hello Bestbooties…It seems we have woken the C&B site again. i like to think that i was part of that company. even though things went pear shaped, As i said , i enjoyed my years there, even… the months during the integration with Jenkinsons,the job still created a challenge. ;especially the 60 foot Portacabins. That Broshuis extending trailer had some unbelievable return loads on its back. I remember once tipping cabin in Greece and re-loading canned tomatoes from Italy for Tesco at Middleton , or, once tipped Bordeaux and re-loaded paint from Beziers to Manchester, all Woods or Jenkinsons work The fridge work to Poland–Hungary,–czech , were O/K but some of the re-loads were a bit iffy.The fish from Frazerborough to Yugo was one of the better jobs, especially if you re-loaded Austria to London with frozen groupage, because the last drop was always Manchester, then into Salford to re- load chemicals for Polish shoe factories.possibly a night at home, ha-ha ,Brings back some memoriesdoesn,t it Ian, regards Terry. I meant everything i said,
Hi there, i see you mentioned Dave Kettrick - is that the same one that used to have a chip shop in norwich? if it is i would like to get in touch as i worked with him on Wyatts in Diss many moons ago
hi lb 76 , Dave Ketterick ,left Leek and went living somewhere that way ,He had a new girlfriend and decided to split because his wife and children lived around here. His wife also had a chip shop here, Sounds like the same guy, I grew up with him from about 8 years of age, Sorry to tell you this but i heard Dave passed away , some years ago,Don,t quote me on it but someone told me that, I will make some enquiries from his family and get back to you A S A P , regards Terry.
Hi boys
Terry, do you remember around 1976 a firm down along side the M5 just before you got to the M4. I know they had one Fiat maybe two in C and B colours.
Regards Keith
Hi Keith, yes remember them well. One guy in patricular, i ran with him a few times, but can,t remember his name at the moment. I will get the old grey matter working, and i will contact a mate of mine who lives in Filton,He will remember him, because he was on for Richard Rhead at the same time, and ran with us so far down, Let you know as soon as i get the info, regards Terry,
There was an owner driver from down Worcester way that had a FIAT 619 in C&B’s colours.Forgot his name for the moment,but I always remember part of his registration number was 1R,he said it made things easier getting into Iran.
Another well known subbie for C&B was Robert Dodds-Brown.He had the Scania 140 with the Magic Carpet mural on the cab sides.
He was in my house a couple of years ago when he came up with Nick Garlick while researching for his book on the m/e.(I hate to bring that old chestnut up again!)
You,ve got a good memory,Ian, now you have said his name i remember him. My mate from Filton came up with another guy , but he couldn,t remember his name either. It seems that at our age, things don,t just come back as easy as they used to. My mate off Richard Rhead remembers you well enough, something about Efes and stories. He once ran with me down as far as Telex then had a serious problem next day, they had to send a fitter and gearbox spares out on their next run. he was still waiting when i was running back to re-load Bulgaria, We had a night on the //// but i had to leave or else Mr Corrie would have had the national guard searching for me. Happy days…
Hi boys
Terry do you remember a chap called Freddy Brown (Highfield Haulage) from Wigan.AKA Wigan Mafia. He did one rough trip end of Jan/Feb into March 1976 in a Daf 2200 can’t remember if he painted in C and B colours or not.BTW I believe the lubiarna tilt we had was the first C and B had. Jack said the belly tank held 500 gallon so called at our local fuel dept and screwed on the delivery hose. They started pumping and all was well with the tank venting through the priming/ susy connection on the front.You’ve guest it our tank only held about 475 gallon and it ejected the other 25 gallon all over the cab before it could be stopped 
Also who desined those square water tanks, every one knows they crack on the corners,ours lasted into Germany them back to the water drum 
Regards Keith
Hi lads saw the C/B on M/E several times, and even in Germany when doing groupage for Baxter & hoares.
Hi Keith,dont recall Freddy Brown but i do remember a subbie with D A F 2200 . it didn,t look very capable of doing our job, but i believe he got back off the first trip , then did a couple of runs for Morcap, before going to a Manchester firm. Someone said he went to Dow Freight . the so-called Lubijana tilts only held around 460 gallons, but on Poland and Czeq it was a nice bonus if you went to ship out at night and knew how to use the old R A F bowser in the yard…the water tanks never hardly did a trip without splitting a seam, so i used the old 10 gallon water butts to be sure of a supply… regards Terry…
Hi John, i am hoping to get some pics of the A series E R F of Steve Barlow . i suppose you have seen it at shows but i thought it would be nice to put some pics of it on here. How you doing now you are semi retired, it takes a while, but then you wonder how you ever found time to work , see you soon regards Terry.
Hiya Terry…i finished 2 weeks ago its only if the driver at stanlow goese on a corse or holiday they’ll call me back in
i’am not holding my breath as they have got 2 class one drivers working in there full time doing semi skilled jobs.
Some people ask for me specially as i dont go on walkabout very often.The problem with the other drivers are
(here goes) they are ex army and can’t get it together with multi drops around the site as you know theres a hard way and
my way i can do 22kliks a day the other dose 55/60 doing the same work.
now here goese Steve is half way through doing a Atki you can get me a pikky of that. BUT he’s useing a walking stick at
the moment as his backs gone again. He must be sick when you see his dad fit as a fiddle and 20 odd years older.
I’ll call when i’am over Leek.
