Well now a question for our IOM member ! As the statute of limitations is no longer relevant and the “Perp” is now outside the UK tax jurisdiction can I ask the following question ! Bearing in mind all the hours, both late and early, spent standing in all weathers either trying to get home or in the reverse direction next morning what would the hourly rate have worked out viz-a-viz what was pocketed in subsistence or even train fares ! So was it worth all the effort £sd wise ? Just an interesting question which will probably get an obscure answer 
Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
Well now a question for our IOM member ! As the statute of limitations is no longer relevant and the “Perp” is now outside the UK tax jurisdiction can I ask the following question ! Bearing in mind all the hours, both late and early, spent standing in all weathers either trying to get home or in the reverse direction next morning what would the hourly rate have worked out viz-a-viz what was pocketed in subsistence or even train fares ! So was it worth all the effort £sd wise ? Just an interesting question which will probably get an obscure answer
I never worked out the hourly rate out Dennis,anyroad the standard of some digs was shocking to say the least and because we never knew where we were going next we were unable to book any decent ones,so they had gone. Anyroad,Sheffield being centre of t’universe was easy to get to,and also I was like a lot of drivers,bloody skint,paying a mortgage and kids to bring up,so neet out money int sky rocket was gratefully received. Same as our Barking depot giving me neet out money and train fare to Sheffield next day after leaving wagon there.Well what was a log book for if not for getting lifts………………………. 
I’ve log booked from Scotch Corner,Watford Gap,Immingham,Grantham,Cannock,Lichfield and various places in Lancashire,but have to say I was always well in front of my work. Some of our drivers were downright stupid though,running home to Sheffield when loaded for Whitehaven from Cadishead 
and parking on Woodhead when running Teesside - Heysham. I once picked one of our daft sods up at Scratchwood late one afternoon,he was loaded for Borehamwood and dumped it ont services,for tipping next day…………
Chris Webb:
Bewick:
Well now a question for our IOM member ! As the statute of limitations is no longer relevant and the “Perp” is now outside the UK tax jurisdiction can I ask the following question ! Bearing in mind all the hours, both late and early, spent standing in all weathers either trying to get home or in the reverse direction next morning what would the hourly rate have worked out viz-a-viz what was pocketed in subsistence or even train fares ! So was it worth all the effort £sd wise ? Just an interesting question which will probably get an obscure answer
I never worked out the hourly rate out Dennis,anyroad the standard of some digs was shocking to say the least and because we never knew where we were going next we were unable to book any decent ones,so they had gone. Anyroad,Sheffield being centre of t’universe was easy to get to,and also I was like a lot of drivers,bloody skint,paying a mortgage and kids to bring up,so neet out money int sky rocket was gratefully received. Same as our Barking depot giving me neet out money and train fare to Sheffield next day after leaving wagon there.Well what was a log book for if not for getting lifts……………………….
Fair play to you Chris you seemed to have been able to “blend” dodgys in without affecting the “job” unlike some of the idiots you have described ! Cheers for the candid explanation ! Regards Dennis.
I had the opposite, where I worked for 12 years I would ring in (from a phone box ) , and often got " wer’e pushed can you get back " . I would fiddle back home and got paid night out money in cash .
If we were held up on a job, or just ran out of hours through the distance travelled and couldn’t get back legally, the company sent a fitter out in a van. He drove the truck back and we drove the van! No ‘neet out’ money for us tipper lads.
Pete.
The problem we had at Sheffield depot was that your next job seemed to be a closely guarded secret,only given when you rang in. I remember I got back into yard late one friday loaded for ICI Hillhouse Fleetwood from Canvey Island,for a sunday delivery. There were no follow up collection notes pinned up int diesel cabin so thought they would be put in on the Saturday.Sunday morning at 0600 still no backload notes,so went to Fleetwood,tipped and rang our illustrious traffic planner at home - no reply.So I rang our Barking office where the call was diverted to Peter at his home,top man int office there.He was surprised I had no next load info and from memory he told me to reload crude benzole out of John Summers Shotton for Scunthorpe,which I did and back to yard.
Our man in Sheffield office was surprised when I rang in from Scunthorpe empty,saying I should have run empty from Fleetwood to BP Grangemouth and load for Norwich…………….
If I was south of Leicester I always rang Barking office,they would give you two days work.
My dad would be home on a fiddle regularly , and when he eventually stopped doing long distance would always stop on the Birch on his way back home to see if anyone wanted a lift .
