Greek cafe you are on about was opposite The Ramp lorry park at Bishopgate.
The Aldgate roundabout is now one big office block.
The other park I stayed regular was at Sheperds Bush, over the road from the BBC building.
robroy:
Franglais:
Ste46:
Franglais:
Parking: Tooley Street? Aldgate? First out, was last in, reversing in off the roundabout. Saw my first strippers at the Red Lion Aldgate. Had some cracking good nights out there.+1 !!! - and don’t forget the plastic beer glasses, too!
Steve
Got memories of coupla good restaurants there too. A Greek one? In a basement?? Must be all tower office blocks with no parking for a hundred miles now.
The Red Lion strippers, that was where I first saw the strangest ever way to smoke a cigar.
The Greek cafe you are on about was opposite The Ramp lorry park at Bishopgate.
The Aldgate roundabout is now one big office block.
The other park I stayed regular was at Sheperds Bush, over the road from the BBC building.
No photo’s, it never happened. Talk is that there was an all night pub with strippers on most street corners…really? ? Never on my street corners. . (Apart from junction 29 truckstops. They did… 
)
I do central London , delivering too building sites , in a artic , concrete , scaffolding , picking up tower crane parts , dropping them off etc etc , been doing it at least 2/3 times a week for 6/7 months or more maybe , had no accidents etc .
Amazing really as according too most on here I can’t drive for toffee, even more amazing is all the ones on about my standard of driving ■■■■ themselves as the mere mention of London in a artic 
Steve-o:
Just inside inner ring road delivering booze to ethnic majority cash and carrys. What a [zb] ball ache
My only real issue is the traffic , nightmare
the nodding donkey:
No photo’s, it never happened. Talk is that there was an all night pub with strippers on most street corners…really? ? Never on my street corners. . (Apart from junction 29 truckstops. They did…
You were either looking on the wrong street corners, or they all saw you coming and hid when you opened the pub door mate.
It happened…trust me.
Newspapers out of surrey keys/wapping early hours saturday morning were fun.
robroy:
the nodding donkey:
No photo’s, it never happened. Talk is that there was an all night pub with strippers on most street corners…really? ? Never on my street corners. . (Apart from junction 29 truckstops. They did…You were either looking on the wrong street corners, or they all saw you coming and hid when you opened the pub door mate.
It happened…trust me.
Most Pubs were on a10-30 or maybe 11oclock closing, but some such as the Jack The Ripper by Spittalfields were on peculiar opening hours to cater for the "needs" of porters etc. And no photos because the flashes needed for cameras then were somewhat larger and more obtrusive than today, indeed so were the cameras. Plus the ladies concerned were very modest young things. Anyway, maybe we were living our lives then, not being bystanders observing everything secondhand through a lens. Everything wasnt perfect then, far from it. Not saying all in the rose garden smelt nice, it takes a lot of manure to grow roses. Time to quote the first line of the “The Go-Between”?
I used to do a lot of containers for a removal company, some were commercial, some residential. There were always permits to park right outside the place and the office people that organised them were on the ball enough to make sure you could park facing traffic (which is illegal) so the back doors were right where they needed to be for the blokes to carry the stuff straight up to the front door.
That was the easy bit, getting there was the fun part, especially trying to back into a Mews off a narrow street. I always tried to get in early doors, but that still meant fighting my way back out after loading or unloading, but I’m a native of the big city, so buses and taxis never bothered me, I basically forced my way around intimidating drivers into letting me get into the lane I needed or around tight corners etc. You can’t take any prisoners or try to be polite or you’ll never get anywhere.
I enjoyed the job though as a 3/4hr load/unload meant I had plenty of time for a mooch about looking at the crumpet and enjoying the buzz of the city.
It’s probably a lot different now though and a lot less enjoyable as a result.
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
Franglais:
robroy:
the nodding donkey:
No photo’s, it never happened. Talk is that there was an all night pub with strippers on most street corners…really? ? Never on my street corners. . (Apart from junction 29 truckstops. They did…You were either looking on the wrong street corners, or they all saw you coming and hid when you opened the pub door mate.
It happened…trust me.Most Pubs were on a10-30 or maybe 11o
clock closing, but some such as the Jack The Ripper by Spittalfields were on peculiar opening hours to cater for the "needs" of porters etc. And no photos because the flashes needed for cameras then were somewhat larger and more obtrusive than today, indeed so were the cameras. Plus the ladies concerned were very modest young things. Anyway, maybe we were living our lives then, not being bystanders observing everything secondhand through a lens. Everything wasnt perfect then, far from it. Not saying all in the rose garden smelt nice, it takes a lot of manure to grow roses. Time to quote the first line of the “The Go-Between”?
The ‘Long bar’ and ‘The Bull’ (?) at Bishopgate, another 2 bars where those ‘modest young ladies’ performed
Broke down on ‘The Ramp’ entrance one night blocking it for over an hour, got a hell of a lot of (good natured) abuse in the pub afterwards. A few of the drivers tried to get me on the stage with said young ladies, for revenge being just a young lad, I was young and daft…but not THAT ■■■■■■ daft
And NO (for the puritans) we didn’t all get rat arsed everynight.
Good days, and completely different to things today that is why the old school look in disgust as we see how a lot of you have been put in your place and ‘educated’ by those in authority into a work/sleep in lay by situation in the job today.
