bill,
it may be an idea to try the “SALES BROCHURE” thread about your daf, they may come up with
something interesting for you
alan
Hi Alan / Bill
Had a look on the sales brochure thread at the weekend but nowt there apart from a LHD 2800 and some '70’s stuff. I’ve dropped a note on there this morning so fingers crossed. Some interesting stuff on there so worth a look anyway…i’ll keep on looking.
I have a truck magazine (among the many) in the loft at home somewhere with an advert for Seddon Atkinson showing a line up of 301’s and 401’s with the photo taken at eye level looking along the fronts. All are painted in the colours of North East companies (Prestons, Stillers, FVS, etc). The one closest to the camera belongs to Dents. Its a B&W photo but you can tell from the shading on the photo and it just captures the white square on the drivers door where “Dents” was painted. However, it has no registration plate fixed to it but looking at the others (all Y’s) it will either be XHN480Y (Chappies) or XHN495Y (Stretch’s). I’ll have a hunt around and see if i can find it and post it up.
Darren.
Whats Stretch doing these days last time I saw him he was Owner Driver pulling for Frieghtliner 
yes kenny
still doing the same, 2 motors now i believe, his son drives the other,
stretch has a part time job modelling for halloween posters 
alan
He was also a stand in for Freddie Kruger in Nightmare On Elm Street,
Bill
good crack stretch always friendly,
If stretch was Freddie who`s Kieth sorry mate (just in case he reads it)
it was during the bad winter in the early 80s
3 of us came out of AVONMOUTH after loading tea and headed up the M5 in heavy snow, it had been coming down steady away for almost 2 days and was lying fairly thick, even on the motorway, where the third lane was completely closed. we had decided to make for BASSETTS POLE and overnight there.
on arriving at the pub/cafe we saw that diesel dan from A V DAWSONS was parked and pulled in along side of him, the snow now almost 10inches deep we retreated to the pub for some well earned refreshment
coming out the pub at closing time the snow had relentlessly fallen, the wind had gained strength and
there was drifts around all the parked trucks HELL plenty to drink we would have no trouble sleeping
early next morning i heard a noise, a scraping noise, looked at the clock, 5.15am, buggar, drifted
in and out of sleep untill i eventually got out the sleeping bag, and the noise still present. looked out the side curtain and saw it was still snowing, then opened all the curtains to prepare for off.
i then saw DIESEL DAN looking like a snowman and he was shovelling away at the last heap of snow.
he had been up from 5 am and dug all three of us out of the drifts and also himself 
while we were still tucked up, GOOD OLD DAN well i did buy him a cuppa on the way home
alan
Think 3or4 of us on Armstrongs might have been there that night think it was a thurs we woke up & everything was at a stanstill on the road up from the 42 to the roundabout so we all had another couple hrs kip & then just run back to the yard.
kennyjohnson:
684MPT and York Freightmaster van, photo off a add. for York Trailers
Des Mitchel had this outfit new on the Birds job.
In later years the trailer was GV60’d (TIR) and had the fleet no.17 painted on.Rolly Dodds did one trip to Paris with it when he had 685MPT. I dont know who the load was off or what it was,but it only did the one trip.Rolly never took the TIR plate off 685 though.
kennyjohnson:
kennyjohnson:
684MPT and York Freightmaster van, photo off a add. for York TrailersDes Mitchel had this outfit new on the Birds job.
In later years the trailer was GV60’d (TIR) and had the fleet no.17 painted on.Rolly Dodds did one trip to Paris with it when he had 685MPT. I dont know who the load was off or what it was,but it only did the one trip.Rolly never took the TIR plate off 685 though.
Hi Kenny, can you remember the first driver and vehicle to do a trip outside of the UK? I think I know the answer but would like to see what you thought. Maybe other drivers might have some idea. Thanks, Ronnie.
