Telekonsteve:
Yes but what have we become when they won’t even change a bulb, unbeleaveable
I think to-days drivers operate by “numbers” or they have to phone “their planner” to ask if they can go for a ■■■■ and “their planner” has to refer the request further up the management chain because he (the planner) is a “richard head” as well,outcome----the driver ■■■■■■ hisself !! But this is progress isn’t it ? my arse !! Cheers Bewick.
We get on about how the job has changed and not always for the better ,i,ve been trying to post a photo on here for the last half hour,i,d better stick to what i know.
scud:
We get on about how the job has changed and not always for the better ,i,ve been trying to post a photo on here for the last half hour,i,d better stick to what i know.
Well pull your finger out then 
Dennis.
Bewick:
Lawrence Dunbar:
0I think this load of ours could have come up from Llanwern Larry,but I’m not 100% sure.Cheers Dennis
PS this shot should set the “Rope over the fly sheet Mob” off.
You wouldn’t have got through the gate at Llanwern with that lot. If it’s steel coil there must have been over forty tons on that trailer.
Only my humble opinion, of course
Since when did you have a “humble opinion” ROF ? 
I can’t be certain where that load origionated from but I do believe it was from Llanwern.However,this load which I shot 5 or 6 years earlier in our old yard in Milnthorpe was defo from Llanwern and was destined for Dundee.Cheers Dennis.
Just been reading the comments on this on Facebook,I’m sayin nowt but I bet one or two others will, nobody on there seems to have really looked very hard,in my opinion 
My apologies, lad. I was used to “eye-to-the-sky” coils weighing about five tons. I hadn’t realised they made “fairy” ones for you Northern lads
Telekonsteve:
Just been reading the comments on this on Facebook,I’m sayin nowt but I bet one or two others will, nobody on there seems to have really looked very hard,in my opinion
It’s sheeted “back to fron’t”,well looking at the state of the whole outfit I’m not suprised Bewick.
Retired Old ■■■■:
My apologies, lad. I was used to “eye-to-the-sky” coils weighing about five tons. I hadn’t realised they made “fairy” ones for you Northern lads
Dennis
Did you ever give new kid’s to the job a chance and teach them the why’s and wherefores of haulage, or were you fortunate in always having experienced staff. Nobody is born knowing how to sheet and rope, you have to learn somewhere.
Bassman
Bassman:
DennisDid you ever give new kid’s to the job a chance and teach them the why’s and wherefores of haulage, or were you fortunate in always having experienced staff. Nobody is born knowing how to sheet and rope, you have to learn somewhere.
Bassman
Hiya Bassman,throughout the years we operated we regularly started youngsters,some without an HGV even We put them to work with the shunters and as they came with no “set in their way habits” we were able to train them in our way of working and over the years we produced some great drivers,"Dusty’s day man, Ian Williams, being a prime example.The same approach was taken in the workshop.The traffic office was a bit different as we determined that ex drivers who had a proven track record “doing the job” and ,of course,were interested and willing to work within a usually fast moving office enviroment were the best suited for the traffic office.However,there were a number of drivers on the firm who would have made great traffic desk lads,but they just didn’t want to know 
So there you are Bassman that was the way we operated at Bewick Transport,first and fourmost,develop your own “in house” talent before considering bringing in someone from the outside Cheers Dennis.
Remember when i was a young lad given a brand new coil of rope for a driver , decided to unravell it myself…BIG mistake ! i think i must have pulled the wrong end out - never seen such a tangled kinked up mess 
Evening lads ,when bassman said no one could be born able to rope and sheet it has to be said that some of us were fortunatly born into haulage and as long as i can remember i,ve been about wagons so we were shown how to rope and sheet from an early age watching at first but soon as youwere big enough you were expected to help, same with driving shunting round the yard and on the docks moving up in the endless que, it was better than playing soccer. The same when we started driving we already knew our way about .The thing is today young lads carn,t go with there dad in the wagon so they dont learn, it,s that elf and safety again.Besides roping and sheeting and inbetween curtainsiders there were the tilts we used on the continent it was a fair job striping them down and rebuilding them always trying to leave the front corners in .We used to load steel plate in sheffield and take it to the fiat factories in italy .In sheffield you had to load with the overhead crane so it was a strip out but in ita ly they tipped you with a forklift sav ing you a lot of work . cheers Richard.
