charlie one:
One of the worst things to chain were glider engines.They used to slide all over the place.
Beg to differ Charlie, have you ever tried to load a 28 foot flat trailer with loose mushrooms, using only ropes and a barrel net, or did you ever load horns for Tooting. 
What about twenty two tons of toilet tissue for Tenterden? The guy there was are sole agent.
Tins of Tartan paint were also a real pig to load, as were left handed screw drivers 
TIR Original:
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.
Fair enough mate, must be a case of ‘my mate told me’ then, and after my experiences elsewhere I was ready to believe anything about dockers.
When I think back my main connection with Southampton docks (apart from shipping out from there) was in my days with Midlands Storage, and all their trailers had twistlocks 40s and 20s, and we never carried 30s.
Had lunch with an old Southampton haulage contractor last Monday.What a cracking day.We drove millions of kilometres.Shifted thousands of tonnes of freight.Visited dozens of countries.And talked about lots of departed drivers.After nearly four hours the waiter said " for Gods sake will you put you handbrakes on! And turn off those engines.The smell of diesel is driving all my customers away!!" This posting is of no interest to any one except me. A great day all the same.
Has anyone heard of Garnett Eurotrans.Owned by one Bob Garnett.What happened to him?
i used to drive for various soton hauliers , starting with , “Trailer Clearance Co” , Alex Hammerstein"s first venture , had a fleet of Transits , , i can remember names like “Ausie” , from Eurohaul , Kenny Batten , used to do the Swiss run for Squibs , also remember “Bingo” , and Bob Nelson , Alex stopped trading (for whatever reasons !!!) and i went on with Strattons , just as he was taking over “Denhams” transport , top of Sandy lane at Fair Oak , Albert put me through my class one and i then went on his “Newcastle Trunk” , Atki Borderer , GCR 842L , still remember the reg , what happened to Steve , i think Harcourt ■■ , in the office , i also remember Alberts father Jesse ,left Strattons went on Summerfields , 12 speed Foden , SPO 115K , Membury / Fawley night trunk ,we were under the railway bridge next To Hattons yard , behind the Leigh Hotel , leigh Rd Eastliegh . By the way , Geoff Pilling , Hattons transport manager is my father in law !!!. Going back to Strattons night trunking days , we used to meet up with in the sevices at Kidlington , MMD"s (mums and dads) , and Robert Baileys , ■■? was it Robert Baileys , ??fruit from pompey to northern markets , Ted King , Dave ? , Jimmy Farmer , and Polish Henry , . Navy blue atki"s , By now Alex had got going again with Hammer International , running out of Andover for a while before getting back in Soton , Wadham"s old garage , bottom of hill lane /commercial road corner . had a couple of F88"s and one F86. Good old days they called them , i am not so sure , not when you run to Yugoslavia in a bedford TK with no heater or radio , !!! yes and i have dragged 32 ton"s over the Mt Cenis , just to avoid paying the £35.00, 15 day return through the Mt Blanc , to stamp or not to stamp a road permit , trying to get through Salzburg , or Achen , without having to bribe someone , and as for several log books hidden under the seat !!! i still have one !!! no , not good old days , but it was fun , if you didnt crack !! I am retired now , living in France , i see these new motors up and down the Autoroutes , Sat dishes on the roof , night heaters , TV"s , all mod cons , They dont know the half !! good luck to them , regards to all “old trucker” ,
TIR Original , Bob Holford ■■ yes / no ■■
charlie one:
Has anyone heard of Garnett Eurotrans.Owned by one Bob Garnett.What happened to him?
Charlie,I thought they were still going,didnt they used to do hanging garments ?
When i worked for Trailer Clearance Co , Queens Terrace , we used to lunch in style , Tommy Whites , downstairs from us , Friday nights drinking , when home , started in The Oxford , Oxford st , round behind Queens Terr , then either The Juniper or The Horse and Groom , The Juniper was fantastic friday nights , never an ounce of trouble , Names from the past , Tony Wiltshire , Rod Coughtry , Dave Stagg , Alfie Lambert , Dave Kettly , Bob ■■ went on to be foreman at Lamberts , and John Soffe , where are you all now ■■? i remember well the ferries ,Viking 4 , Autocarrier 2 , out of Dover , what a tub , worst ferry ever !! , and R.I.F out of Ipswich , and the best ever , The Cerdic , Harwich - Europort . and of course , Brittany Ferries founers , Truckline, first ferry , the Antelope , first ferry in to Cherbourg , Didnt P.B.C. (Public Benefits Coal ) have something to do with Truckline in the early years ■■ i might be tottaly wrong !!
Well I’m blowed, theres a blast from the past Trailer Clearance ! ! You know I’ve been wracking my brain for weeks trying to remember that name. I could only remember the name Alex but nothing else. I think they must have had one of the first F 88’s in the south of England if I remember rightly. I remember all the names that you mentioned and especially Tony Wiltshire as he was a good old mate of mine. In fact I used to see him up to a little while ago but you know how life is. Believe it or not I actually taught him to play the guitar after a fashion and would let him stand in on our Country and Western Band sometimes. Yes PBC or rather Frank Allen did have something to do with the original Truckline Ferries. You sound as if you would remember the old PBC trucks and thier drivers as well as Jameson etc.
