Hi Mark,
I remember Eddie. He did do a bit of time on a 4 Wheeler at Hayes. I think it was Xmas or somthing when they had the extra lorries in along side the demounts. I had a huge fall out with him on the loading bay over something.
Cliff the only other name I sort of remember ( not to sure on this ) who worked " upstairs" with Dave I think was called Barry, a bit of a loud wide boy so to speak. I didn’t ever have a lot to do with him,
Tony
Hi All, Thanks, yeah! It was Dave Ramage I saw that time with Jim & Roy Dodd. They had been talking about Dodds getting the South West and me being out based, that’s why Jim got me to go in and meet them. Nice bloke, I thought, but still not sure of the other ones name.
Mark, I remember Paul Wincupp. Did he work for Hitachi or Dodds, or both in that order?
Funny thing Tony, I can remember seeing you down the pub, (?with your lady friend sometimes?) but I just can’t remember sleeping in the motor nor eating at Hayes. Must’ve done though, eh?
The Security boys had a scam going where they used to work silly hours, but if one of the “Big Noises” left their car in Hayes and flew somewhere for the day, Security had someone who would be there when “Big Man” came back, just so it was a different face in the hut. They gave him a bung for the few hours he did, and everybody was happy. After we went to Stone, Security covered the windows in the drivers room with empty boxes. It then looked like some stuff being stored from outside. They changed the lock and had a bed-settee, armchair, TV, Kettle, camping cooker, allsorts in there, and gave up the flat they rented I think. Must have payed well, 'cos that Tony used to come down from Skegness for the week, didn’t he?
Anyway, I came on here to put a couple of dull pix on. I went in to work at Lenham at 5 this morning, and the lorry I wanted was parked next to an old Dodds trailer. There are a few of them in Lenham, and they seem to be used for taking away the waste cardboard and plastic we collect from Waitrose Supermarkets. Not sure where it goes, (China maybe?) but up north somewhere I think. Boring pix, but this started as a Dodds Thread, didn’t it?
Grub Time, I’m off. Cheers All, Cliff
Hi Paul,Thx for info re C555,as you say could e still around someplace.
I recall Alan Taylor telling me,he went on holiday to Malta one year,and there on the dockside was his old Clydesdale!!
Cheers Mick
Hi all,thinking about the Hitachi Jaguar,I now think it was HTV1 !!!
Hi all,Alan Denton one of the Welsh drivers,was he the chap with the dodgy eye■■?
mickthebrush:
Hi Paul,Thx for info re C555,as you say could e still around someplace.
I recall Alan Taylor telling me,he went on holiday to Malta one year,and there on the dockside was his old Clydesdale!!
Cheers Mick
Hi Mick, Roy Dodd used to tell of being abroad, maybe Malta or Cyprus, and coming up the street was a Bedford Luton Bodied motor he sold some time before about 1970. It still had Dodds sign-written all over it. He thought that was great.
Alan Denton did have a dodgy eye, yes. I was told he once took an Hitachi Artic home through the village where he lived in South Wales and ripped every phone line down. Mark has already said about him doing the Rubik Cube with his feet behind his head. HOW THE HELL DO YOU DISCOVER YOU CAN DO THAT!!!
Paul, where do you get all this info? I’m your Daddy and you’re baffling me!!
Cliff
hi mick,
yes alan had the dodgey eye. Think the Jag your on about had HTV 7 as its plate. Alll the pics of the lorries with HTV 1 , had a false plate on them. I was lead to believe the chap who had HTV 1 would not sell it to them, but allowed them to use it for thier pics.
Thanks Cliff,
I was going to ask PCB the same thing !!
tonyclark:
Thanks Cliff,I was going to ask PCB the same thing !!
He’s a cunning little sod, eh Tony? Did you notice how he put a better quality pic of CHM 56H on here than I could? Wouldn’t be so bad, but he never worked for Dodds, just came with me. 30 plus years I worked there and he’s coming up with pictures and facts I’ve never seen or heard of. Cliff
the waste paper goes over to Snoland Cliff, and the shrink wrap goes to Redditch. Also we have about 10-12 Dodds trailers. most of them have got new curtains now, mostly with customers liveries. I think they start about fleet N0 572 up until the highest which if i’m right is about 588■■? If you look at them you will tell an ex-Dodds by their height. 15" 3"…
Hello guys you have some great stories in here. I never actually worked for Dodds but occasionally subbed some work to, and the odd one from them back in the 80’s when I worked for Western Transport, the Avonmouth firm but was based up in Warrington where Dodds had quite a large operation (a girl who used to be in my class at school drove with them for a while.) Slightly off the subject and I’ve tried looking elsewhere in other threads but can’t find any info, a lot of you worked in and around Hayes so would you remember a firm called ATWS? They ran a few bottle green Dafs and some aging D series Fords (wagon and drags?) They had a couple of drivers that were outbased up our way and would regularly park in our yard at Stretton. Again, we’d either backload them South East with groupage and vice versa. Cheers for your comments again
When I worked for them around 89 Eddie Buchanan was at Sheffield depot and mostly ran down to Whitham Essex as I used his DAF when it was in on night trunk down to Greenford or Macfarlane Road and picked a trailer up from Quakers or Hayes.If the Daf was not in it was a roadtrain as most of the other wagons were roadtrains at that time.
