Yes Chris,you are so right.I’m not going to rattle on and on,but just to dismiss the old days out of hand needs to be redressed.I.m sorry if old trucker didn’t like them.Of course it’s a free country( sort of ) and I respect his views,but I don’t agree with 'em.Sorry mate. 
Better explain my selfe !!! i am not dismissing the old days , i have some fantastic memories , wouldnt change a thing , Its easy to remember the good times , the bad times tend to fade away !! , 300 miles a night in a truck with no heater , scraping ice off the inside of the screen , north easterly gales blowing through the gaps round the clutch and footbrake , no radios , (minor detail , but) , Waiting for days on end at K.G ,V , docks in London with no night out gear , dare"nt pull out of the queue . Crap raods , i know they are not that good now but at least there are more dual carriage ways , Pulling 32 tons up through Whitchurch village with a 150 gardner , 12speed “mickey mouse” foden , roping and sheeting in the “■■■■■■■■ rain , Running to Yugoslavia in a 1962 Bedford TK . Having your T.I.R. Carnet screwed up thrown at you by German customs at Frankfurt . and not knowing why . and generally being treated as 2nd class citizens . Having ranted on , yes , glad i did it , but i am not really sure if they were “good old days.” At least we didnt have the legislation then that seems to ruining the buisiness these days , Thats my take on it , open to discussion !!
I agree with most of what you say old trucker,those days were not perfect but at least you were your own gaffer and could more or less get on with it.There was always a helping hand when you were stuck - changing wheels for instance(and how many do that nowadays) and the regs were a little more flexible shall we say 
.
It just seems to me that a lot of drivers don’t seem to be happy today - just by reading the forums - and the hours seem as long and waiting time even longer,particularly at supermarket RDC’s.
I remember my early days and how hard it was until I got the knack of loading,sheeting and roping and doing running repairs and being cab-happy in an Albion Reiver must have meant for summat - it seems unthinkeable now but I was generally happy in my job and as long as I had my independence and the opportunity to earn a bob or two that was ok by me.
I can’t comment on Continental work as I never did it but reading the forums makes me think that maybe there is still a lot of camaraderie between Continental drivers even now,certainly more than in the UK.
Maybe I’m wrong,perhaps I’m in the minority of older drivers who think they were crap times but I still look back and smile rather than scowl.
As you say open to discussion - nowt like a good natter about t’olden days anyway.
TIR Original , what a memory all those names on SRT I forgotten , I was only 21yrs and all these fellas were my seniors , Used to meet up at Spitalfields in London , had great nights out with these guys . Cliff York , is he still out there .
I had a load of ISR rubber on around 1969 for Fort Dunlop and turned it over in a ditch near Kidlington a bit beyond Parrafin Annies on a Friday afternoon , I phoned Gordon Prebble to give him the news and he was more worried about the rubber getting wet then me , typical , Cliff turned up at Parrafins after I got a lift back there and said forget it well come back tomorrow for overtime and recover it then which we did with a big crane , and the rubber was dry.
Cliff was the docks runner so fruit and timber was his baby he also delivered your wages if you were away on payday and would have a joke with your misses saying she was different to the one hed seen in the old mans cab , it backed fired on him and he got thumped for his trouble once. That Cornick Dodge had an american Detroit V6 two stroke in it and noise was horrendous almost as bad as the two stroke Fodens that were around then. My first Lorry was a Cornicks ford trader then an ex Christopher Hill Split screen seddon from Poole on B licence my first artic . Edmond Geralds at four post , thats the company with the oldest lorries in town , he never bought anything new , well after 50s anyway . Can I ask if anybody Knows Malcome White an old mucker with coke bottle glasses , I do hope hes still around . I used to do the cape Birth it was good for overtime on a sunday loading trailers but the queues ugh. and 109 the cold store for cheese and the like , used to work a couple in and find a couple short on delivery , people helping themselves in the yard.
Frenchy
Sorry to ■■■■ in frenchy but “Parrafin Annies” made me smile.I suppose it was a cafe was it?
Yes Chris it was a cafe.Dont remember calling it Parafin Annies though. To me it was known as Bobs at Kiddlington. Now someone is going to prove me wrong.
charlie one:
Yes Chris it was a cafe.Dont remember calling it Parafin Annies though. To me it was known as Bobs at Kiddlington. Now someone is going to prove me wrong.
Yes charlie i always knew it as bobs,fire in the middle of the room on the right as you headed towards oxford.Used to call there in the 70s when i ran batterys from m/c to ingersol rand at basingstoke when you used to go the old way ,turn off at ryton down the 419 up warmington hill [remember that one?].
