It seems that too many people have an opinion of Geoff but in actual fact know nothing about the man or his company!! I worked for Geoff for 25 years and I don’t think you could find a fairer boss anywhere. Yes, in the early days the money wasn’t quite up to scratch, but the job itself was a credit to the man!! Archie might remember me as i drove for MAT in Hull for some time when he was a subby there!! As for anybody doing three Italys a week, i’d like to see anyone do that even with todays superior machinery!! Yes there were long hours and 6 and a half day weeks, but everybody in the International Haulage industry was doing the same thing. Nobody took any notice of tacho restrictions (if you had one) The French/Belgian/Italian police didn’t care what speed you did, and as long as you had plenty of breaks they didn’t bother you at all… (A far cry from today!!) Ask any of the guys who worked for Geoff before he closed the business down, and they will all say it was the best job they ever had. Most of the old guys are now working for the likes of Fowler Welch and Turners or Fresh Link, and if you asked them which was the best job I know what the answer would be!! So the moral of this story is, don’t talk about things you know nothing about!!!
Archie Paice:
beastieboys78:
LB76:
Yes , Graham is right, what a sad day for British haulage. I had known Geoff since i met him in the old CLIC one day when we spent the day clearing customs and remained friends for a lot of years, Geoff gave me a lot of help when i wanted to start up on my own and the standard of his lorrries was tip-top, What a fleet he built up!
going to have to disagree with you on that one im afraid mate. my dad worked there many years and he was an absolute a-hole to work for. Yes very fancy motors but due to the crap money the drivers got and the hours they did making him alot of money by doing 3 italy’s a week it would be very easy to have a fancy fleet. Dont get me wrong my dad had a great time there with people he worked with and loved the trucks he drove but i wouldnt call geoff a great boss.
Hullo beastieboys78, You seem to have a lot to say about Geoff Gilbert, and you never even worked for him. You say your Dad worked there though, well in those days work wasn’t hard to find if you were any good at the job, you could always find another job, so perhaps you can tell us why he stayed on there, as you said the blokes were all good and the vehicles were all first class, you also say he made good money on the job. Mind you doing three Italy round trips in a week is just a lot of bollix. Go back and ask your Dad what it was really like, or try the job yourself before you start calling others.
Derf:
not withstanding the above, if your dad said he was doing 3 Italy’s a week he was B.S’ing!
lets do the maths on this, Italy and back is around 2,500 miles (I was doing closer to 3,000 when i was running Southern Italy), so 3 a week is 7,500 miles a week.
Assuming you average 60mph all the way there and all the way back, you’ll do it in 125 hours
125 hours = 5.2 days (non stop)
If we factor in 6 ferry crossings which - including booking in, loading, crossing and discharching on Dover - Calais would be a minimum of 2 hours, thats another 12 hours (half a day)
That takes us up to almost 6 days (with no sleep)
you ever heard the saying tongue in cheek!? its just a euphemism for the amount of work they did even im clever enough to work out thats impossible.
That leaves one day to tip 3 times and load 3 times
I’d summize that even double-manning the figures don’t make it feasable.
I used to pull for Eurotrans from Cessena. Their employed drivers were totally mental and never stopped (their tacho’s would often show an hour break for every 4 driving all the way around the disc) and they would only squeeze 2 round trips into a week. I was double manning at the time and could only manage 3 a fortnight.
you ever heard of the saying tongue in cheek?! its just a euphemism for the amount of work they did even im clever enough to know thats impossible! it seems people are taking this the wrong way to be honest. I will re-ittirate my dad loved it there, had great mates, great times and great tackle. im not questioning what Geoff did as businessman as he had a very successful business and was a leader in the international transport sector. Im perfectly within my rights to think what I do as i was very upset the way my dad was treated and for Geoff not to even attend his funeral and say i didnt really know him that well considering were not talking about a huge multi national company he knew him very well and for someone who was there for so long and put so much in they are my reasons. Great company yes great people yes but for my own reasons you can see why i say what i do.
I think you are talking non-sense, putting that rubbish on a public site then saying it was tongue in cheek when it became obvious that you dont know what you are talking about. Goodbye you are not worth the effort it takes to turn my pc on!
Hullo Johnny M, How are you mate, it’s good to see that your still alive and kicking. I believe that the last time I saw you we were in Terry’s at York. Would have been about 12 years ago now. What are you doing with yourself these days ? I am well retired and now spend Summers ? at home doing a bit of relief driving, and Winters away just Globetrotting (I’m in NZ at the moment) I suppose both you and Roly retired from Geof’s on a good fat pension eh ? Anyway John good luck and the best of health for the foreseeable future. Cheers, Archie.
! Lots of comments there tonight…
Archie, did you used to run your own trucks ? I have a picture which I took in Dover Eastern Docks - Daf with Yorkshire Rose on the windshield, probably early nineties with A Paice on the door.
Ringrose:
! Lots of comments there tonight…
Archie, did you used to run your own trucks ? I have a picture which I took in Dover Eastern Docks - Daf with Yorkshire Rose on the windshield, probably early nineties with A Paice on the door.
Hullo Ringrose, Yes I suppose that it could have been one of mine, it certainly wasn’t the one that I drove, I hated all those stickers in the Window, though it could have been one of my Lads. I wouldn’t mind having a peep at the picture though. Cheers, Archie.
I’ve found the picture Archie, but yours is in the distance sandwiched between two Falcongate who’s picture I was taking ! Will zoom it up and send through to you.
Good evening. Here is a picture of F89 SJL 262S the day we got it early eighties. I am pretty sure it originated from GG. His trucks always looked the part.