John
Hi Keith, excuse my ignorance, but is your dad still about, i can,t remember what you said.I have a story for you and him from when we were in the yard at Chapmans,
Hi boys
Terry, Sorry to say my father died in 1990 of leukemia. You may remember him as a big chap of 22/23 stone,but after a bad 12 months was down to 12 when the end came.As soon as he past away my mother was diagnosed with the big C and she died 12 months later.I’m not shore if I’ve posted this before but hear’s a photo of him and me (when I had hair)It was taken after the first trip to Tabris (1976)I had lost 1and 1/2 stone and he had lost 3 stone on that trip due to the heat. Note the extra fuel tank on the rear of the cab.
Come on lets hear that story
Regards Keith.
Hi again Keith. it was nothing much really . well i didn,t think it was, but Jack Corrie had kittens. I went into yard at about 6.00 p m , your dad was in there sorting paperwork out, I went to my Fiat and started putting my gear in the boxes and cab. Jack shouted me across to get my paperwork and expenses, he was in a hurry to go.I got my papers and he left yard leaving your dad and me to sort ourselves out. your dad,s trailer was ready to go belly tank full and water tank full. Somewhere in my head i think your dad was going to Dahran. i,m not sure, I was going to Koper Yugoslavia with fish in a Jenkinsons fridge with belly tanks fitted. we decided to run together, but i put the kettle on and started the cherry tanker up. connected it up to my trailer and went to drink the tea i had made. We were sat in my cab talking and drinking. when i got the smell of diesel. your dad said it sometimes did smell when filling. Iwas quite chuffed to think i was going out with 450 gallons of cherry that no one knew about, bonus trip, We finished our tea and when we got out of the cab there was diesel pouring down the yard, i had set the pump going but never checked the valves, obviously open, we quickly switched the pump off closed up and left the yard very quickly. We were shipping out Dover West to Ostend so i knew i would have no trouble with customs wanting to seal me up. Your dad had to get sealed and i went through and waited for him, we both stank of diesel . but for me it was worth it, i appologised to dad but he didn,t seem bothered, all we could do was laugh not knowing the ammount we had let run down the yard. I made good money that trip tipped Koper and re loaded Graz for London, then re loaded Felling on Tyne with frozen mackerel back to Koper again.I can,t remember when i filled up but i saw pound signs for 2 weeks.When i phoned Jack from Walters in Graz he boned me if i had seen some blokes in an old Sherpa type van, i said no why he said the b//////s had got in the yard and stolen 3000 litres of cherry out of the old R A F bowser,I believe he asked your dad the same. Every time me and dad met up after that we always had a good laugh about it. but he would never get in my cab for a brew. ithink uncle Jack may well have just been a little bit over on his estimate ofthe fuel theft ,So sorry to hear about your mum and dad. life stinks, so short a time between them .My wife had big C 10 years ago nightmare . good luck see you soon regards Terry.
Hi boys
Terry, nice story but I think you may have my father mixed up with someone else, it was a long time ago We only did three trips with C and B,one to Tabriz and two to Bagdad. At the time I had a Bedford TK doing fert from Lythgos of Widnes and decided to park it up and go with my father as second man to get the trips done quicker. I was 19 at the time but managed to get my AA licence stamped in Dover so I could drive over the water.This is what I did, after the three trips to ME driving with him all over europe untill I was 21 and could drive over here.We then brought a 140 Scania and I ran that and father carried on with the 110.You may have come accross him then on his own but that would have been in our own colours.We ran over the water for ten years in total 1976 to 1986. One thing that sticks in my mind was when we first went into C and Bs yard I had pop rivited a TIR plate to the front of our unit, the first thing Jack said to us was take that off. why we said, he said if there is a problem with your trailer,paper work or brakedown you could drop your trailer and come home. But if you had the unit sealed on TIR it would have to stay together. Yet even today you see TIR plates on the front of units.Whats your thoughts on that, anybody.
Regards Keith
Hi Keith, firstly, please accept my appologiesfor mistaking your dad, for someone else, i feel a real plonker. i now know where i made the mistake. My mate in Filton saw the post and called me. to explain the guy i am confused with on both my stories was called Dave Shaw from Hedon, Hull. He also pointed out that this guy had a 110 but it was a sleeper cab K reg. Once again i am sorry for the mix up. Apparently this guy did one trip to Dahran and one to Greece with machine from Stockport. Then went missing from C & B and was next seen pulling for Nippress out of Rotterdam, down to eastern bloc still in Chapmans livery. I never met him again after that, but i seem to recall he used to be a mate of Billy,Macdonald i think that was his second name. i knew him well and ran with him a few times. He drove C & B volvo 290 KLV 40 R. i think i saw this truck on here in a different livery . T.I.R. plates can be a pain in the a/// on the unit. its O/K as long as they don,t have a sealing point on them. Then it is just a cosmetic sign with no significance at all. Jack would tell you that for your own benefit in case of any bother and also you can use unit as taxi to wherever ,if you are not on seal be it for paperwork or beer work… I bet you never knew your dad had a lookalike ,but this guy was very much like him, see you soon regards Terry.
Hi boys
Terry no need for apologies, as I said it was a long time ago and mayby something to do with all that facial hair that most ME men seemed to have but it’s still nice to hear your tales especially with C and B as it brings back many memories not just for me but for others on here as well. Keep them coming mate.
Regards Keith.
hey topcatleek
you got any pics you can put up, esspecialy the one you’ve used for you avatar pic
cheers
gaz