Warmington Hill.Yes Dave I do.In the mid sixtes I was driving a Foden two stroke lowloader.Twelve speed air change. I was well freighted wirh a D9 Cat complete with blade and Kelly ripper. Halfway up the hill I missed a gear and had to stop. She would not pull away.Just kept bouncing up and down.So had to back all the way down to the bottom and start again.Yes I do remember that hill
Charlie you astound me ! I know you’re an old’un so dont make out you didn’t know “Parrafin Annies” before it was Bob’s. It was always known as Parrafin’s for short . The cafe was actually called Annies but due to the abundance of parrafin heaters everywhere was termed as Parrafin Annies. Bob took it over at a later date and built a completely new and modern cafe but I dont think I ever called it anything else but Parrafins. I can even remember going in there with my dear old dad before I started driving. It must have been one of the best known cafes in the country. Later in life I would use it when doing night trunk with the likes of Yardley of Leeds.
Frenchy, I see in your post that you mention Gordon Prebble R.I P. Well that was in the latter days that he was the transport manager as the first one was Denny York whom I just happen to bump into in the New Forest in the mid 80’s. Gordon took over when Denny went off to join his brother-in-law Bobby Merrick at Hughes, Portsmouth. (Tippers). Bob Merrick was the owner of Habin Haulage which was one of the companies used to set up SRT. When he sold out to SRT, he had to sign to say that he woul not start up in transport in Southampton for a period of at least 5 years. Therefore he started a tipper firm in Pompey called Hughes of Portsmouth Ltd. He started to buy up small companies such as Privetts etc. and did all the chalk from Portsdown Hill for the base of the M 27. Because of a big fiddle going on with drivers having thier own load register books, he was taken to court by Portsmouth City Council. The case lasted for a number of years and only came to a close not too long ago because of the cost and charges were dropped. But Hughes went on to become a PLC with Bob as Managing Director. He later retired and bought a mansion house in the Wylye Valley. You could often see his Mercedes car on the A 36 which was recogniseable by his registration number BOB 1. This number I remember him having back in the early 60’s.
Yes Bobs of kidlington was also known as parrafin Annies who as I remember the cafe owner way before Bobs and got the name obviously by its great parrafin stove in the middle of the room and the name Parrafins stuck .
Tir Original , you have an amazing memory everytime you write brings memories flooding back , Bob merrick was on the scene in my time as was Denny york , I used to see them in the Office in 123 High street .
Warminton hill was known as half shaft hill , I was racing to beat the hill in the days of the Seddons and couldnt quite make the top because Id been baulked by another lorry and had to roll back down select crawler and have another go but still could`nt make it so a breakdown was called to drag me over , now , the breakdown driver told me a story of The Ghost of Warmington .
Ring a bell anyone .
Frenchy
Sorry to weigh in on the side of the good old days Frenchie but personally I
was never so happy. Yes I know about all the downsides, cold, wet, raw
hands, no music, loud noise, but it was to me pure adventure. Maybe it’s a
young man’s thing ( 
) but I was a genuine tramper/roamer, loading myself
back and forth around the whole country and if I had the chance again I would
do it tomorrow. Not sure I could say that about some of the more recent jobs
I’ve had.
Spardo:
Sorry to weigh in on the side of the good old days Frenchie but personally I
was never so happy. Yes I know about all the downsides, cold, wet, raw
hands, no music, loud noise, but it was to me pure adventure. Maybe it’s a
young man’s thing (
back and forth around the whole country and if I had the chance again I would
do it tomorrow. Not sure I could say that about some of the more recent jobs
I’ve had.
Well theres a word you dont often hear used in proper context, “Roamer”. I prefer it to Tramper really. Like you say David, find your own return load and if there was none then load for somewhere else until you found one to get you home. Dont think they would do it now even with their fancy sleeper cabs !!
I remember when things got quiet around your home base for work then the guvnor would load you away and say dont come back until I tell you that things have bucked up. Are we looking back through rose coloured spectacles ? Yes we probably are but we were only youngsters then and were doing a job that we had done an “apprenticeship” for and enjoying it !
Frenchy, I’ve got to rush now but I’ll give you the story on the ‘Warmington Ghost’ later on if I can remember it all 'cause the old minds going now. 
TIR Original:
[Well theres a word you dont often hear used in proper context, “Roamer”. I prefer it to Tramper really. :
I know what you mean, I think it’s because ‘tramper’ is used nowadays to mean something completely different - ie. someone who has nights out or is not on a regular run.
Like you say David, find your own return load and if there was none then load for somewhere else until you found one to get you home. Dont think they would do it now even with their fancy sleeper cabs !!