I`ve just done my second day on the ADR course Chris and the guy taking the course is from Chesterfield and worked at Staveley Chemicals many years ago . A bit of useless info for you
ramone:
My dad would be home on a fiddle regularly , and when he eventually stopped doing long distance would always stop on the Birch on his way back home to see if anyone wanted a lift .
I`ve just done my second day on the ADR course Chris and the guy taking the course is from Chesterfield and worked at Staveley Chemicals many years ago . A bit of useless info for you
When I came off tankers and onto regular nights at MFS Maltby I used to call in services to see if anybody wanted a lift Ramone,trying to return favours.I would regularly pick A S Jones drivers up at Rocket,start of M62 in Liverpool,anywhere between 0400 and 0530,sometimes as many as four,usually dropped off at Burtonwood.
I wonder who the Staveley Chemicals tutor is,was he a driver?
Chris Webb:
ramone:
My dad would be home on a fiddle regularly , and when he eventually stopped doing long distance would always stop on the Birch on his way back home to see if anyone wanted a lift .
I`ve just done my second day on the ADR course Chris and the guy taking the course is from Chesterfield and worked at Staveley Chemicals many years ago . A bit of useless info for youWhen I came off tankers and onto regular nights at MFS Maltby I used to call in services to see if anybody wanted a lift Ramone,trying to return favours.I would regularly pick A S Jones drivers up at Rocket,start of M62 in Liverpool,anywhere between 0400 and 0530,sometimes as many as four,usually dropped off at Burtonwood.
I wonder who the Staveley Chemicals tutor is,was he a driver?
No he was a chemist i think he said , his name is Ian Gascoigne i think
Back in the good old days, parked up at the Tyne House at Catterick, walked over the field to the A1 & waited just before the roundabout [ remember them ]. Couple of minutes & a Sed/Atki, black cab, no lettering & empty flat trailer stopped, heading for Gateshead, just the job. Just up the road we pulled into the Shell garage before the A66 turn off at Scotch Corner, my driver wanted a coffee [ he did offer me one ]. On his return, he opened his Tacho, took out the card, put in another & off we went. I was amazed, he didnt know me from Adam, my father could have been the Chief Constable [ he isnt ].
Again at the Catterick r/about, Pickfords "T" reg GUY Big J low loader heading for their Birtley Depot. The driver & I hardly spoke two words, the noise from that ■■■■■■■ was unbelieveable. My last excursion again began in the same place. Atki with an m/t flat trailer, we went to drop the trailer on the Newcastle Quayside & I was going to be dropped almost at my door. All was well until we got a front wheel puncture on the Quayside. I know anyone can get a flat, havent we all, but by the time I got home I could have walked quicker from Catterick. After that I decided to give it up! Was it worth it, probably not, all that then up at the crack of dawn etc.
I had to leave my Mandator at Swansea one Friday afternoon late summer 1975 due to a u/s compressor,they hadn’t got one at CV Sales so it would be ready on the Monday they said.I rang our Sheffield depot and told them I would be catching train home ( 
).
I left my case at CV Sales,grabbed a quick sandwich and a cuppa,log book out ready.First lift was with a George Beer artic to A48,then a Calor Transport LPG tanker to Briton Ferry,followed by a Charles Armstrong,the one from East London, Leyland Comet four wheeler to Newport.Then a Corona Crusader artic to Ross and then an empty F86 artic from Waterbeach Cambs stopped for me.He had just delivered a full load of fodder into Sth Wales - it was 1975 and a drought was on - and he was staying with relatives in Tamworth.He dropped me on the A5 and a van driver picked me up and dropped me on the Lichfield by-pass roundabout. After a wait of about 15 minutes a Burton the Tailors or maybe it was High Street Transport 
Leyland artic from Cardiff stopped for me.He was doing a full outfit exchange with a Leeds driver at Trowell Services,so away to Trowell,cup of tea and a ■■■ and then into the Leeds wagon that dropped me at Tinsley Sheffield about midnight.I don’t think any of the companies above are operating today. 
Train fare booked and 5 hours travelling Saturday,plus train fare back to Swansea on Monday - although I got a lift straight through with one of our own A E Evans drivers who was loaded for Gorseinon. Happy days.
rigsby:
I had the opposite, where I worked for 12 years I would ring in (from a phone box ) , and often got " wer’e pushed can you get back " . I would fiddle back home and got paid night out money in cash .
And good green light operators like my self now have to suffer the dvsa in Buxton ,hazel grove ect ect !