Cant work out who you are but would like to see more posts from you on this theme and compare notes. ( Bob Holford ? NO! )
Hi TIR original , Bob Holford ■■ , I got that from , Robert , Trebor Transport , and the Strattons connection you refer to earlier , A Bob Holford , came in with Strattons at one point and as far as i remember he came from Trebor Transport , As for Trailer Clearance , Alex only had a fleet of TIR Transits , apart from one D600 Tractor and a 33ft Hans Single axle trailer , did alot of work for Camelot press , Shirley , Rod Coughtry used to drive that , but he went sick one day and as i was the only one at the time that had the old “all groups” licence Alex earmarked me to take over , never driven an artic before , 17drops , London , did it and got home OK , new how to drive an artic by teatime !!! . He didnt get into Volvos untill Hammer Intrnational days , First F88 was UHV 726 M , so you can work the year out from that , He also traded under the “Ospring Transport” name , dont remember where that came from !! but his F86 flew thatr flag , painted up in mauve and mushroom colours , . We had the first aluminium famed TIR tilt trailer in the country , i picked it up from the commercial motor show . its first job was Libia , prefabricated pig pens , took it down to Marsielles , shipped over to Tripoi unacompanied , all we got back was the chassis , it was completelly stripped in Libia ■■? I remember Strattons fleet of lime green Guy Big J4"s , He did have a couple of Mercs , they appeared when Bob Holford came on the scene , i am sure his name was Holford , some one will correct me if i am wrong i am sure !! Albert put me through my class one ,took that with RTITB , Flathouse Quay , Pompey , took the test at Botley with the "dreaded Mr Morrison " but he passed me , . i gave all that up and settled down driving locally for Unigate , out of Broadlands Rd . The proud driver of a Bedford TK , with scammel coupling , it was regular and paid very well for the day , and home every night , progressed with unigate and ended up Transport Manager for St Ivel in London , After i saw the light so to speak i got out of that , moved to Dorset , and ended up driving for N.H.Case , (frozen food ) , Retired totally 4 years ago ,sold up and moved over here . so thats basically my history … but i do remember Southampton and all its “cowboys” as i think we all were in those days , with great affection , I have some fantastic memories but would i go back ■■? i would love to !!!
Hi Nobby and Charlie another couple of names
Mick Chant RIP, Bill Robinson, Johnathon Symes(The Highwayman Scania), Terry Winter, Barry Winter (still running a 4wheeler)
Didn’t Russels of Grangemouth have a yard on the corner in Empress Rd? later used by Warren Transport (Yellow Trucks) or was it the other way around?
Regards Pat
Hi Pat Good hol? Mick Chant gone eh.RIP. I remember Russells but for the life of me I can’t remember Warrens.Warrens of Alton had yellow motors but I don’t think they had a yard in Soton. Help someone!! I want to change my signature but for the life of me I can’t do it.Anyone out there take pity on an old pensioner 
Hi Pat, some more good old names from the past. Terry Winter from Winsor in the forest was a good old mate of Ken Lane and of Dillon (of the shed variety).
The last I heard of Mick Chant he was pulling for Skillbeech. It was Warrens yard at Empress Rd. and later were at Alton where they had the contract for the brewery. I did some Harp lager tanks for them, from Bristol to Alton. Gordon Warren also worked a bit with Smartfreight as he and Ernie were good friends.
Now to you Old Trucker. The name was and is Bob Alford and he was not part of A.E.Stratton (Transport) Ltd. He joined them on a very bad decision by Albert who must have wanted his head examined, as Transport Manager. He was the downfall of the company and Alberts’ marriage. (No more said).
AES then started another company called Trebor (Transport) Ltd. and this had nothing at all to do with the name of Robert. I know this because as stated in an earlier posting ,I owned 40% of it or rather I did until a prick of a driver caused a row between AES and me. ( Your mate C.G. Pat). When it all went wrong I lost 40% of a company I did not participate in and a good deal of money. By the way when AES got divorced he then married Bob Alfords 18 year old daughter. Whether this was out of spite or not I could not possibly comment but they are still together this day and are very happy indeed. She also presented me with three beautiful nieces. You dont need a degree to work that one out.
kerbut:
charlie one:
Has anyone heard of Garnett Eurotrans.Owned by one Bob Garnett.What happened to him?Charlie,I thought they were still going,didnt they used to do hanging garments ?
Yes indeed Kerbut .They did do hanging garments amongst other things.Not sure if still running.Out of touch now. Will ask TIR Original.He knows most things. 
Thanks for clearing that one up for me “TIR Original”, my appologies for any confusion , as i say i was on the night trunk for Strattons , the beauty of that is that you have no dealings whatsoever with day to day running of things !! Didnt really know what went on , i left not long after Bob came on the scene anyway , Thanks again TIR Original , regards to Albert and the familly , memories !!!
Charlie
Was Bob Garnett with B.I.T. ?,I seem to remember his name as someone in the office.
Oldtrucker (Richard ) you have 2 PM,s
Yes Kerbut, Bob Garnett certainly was in the transport office for B.I.T. I would go as far as to say he was the best man in the company when it came to dealing with both customers and drivers. Certainly no surprise to me when he very successfully started his own company. When I broke my promise to my other half and dabbled in fridge transport a few years ago, he kindly let us use his ferry account until we opened one of our own. Really nice genuine chap.
I dont think Garnett Eurotrans is running any longer but if I find out I’ll let you know.