However I don’t miss the rough trucks, roping and sheeting and sleeping across the engine cover on a day cab…at all.
Btw got mixed up on last bit , thought I was posting on “Old school” thread.
Sorry for the Old days trucking lecture.
Used to do lots of loads of loose bark in artic tipper to parks in central London. Last time I was anywhere near central London was with a bloody high tautliner delivering Christmas trees. All handball. Anywhere between 1 and 20 trees per drop.
Largest place I have driven recently is probably greenock!
Broke down on ‘The Ramp’ entrance one night blocking it for over an hour, got a hell of a lot of (good natured) abuse in the pub afterwards. A few of the drivers tried to get me on the stage with said young ladies, for revenge being just a young lad, I was young and daft…but not THAT [zb] daft
And NO (for the puritans) we didn’t all get rat arsed everynight.
Good days, and completely different to things today that is why the old school look in disgust as we see how a lot of you have been put in your place and ‘educated’ by those in authority into a work/sleep in lay by situation in the job today.
However I don’t miss the rough trucks, roping and sheeting and sleeping across the engine cover on a day cab…at all.
the " modest" young ladies in the red lion were usually so “modest” that when they came round with a pint tumbler looking for tips,they still had their baps out… 
commonrail2:
Newspapers out of surrey keys/wapping early hours saturday morning were fun.
Early 90’s, I used to do the Express from West Ferry, in a rigid, you could go past Wapping along the Embankment, up Northumberland Ave, around Trafalgar Square, checking out all the Crumpet [emoji12] & Nutters, along Pall Mall, up St James St, onto Piccadilly/A4/M4.
(It was like playing Monopoly in real life [emoji1])
In an artic you had to go round the North Circular/boring [emoji57] but there weren’t so many cameras then [emoji964][emoji991]
Bet you can’t go that way now at 2 o’clock in the morning [emoji107]
martinviking:
commonrail2:
Newspapers out of surrey keys/wapping early hours saturday morning were fun.Early 90’s, I used to do the Express from West Ferry, in a rigid, you could go past Wapping along the Embankment, up Northumberland Ave, around Trafalgar Square, checking out all the Crumpet [emoji12] & Nutters, along Pall Mall, up St James St, onto Piccadilly/A4/M4.
(It was like playing Monopoly in real life [emoji1])In an artic you had to go round the North Circular/boring [emoji57] but there weren’t so many cameras then [emoji964][emoji991]
Bet you can’t go that way now at 2 o’clock in the morning [emoji107]
If you look on the net you will find many iconic photos of old 8 wheeler Albions and Fodens etc (before my time btw) coming down Edgeware rd and also The Archway, afaik there is even a ■■■■ weight limit even on there now is there not.?
Not been down archway for years…but went down edgware road a few months ago (en route to lambeth) and did’nt notice a weight limit.
Running Southampton to Tilbury twas up M3 to Richmond, over Thames at Mortlake, Great West Rd, Earls Court, south over Thames at Vauxhall Bridge, around the Elephant and Castle, back over the river on Tower Bridge, right past Royal Mint, Cable St, Commercial rd and through Limehouse etc. Easy. Well, after a few years it got easier, less looking at “A 2 Z” and more looking at the crumpet, and watching the loonie Smithfield porters taking a shortcut by ducking under your trailer neck ! Could have taken the North Circular, or even the South C. if you were low. Don`t remember ever being in danger of falling asleep at the wheel.
robroy:
martinviking:
commonrail2:
Newspapers out of surrey keys/wapping early hours saturday morning were fun.Early 90’s, I used to do the Express from West Ferry, in a rigid, you could go past Wapping along the Embankment, up Northumberland Ave, around Trafalgar Square, checking out all the Crumpet [emoji12] & Nutters, along Pall Mall, up St James St, onto Piccadilly/A4/M4.
(It was like playing Monopoly in real life [emoji1])In an artic you had to go round the North Circular/boring [emoji57] but there weren’t so many cameras then [emoji964][emoji991]
Bet you can’t go that way now at 2 o’clock in the morning [emoji107]
If you look on the net you will find many iconic photos of old 8 wheeler Albions and Fodens etc (before my time btw) coming down Edgeware rd and also The Archway, afaik there is even a [zb] weight limit even on there now is there not.?
That was one of the routes we used to take in a Rigid (used M25-M11-A406 in the Artics) from J2-M1 down Archway-Holloway Rd-Highbury Corner-The Angel-City Rd-Commercial Rd-through Whitechapel (waving & tooting at the ‘Ladies’ on the street corners [emoji112]) then either A13 or the Limehouse Link into the Isle of Dogs.
All without a Satnav [emoji33].
Not sure about weight limits now, haven’t been that way for over 20 years.
Thank God !
Used to pop down to the Ace Cafe-Friday Nights, on my bike a few years ago, bit tight for Artics now, but apparently, back in the 50/60s that was one of the main transport cafes around, before they widened the 406 & the Hanger Lane Gyratory. (Even the name’s scary [emoji1])
Back in the 80’s regular bulker into RHM Battersea flour mill. Reload scrap metal back to Sheerness.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I work for a firm who move all the shows round the theatres and regularly end up in the West End, up and down streets you wouldn’t take a seven and a half toner down.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk