Why thank you kind sir Charlie my kids think I’m ancient now!!!
I Remember Cornicks Bakers Transport(Sid Griffiths was in yesterday he remembers having to go out anywhere to weld up trailers that had snapped in half!) Downer Baker, A M Garage had a workshop in Bevois Valley I believe I used to pass it on the way to school around 65 I’m not sure but I think Yardleys of Leeds were there too either before or after! Specialist Freight Services, SRT or Southampton Road Transport, LTS.R K Crisps with Guy Big J’s, Green Sash,
Here are some names for you two to ponder over:David Howard Eurohaul, Phil Thomas PBC, Bob Payne PBC/ o/d. Chris and Allistair Mowat PBC ended up with Rycroft, John Pettit o/d now living in Italy, Alfie Pearce ( Skillbeech?) Alan Walker all care of Pat Scorey who is with me at this moment!
Pat said it was Bob Errington Court always had a Triumph car ‘Calcutta Failed’ he said.
Pat also mentioned you all bought French yellow headlamp bulbs so that when you pass French customs on Cenis at night you wouldn’t get stopped for diesel as they though you were French until it was too late LOL.
What were the rules on diesel in those days ?. Was UK diesel the cheapest ?. When i did my first trip over i had a trailer with a belly tank but i don’t ever remember using it.
The old grey matter ticking over, why did we use to give the customs man coffee money, was that diesel or stamping the permit ?.
Well I never, Bob Errington-Court. Theres a blast from the past. Dont think it was PBC though I’m sure it was of the Cabmont era. He would show you a photo of the family home in Kent with his unit parked in the drive next to his mothers Rolls Royce. He said he used to do it to upset her. I know my son went out once to retrieve a truck he had turned over somewhere near Madrid.
He was an okay guy really but I was never sure which way he swung if you get my drift.
Bob was an ok guy.I think.Pat was right about his name.Also the yellow headlight bulbs. Good memory.Forgotten all about that.Back to Bob Court.Had a night out with him in Bristol years ago.After the fourth gay bar I started to panic.I made my excuses and left in a marked manner with my buttocks to the wall.
Of course.Colin Wilkes.Have not thought about him for years.Cruel but true.Did you say Jim Street was still running over the water? Saw him about four years ago down the berth picking up a box for Royers,Had a fairly old Roudhaus. Looking slightly portly.
Not strictly a Southampton haulier,but once ran empty from Sheffield overnight to P.J.Pouparts who were fruit merchants in So’ton in the 60’s.I had an AEC MK5 Mandator and a 33 ft single axle trailer and I think you could get 16 pallets on it.The normal practice at Hull and Renfrew docks was for the oranges to be barrowed onto the back end of the trailer and the driver to stack 'em on his empty pallets- no pallet exchange allowed.
Expecting this to happen I was surprised to find two lads on the trailer with me and loaded in about an hour.
I don’t recall ever slagging Southampton off but if I did I take it all back.
Chris, I knew T.J. Pouparts very well in Southampton because many years ago I worked for George Monro next door. Not only did we run our fruit from the docks but sometimes did Pouparts as well. Dont want to sound like I’m blowing the old preverbial So’ton trumpet but I think most company’s and even the dockies always tried to be a bit helpful. We all have some horror stoies of docks but when you read the thread on Liverpool docks it reminds you that things didn’t get as bad as that elsewhere. The only bloke that worked was the one who chalked the number on your tyre and how hard was that ! ?
TIR,I also used to run to a company called (I think) Reece Blatchford in So’ton when on general with a roped on container full of Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts - thousands of boxes of 'em and that was the same never any problem getting tipped with plenty of help.
Then I used to run to MMD for a backload of CI produce for Sheffield market.I used to run down to Southampton in the afternoon and kip in me Reiver until the gates were opened next morning.
I did some work for the dubious Mr Bob Edwards and at his demise was worried about getting paid needn’t have worried as his mother a lovely woman squared me up the whole amount!
Gary Burton then ran the Joker last I heard he had some filling stations
Talk of roped on containers and Southampton dockers reminds me that I’m
sure it was them that first started to ban trucks from the docks without proper
twistlocks.
All very laudable you might think but hardly safe (according to their
opinion ) to turn a truck back onto the highway like that.
Spardo:
Talk of roped on containers and Southampton dockers reminds me that I’m
sure it was them that first started to ban trucks from the docks without proper
twistlocks.
All very laudable you might think but hardly safe (according to their
opinion ) to turn a truck back onto the highway like that.
Spardo you dont make yourself very clear on the point of Southampton dockers refusing to load trailers without twistlocks. Surely this was a very responsible attitude and a superb decision on a health and safety point of view. I very nearly lost my life due to a container being roped onto a trailer by another driver. After being cut out from the cab and spending a very long time in hospital I myself applauded the decision !
Spardo:
Talk of roped on containers and
Southampton dockers reminds me that I’m
sure it was them that first started to ban trucks from the docks without proper
twistlocks.
All very laudable you might think but hardly safe (according to their
opinion ) to turn a truck back onto the highway like that.
Spardo you dont make yourself very clear on the point of Southampton
dockers refusing to load trailers without twistlocks. Surely this was a very
responsible attitude and a superb decision on a health and safety point of
view. I very nearly lost my life due to a container being roped onto a trailer by
another driver. After being cut out from the cab and spending a very long time
in hospital I myself applauded the decision !
Didn’t say it wasn’t laudable or responsible did I? My point was that in order to
enforce their ban they were sending trucks already in the docks back onto the
public highway in an unsafe condition.
In any case, ropes are one thing but chains another. In those early days I
frequently used chains and done properly were just as safe as any other
indivisible load so secured. Ropes I never used, a mate of mine did on
Midlands Storage though and lost a Northern Ireland 30’ flat near Preston,
fortunately taking out no more than a couple of bollards.
Spardo, I have spoken to a friend of mine who was in the dock at the time you spoke of and he assures me that lorries were not turned away. If the containers were roped or chained on then they would get unloaded but would not be re-loaded for safety reasons. We are now talking about the old terminal at 201 berth, ACL and Dart. When the new terminal was opened roped and chained containers were a thing of the past anyway. At that time I was running six trucks out of that terminal (201) so I would concur with him.
until the gates were opened next morning.