Mysterron:
kennyjohnson:
kennyjohnson:
684MPT and York Freightmaster van, photo off a add. for York TrailersDes Mitchel had this outfit new on the Birds job.
In later years the trailer was GV60’d (TIR) and had the fleet no.17 painted on.Rolly Dodds did one trip to Paris with it when he had 685MPT. I dont know who the load was off or what it was,but it only did the one trip.Rolly never took the TIR plate off 685 though.Hi Kenny, can you remember the first driver and vehicle to do a trip outside of the UK? I think I know the answer but would like to see what you thought. Maybe other drivers might have some idea. Thanks, Ronnie.
Hi Ronnie, as i said Rolly with 685 MPT and trailer 17 just 1 trip to Paris. Regards Ken
Martin Dawson had the TIR plates on for a long time, he would tell everyone that he met that he only did continental work.
Bill
i once went to IRELAND, (well,!! canvey island,) 
does that count■■?
alan
Kenny, do you know what year Roly Dodds did that Paris run? Alan, you were close to my answer in a roundabout way.
iamupforit:
i once went to IRELAND, (well,!! canvey island,)alan
I took a load of asbestos to Holy Island any good?
Ken
Hi Ron, I started work at Dents on 20th May 1969 and I am almost sure that Roly and Mike Gowland went to France the year before which would have been 1968.
Bill
old bill:
Hi Ron, I started work at Dents on 20th May 1969 and I am almost sure that Roly and Mike Gowland went to France the year before which would have been 1968.
Bill
Thanks for that info Bill, I’d completely forgotten about that trip. As Kenny said it was with MPT685 that would put the year about right. I think Roly got his new F88 about 69/70. It puts paid to my answer anyway. I took the Seddon HJR***D to Southern Ireland in 72 with a load of granules from Chemidus Wavin as it was known then. I was booked on the Stranraer to Larne ferry on the Monday and had to cross the Border into Southern Ireland, passing through the Frontiers and Customs. As I had no work permit I had to wait most of Tuesday while Dents and Chemidus Wavin arranged with Dublin House to get me permission to go through Customs and head down to Balbriggan, about 10 miles north of Dublin where Chemidus Wavin had a factory and I would unload and reload machinery for Meadowfield. After I was unloaded I was told there was no load to come back and to make my way back empty. I arrived back in Larne on Wednesday evening after negotiating the streets of Belfast, the Falls Road area and Belfast town centre. On Thursday morning I went to the Ferry for my return journey, only to find that I had only been booked one way and would have to buy my own ferry ticket to get back to Stranraer. It cost me £39 and I got the 10pm ferry arriving in Stranraer at midnight. When I arrived back to Tudhoe at 2pm the first thing Mike Gowland asked me to do was go to Bowburn and pull a loaded trailer back to the depot. I refused and told him the only place I was going was home. I never got any apology for the shambles of organisation, but I did get my £39 pounds back with my expenses. I never did work out why I was booked to go North to South instead of Liverpool to Dun Loighre. Another trip came up a few months later but I said I wasn’t interested. So I was wrong because I thought I had been the first to go out of the UK. Keep them stories coming, Ronnie.
kennyjohnson:
684MPT and York Freightmaster van, photo off a add. for York Trailers
I wonder if this is the same box (minus wheels, axles and landing gear) which was used as the store to keep the steam cleaner in on the wash bay? That was a York trailer although I remember it was silver with red signwriting and vertical braces along the outside walls so perhaps not.
Darren.
dm7301:
kennyjohnson:
684MPT and York Freightmaster van, photo off a add. for York TrailersI wonder if this is the same box (minus wheels, axles and landing gear) which was used as the store to keep the steam cleaner in on the wash bay? That was a York trailer although I remember it was silver with red signwriting and vertical braces along the outside walls so perhaps not.
Darren.
Hi Darren that was trailer18 it was longer than the one in the photo. It was the second van to come. The next van was a Crane trailer. Ken