I remember when things got quiet around your home base for work then the guvnor would load you away and say dont come back until I tell you that things have bucked up.
Indeed, I was based halfway between Derby and Nottingham and well remember loading myself ‘back’ from Highfield Transport in Derby for MacMerry near Edinburgh. It was a fork truck and as this was in the days before floors were designed for dock loading they gave me 4 small steel plates to take the weight of the wheels. I got all the way to Edinburgh city centre (had a drop in Glasgow on the way) and some pillock pulled out in front of me causing an emergency stop and the wheels shunted forward slightly just off the plates. Unable to move the flt because it needed shunting a bit, I completed the remaining 14 or so miles to destination with heart in mouth as I listened to the creaking of the floor boards as the load tried to descend towards the road.
Serve me right for an insecure load. 
I never looked on myself as a tramper , I always tried to back load down south , most guys who took loads anywhere were single , trying to keep away from the misses or a Scotsman , sorry just an observation .
I was loading somewhere in the midlands with concrete pipes and while roping down a Tramper as he told me came in with a Hills of Botley Ford Trader Artic , I remember him telling me how he Tramped all over and kept well away from Botley , even my Seddon seemed more worthy of the job . Incidently my father in law ■■■■ ( Snowy ) White worked for Hills in the fifties before landing a job driving for BP & Shell Mex .
renchy .
When the Sheffield holiday fortnight and works shutdown was on our gaffer used to give us the option of taking holiday or tramping.I always chose the latter.North-West - South-East or North-East - South-West were the favourites so you could sneak home to Sheffield “passing through” and nobody in the office to give you orders.
Mind you I once made the mistake of loading electrodes from Anglo Great Lakes on Scotswood road,Newcastle for BSC Tinsley Park,Sheffield through McPhees on City Road Newcastle at the end of the tramping fortnight and getting a f****** 'cos they were bad payers.
Well,nobody told me,I got 'em out of a transport mag-would it be “Headlight” in 1968?
Frenchy, I cannot believe Snowy was your dad ! I was only talking about him the other day to a friend of mine whos father also worked for Hills of Botley. I asked him to see if his father also remembered Snowy. He used to drive a 4 wheel tanker for Hills in Shell Mex colours of that day,red , green and yellow.
I spent many a happy hour in Alf’s Cafe at Runfold with your dad and used to watch him blow smoke rings from quite a distance and get the sauce bottle every time ! Thick mop of grey curly hair and spoke quite posh I thought for his job. I remember him breaking down once on the small hump back bridge at the bottom of the Hogs Back and him telling me of the woman behind him honking her horn for him to move. He calmly went back to her and said "I’ve a good idea ma’am, I’ll sit here and blow your horn while you go and fix my f****** lorry !! I was a very young man in those days but he always reminded me of an ex: wartime Spitfire pilot. Blinkin’ 'eck mate mentioning him has brought back so many memories. By the way I actually remember his breakdown was just a wire had come loose from the ditributor. (What a bloody memory !)
Snowy White was Frenchys father in law. Try to read a little slower TIR. Why are you called Frenchy when you are a scummer sorry a Southampton gentleman.
Father in Law sir, Married his Daughter and Im a Sotonian through and through , I just live in France , couldnt think of anything original to call meself.
■■■■ Snowy White was in the RAF as a mechanic , I remember him telling me tales of working on Spitfires but he really was Jack the Lad , he did sky diving insruction at Thruxton , he loved cycle polo , taught me to play golf and beach casting as a nipper and the bugger got me into Lorry driving , he died in 1982 after a difficult time with cancer . I know he used Alfs alot even with his shell mex tanker which he wasnt supposed to , he came home one day with an old Shell Mex bonneted Scammel and tank trailer showing of to us all and then turned up later with a brand new Scammel Handiman , I remember a cafe they used a lot on the old A27 at Sholing , all these Petrol Tankers parked up and a dump of a Cafe it was too . He tried for about 10 yrs to get me a job in Hamble but the nearest I got was the BP & Shell Mex club in Hamble lane even after he introduced me the the lads in the depot I still didnt get the job , I didnt fancy ESSO at the time , wish I had now those drivers did alright .
I`m really glad someone remembers him after all these years , small word eh.
Hi Frenchy. Not being nasty. Good name when you live in France.Interesting hearing about your Father-in -law. Sounds like a real character.I used to use Alfs a lot in 1960 onwards.I worked for Mays Motors for some time.The reason I put postings on this thread is that I worked for Jamesons.Southern Transport. R and A.Transport Jim Rawlings to name a few.It was on this thread that I came back in contact with TIR Original. Keep up the postings.Regards Charlie.