Well I never needed to do this Dodgey Neet thing , The firms I drove for paid me for what I did, Regardless if It was legal or not, So Dodgey money was namley fraud, So what I did was illegal, So I broke the so called law 
, But I got the job done & It didnt come out of the tax payers pot , Some drivers thought it was good to fiddle neets oot Like the BRS Lot, IMO They should feel ashamed of themselves, Look at the state of our Country today, , But having said my bit Im still here at 83 & still enjoying what years Ive got left, & Savouring my fave Single Malts From Bonny Scotland, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well I never needed to do this Dodgey Neet thing , The firms I drove for paid me for what I did, Regardless if It was legal or not, So Dodgey money was namley fraud, So what I did was illegal, So I broke the so called law
I suppose it’s how you define the term “Dodgy”.
If I was an hour and a half away from my depot and my driving time was up then I used to park up in a layby or a café, make my way home and still keep the night out money. I never considered that as being fraud, if the wagon was parked up where I had booked off then it was nothing to do with the company where I preferred to kip down for the night and the job still got done.
It was so easy back then to get a lift when you had a log book, you very rarely passed anybody waving one as you never knew if the boot was going to be on the other foot the next day.
Did I think that all my “Dodgy Nights” over the years were worth it ? well apart from one or maybe two yes I did or I wouldn’t of done it.
I never worked for the B.R.S. but I knew four good lads who did work them in the 60s/70s and they all said the same thing. It was a good job, the wages were fair and the bosses never asked the drivers to run bent.
Regards Steve.
mushroomman:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Well I never needed to do this Dodgey Neet thing , The firms I drove for paid me for what I did, Regardless if It was legal or not, So Dodgey money was namley fraud, So what I did was illegal, So I broke the so called lawI suppose it’s how you define the term “Dodgy”.
If I was an hour and a half away from my depot and my driving time was up then I used to park up in a layby or a café, make my way home and still keep the night out money. I never considered that as being fraud, if the wagon was parked up where I had booked off then it was nothing to do with the company where I preferred to kip down for the night and the job still got done.
It was so easy back then to get a lift when you had a log book, you very rarely passed anybody waving one as you never knew if the boot was going to be on the other foot the next day.
Did I think that all my “Dodgy Nights” over the years were worth it ? well apart from one or maybe two yes I did or I wouldn’t of done it.
I never worked for the B.R.S. but I knew four good lads who did work them in the 60s/70s and they all said the same thing. It was a good job, the wages were fair and the bosses never asked the drivers to run bent.Regards Steve.
Don’t misunderstand me I’m not condoning “bent running” in any shape or form but lets be honest here BRS had no need to remotely consider breaking any laws as they were financed and under written by the Good 'ole UK taxpayer ! Cheers Bewick.
Further to my adventures from Catterick, the firm I worked for wouldn`t condone " running bent " in any circumstances. A lot of the loads were regular & some were classed as two day jobs & some three or occasionally four. Consequently if you were having good tips & re loads you could find yourself very much ahead. As all this was agreed by the Management & the Union, I would have been in two sorts of trouble if I had " Cut the job up " which is quite a common expression amongst drivers. That was the situation, be it right or wrong, but as they say, it was their ball & as a relative new boy to the company I played along with everyone else.
Something I omitted to make clear, wherever the lorry was, thats what it said on my logbook. Nothing illegal. However Im beginning to feel somewhat chastised by some earlier comments. We lived in the world as it was, not how we would like it to be.
Cheers pushrod47
pushrod47:
Something I omitted to make clear, wherever the lorry was, thats what it said on my logbook. Nothing illegal. However Im beginning to feel somewhat chastised by some earlier comments. We lived in the world as it was, not how we would like it to be.
Cheers pushrod47
No offence “pushrod” But in the 50/60s Era things were a lot different, One did what one had to do driving on long di,stance work to make a good living which I did along with my mates Some of which are st ill alive, I was earning £20.00.PW In 1957 Onwards plus night out money, OK I worked long hours but I was driving a four wheeler with a 7 ton payload, Regards Larry.
That was damned good money for the time, Larry. I remember looking through my old chap’s diaries of that time and he was lucky if he saw £8 - £10 for a five & a half day week.
When I started as a trainee spanner-chucker in 1965 I was on £1.17.6 plus free bus fares. Not a lot of bunce for an apprentice in those days!
Back in the 70’s one of our tipper drivers ran up to Scotland a couple of times a week and booked off at Morecambe on the way back. He used to come in the garage around 10am and tell us all that he had just come back and then go on about the nightout he had experienced there, we never let on that we had seen his truck heading homeward just three miles from the quarry when we were going home at 5pm the previous day!
Rof, I started my fitting apprenticeship at a BMC commercial dealership a year after you and was on £4 10s and 6d a week, didn’t get the free bus fare though as I cycled to work!
Pete.