Dennis & Scud
Dennis it’s good to know that some firms put themselves out to give a newcomer a chance. It’s even better to know that they were taught the basics before being thrown to the wolves. It’s a pity that there wasn’t such a firm in my area when I was starting out, I learnt from learning from my mistakes, but was fortunate in having a father who was in haulage all his working life and I could ask him for advice plus recall seeing him do something in a certain way, so fortunately my mistakes were usually of the sort that only hindered me and cost me time (remember the days when you had a bit of time ?) so next time you tried a better way.
I suppose that the young drivers scheme is the modern counterpart of what we went through, although my impression of modern training schemes are that the emphasis is on “inductions” and classroom work rather than the nitty gritty of doing the actual job. But if it gets new blood into the industry ,and gives them a way of doing the job safely ,I say let it continue but I don’t think it will beat asking Dad or an experienced person how to do something.
Scud ,IMO the best tilt on the road is the one you never had to do owt with. they are nobodies trailers so no body looks after them ,apart from the basic MOT requirements. Time spent on docksides getting the lights working, tyres sorted, little repairs done and you are only pulling it for one trip so some one else gets the benefits of your efforts.
Struggling with bent and twisted side doors which were pushed into place with a forklift, getting to a collection when it’s blowing a gale to be told " take the roof off driver", I recall doing that three times at one collection on the same afternoon because the part ,a crane jib section wouldn’t fit , they finally unbolted some bits off the jib section and we got it in without the roof timbers in place, I ask you a crane jib section that HAD to go inside a tilt, there was only me got pick ups like that, or so it seemed ( the good old days?) I’m afraid that me and tilts were like fire and water , we never got on. I do agree with what you say about growing up with it though, you don’t get too many nasty surprises that way.
Cheers Bassman
Think this was a mid week shot of the depot when there wasn’t many units or trailers about.The two square looking loads were cellulose pulp en-route from Portbury to British Cellophane Barrow,a regular job we did first via Western Transport and then later on for Linkflow the Hatlepool based shipping Agent.
Them look mint,ur wunner see sights like that nowadays I’m afraid 
Telekonsteve:
Them look mint,ur wunner see sights like that nowadays I’m afraid
Thanks.
I just about caught the end of the roping & sheeting era, and like other modern drivers here, was pretty much left to get on with it and learn from my mistakes. I remember being shown the dolly knot (which you never forget how to tie!) and I knew enough to put the back sheet on first, but everything else - how to fold the sheets after use, how to tuck them in at the corners, all the rest of it - I had to learn on my own with most of the Beck & Pollitzer drivers watching me (I was agency) to see me fail. There was one honourable exception who was willing to lend a hand and show me the best way to do things, but sadly he was very much in the minority.
I don’t know if I’d be able to do it now, or if I’d thank you for the chance to sheet a load in the freezing rain and gale force winds, but I’m glad I had the chance to rope and sheet.
Rhythm Thief:
I don’t know if I’d be able to do it now, or if I’d thank you for the chance to sheet a load in the freezing rain and gale force winds, but I’m glad I had the chance to rope and sheet.
Ah yes, gusts of wind could be a problem. I was sheeting a four-wheeler in the wind one day when the sheet blew away before I had chance to fasten a couple of ties. Good fun.
Bewick:
Dan Punchard:
It’s a scania ,what can I say ? I know ,ERF c series would look better ,get digging Dennis.How are these 3 new B series for you Dan 2 sleepers, and a day cab in the background,standing on the park at Milnthorpe waiting to go for painting and lettering prior to going into service.Cheers Dennis.
There’s another sight long gone… wagons in a hauliers yard painted in primer, no reg plates and (often), no wings/catwalk etc!