cheers Johnnie
sammyopisite:
When I worked for them around 89 Eddie Buchanan was at Sheffield depot and mostly ran down to Whitham Essex as I used his DAF when it was in on night trunk down to Greenford or Macfarlane Road and picked a trailer up from Quakers or Hayes.If the Daf was not in it was a roadtrain as most of the other wagons were roadtrains at that time.
cheers Johnnie
As Mark said back on Page 4, Eddie Buchanan was a nice enough bloke, but a bit of a “Gob On A Stick”. When Eddie spoke EVERYBODY heard. I can remember him coming into MacFarlane Road yard on night trunk quite afew times when I was there on a night out. He also stayed there on nights out when he was on day work. Do you remember Jeff May who did all sorts on Dodds, but did a couple of years on Milupa with me. He had a trailer with Teddy Bears on it. He drove in The Bush yard one night with a latex Old Man Mask on. Jimmy Dodd flew out the office saying "Who the F*** is that in Jeffs motor. What about “Brookie” (RIP) who was a Sheffield bloke but was always in The Bush. He couldn’t walk by ANY female without chatting to her. Nearly got into trouble a few times especially when he rang a door bell in Wood Lane. There was always a Red light in an upstairs flat window, and Brookie traced a wire from there to the door bells below. He rang it, the window shot open and this Irish woman shouted “What the F*** do you want?” Brookie called back “Are you on the game?” The rest of us literally ran off with Brookie calling out “Where’s me back-up Gang?” Then there was the time we “shrink wrapped” him in his cab, or the coloured girl from the laundrette he chatted up. Got his washing done for free and a lot more besides. Happy Days!! I could go on again, but I won’t.
Good Luck All, Cliff
Hi hayday,thxs for your input.Yep I remember ATWS…Airport Transport and Warehousing Services…I think thats what the initials stood for.they were based in pump lane Hayes Middx.In my time working out of pump lane,there were loads of transport firms based on that trading estate…I worked at Roy Bowles Transport,I had a mate who worked for ATWS,he also worked at Maywood Haulage also in pump lane…
Other outfits i remember from pump lane…J.H.Moore,Annis,Tarmac,Walls sausages…sure there are more…there was a good ole cafe,we all used to use,between Bowles and Maywoods…had many a good crack in there!!!Maywoods became part of Dodds…
Stay Lucky Mick
Hi Cliff,Brookie RIP.I recall him and his reactin to the ladies!!!Was he on Milupa???or am i mixing things up…again.Do you recall the nights out we had together at Avonmouth truck stop.
I was at Anglian then and they had a window fitting centre opposite the truckstop.I used to run down from Norwich and tip,then park overnight at the Anglian depot.I would the walk over the road to the truckstop,have a shower and meal…then a few bevies,watching tele or a game of pool.
If you happened to be there too,we had a good ole chin wag.You were at Worldfleet at that time,with a Foden 4 wheeler…Enjoyable days…
Stay Lucky Mick
Hi all,heres a golden oldie!!11…GUY invinsible or warrior???Nice bit of r & s…no tautliners in them days!!!
Hi all,done a bit of roping and sheeting in my days…i was not too bad at it,but when i look on some of the posts on T/net,like the Bewick and Scots lads and many others…I HOLD MY HAT UP…I love to see a work of art like some of these guys do…I had a great pal,Owen Greengrass RIP.He worked at L.G.Perfect in Gt Yarmouth along with fellow contributor on T/net,Haddy.(hi mate).
Owen taught me how to tie dollies,in his back garden,using the clothes line!!!
God he was patient!!Years later,when on Hitachi,I used to park up my truck at Perfects yard.Knew that company well since i was a chap…when at Hitachi and was asked to do the east anglian area,outbased,one of the provisos was…Secure parking that the insurance company would accept…I approached Monty Spandler of Perfects and he said sure no probs and true to his word,provided a secure environment for the truck/drawbar.I am eternally gratful for that…cos the job at Dodds was great and i loved doing the East as at the time I was living in that area…so it worked out right for all concerned…Dodds,Hitachi,Perfects,the Hitachi dealers and me…Ohh happy days…
Stay Lucky Mick
Hi All…a request…Mark Taylor,Chalkie White.Ex Dodds,Hitachi…you out there…come on!!!
Love to recall some memories with you guys!!!and any other Doddymen…
And that load is better protected and more secure than any curtainsider even with EN12195-1 certificates as the sheet is load bearing as well as the roping.
But tell any of these young people today and they wont believe you!
Fantastic picture Mick, and I too admire the blokes who did the roping and sheeting. Health & Safety walking along the top of a load like that? Ha! Bloody Ha!
On that subject, but in a lighter vein, I was once in “The Bush” when a bloke came in for a job. He was given the forms and was filling them out when Jimmy casually asked what he was like at roping and sheeting.
“I’m OK,” he said, “but I’m a bloody sight better at shutting doors on a box motor”.
“I like your style” said JD, “when can you start?” I wish I could come back with answers like that so quickly.
Yeah! I remember Avonmouth Truck-Stop. None too clever, but OK for a night. It was “Foreign Gentlemen” that used to own it, wasn’t it?
I thought Mark Taylor was coming on here. I’d spoken to him just after I joined in and told him about it. Likewise, I told Jim Dodd and he said he would get his daughter to put some pix on. Where are you both??
Gotta go, in true lorry driver tradition, it’s time for a brew.
Cheers All, Cliff
