I also heard they were ex prisoners and given a chance by driving.
Some of them looked hard as nails and not to be messed with.
biggriffin:
Is the understatement of the year, bad maintenance, drivers hours, then there was the time riot police were called to Macon, when the muppets bendy drivers and draw bar boys had some disagreement with each
I don’t remember this, the only place I remember at Macon was the Bakehouse, not sure that Muppets drivers ever found their way there.
Murfitts pulling Norfolk Line out of Great Yarmouth along with Roffes bent every rule in the book. Their DAF 2800’s/ 3300’s were sometimes hugely overweight and along with Roffes DAF 2300’s at max weight and some used to struggle somewhat. We have around 20 ex Norfolk Line VanHool tilts on our fleet, most have led a very hard life…
Everyone bent the rules then not just roffes and murfitts don’t think I knew many people that didn’t lot of owner drivers started on norfolkline but I’ll agree it weren’t good following a murfitts or roffes 2500 dad out of Lincoln after they had loaded out of Scunthorpe
Muppets as other…
Drivers called them, where everywhere between Calais and Italy.
They had such a bad reputation that some drivers I knew would carry on to another truckstop if there were Muppets wagons parked. Like others have said here, the drawbar and artic drivers were paid differently and they were just about gauranteed to fight it out when ever they met.
yourhavingalarf:
Muppets as other…Drivers called them, where everywhere between Calais and Italy.
They had such a bad reputation that some drivers I knew would carry on to another truckstop if there were Muppets wagons parked. Like others have said here, the drawbar and artic drivers were paid differently and they were just about gauranteed to fight it out when ever they met.
I worked for Dave Riby or European Road Freight as we became known out of Hull for many years, we were the same, many of us used to meet up for weekends (I’ve known up to 25 or so all parked together at Peschira,Carisio,Vipitino, Campo or Habay, everybody used to avoid us, we worked hard and played hard but I don’t recall any of us falling out with each other.
There was ■■■■ hard guys worked there but it was like a big family, perhaps the best job I ever had.
Grumpy_old_trucker:
yourhavingalarf:
Muppets as other…Drivers called them, where everywhere between Calais and Italy.
They had such a bad reputation that some drivers I knew would carry on to another truckstop if there were Muppets wagons parked. Like others have said here, the drawbar and artic drivers were paid differently and they were just about gauranteed to fight it out when ever they met.
I worked for Dave Riby or European Road Freight as we became known out of Hull for many years, we were the same, many of us used to meet up for weekends (I’ve known up to 25 or so all parked together at Peschira,Carisio,Vipitino, Campo or Habay, everybody used to avoid us, we worked hard and played hard but I don’t recall any of us falling out with each other.
There was ■■■■ hard guys worked there but it was like a big family, perhaps the best job I ever had.
In the late 90’s I was heading up the national past sumbilla when the not very old fh16 I was driving decided to kill itself. A riby driver stopped and asked if he could help, I said I dunno what you can do mate…he said well I’m an ex hgv fitter and it’s ■■■■■■…[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
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Happy days, I worked for them in the mid 90s, what a blast, learned a lot there and there was the camaraderie between most drivers then, yes there was drunken truck stop fights, but, I loved the job, I was under the impression that the taxman had it in for old man Murfitts daughter, she was the accountant and I’m sure they were owed the taxman loads and that was like the nail in the coffin along with the lack of maintenance and tacho records.
Sapper
Used to do a lot of Itie in the early mid 90s met up with a few Murfitts drivers on different occasions and they seemed ok.
In them days, were they the biggest Brit firm doing Euro work ?
Always seemed to be them, EM Rogers, Wrefords, Rennie Hogg and Tompson Jewitt to name a few in them days.
The only time I had any trouble I had in Carisio , was from a ■■■■■■■■ Lenny Mclean lookalike that drove a plain white Scania unit.
I think it was pulling a Mcellars tilt.
It started when I commented ,that he should stop giving his companion grief.
She was a French girl younger than him and because I stuck up for her, he was going to rip my head off and ■■■■ in the hole.
I think it was a Rigby driver that intervened (thank frec) and calmed the situation down.
spit the dog:
Everyone bent the rules then not just roffes and murfitts don’t think I knew many people that didn’t lot of owner drivers started on norfolkline but I’ll agree it weren’t good following a murfitts or roffes 2500 dad out of Lincoln after they had loaded out of Scunthorpe
Do you remember Banachek the owner driver with the yellow F12 Globetrotter?
I’ve heard of Macon Pat
Who was the driver who lived in whittlesea. Both his parents were solicitors. He got made up from driver to planner and then got the sack ?
Found him, red F12 GlobeTrotter in this photo (12 turbo six moniker) most likely a 385.
Yea I knew ray quite well and before he was an owner driver we all used to drink in the pub opposite Norfolk line , I used to drive for Steve woolston if u remember them
onesock:
Who was the driver who lived in whittlesea. Both his parents were solicitors. He got made up from driver to planner and then got the sack ?
Ray Brown ?. Roadtrains planner is the only one i can think of.
Trucky Mc truckface:
onesock:
Who was the driver who lived in whittlesea. Both his parents were solicitors. He got made up from driver to planner and then got the sack ?Ray Brown ?. Roadtrains planner is the only one i can think of.
Ray aka as handbag
spit the dog:
Yea I knew ray quite well and before he was an owner driver we all used to drink in the pub opposite Norfolk line , I used to drive for Steve woolston if u remember them
I didnt know Ray on a personal level but we always used to acknowledge each other. Re Steve Woolston, the name rings a bell but cant really remember their trucks. Used to pull for Norfolk Line as an O/D when i first started out. Bought an old F7 from Leggets of Woolpit named ‘Lucky 7’, used all its 16 gears fully freighted out of Yarmouth… 
AndrewG:
spit the dog:
Yea I knew ray quite well and before he was an owner driver we all used to drink in the pub opposite Norfolk line , I used to drive for Steve woolston if u remember themI didnt know Ray on a personal level but we always used to acknowledge each other. Re Steve Woolston, the name rings a bell but cant really remember their trucks. Used to pull for Norfolk Line as an O/D when i first started out. Bought an old F7 from Leggets of Woolpit named ‘Lucky 7’, used all its 16 gears fully freighted out of Yarmouth…
Steve woolston had about 12 trucks out of Yarmouth all Volvo f10 f12 and 4 fl10 s
Its a funny old world, every one seems to remember Murfitts fighting all the time - and the caravan club and artic drivers being at each others throats every time they met… everyone that is except those who actually worked at Murfitts. I wont say there was never any arguments, in a company that size some folks will fall out. but I can say in my time there I never saw any of it. as for the drawbar/artic stuff I never saw any of that either, Funny enough this weekend just gone there was a Murfitts drivers reunion in Peterborough , at a hotel where much drink was apparently taken , no reports of fights from that either.
Murfitts was the biggest and certainly as far the drivers were concerned one of the most organised, from tags for tolls to the text system and emergency button- was it perfect? obviously not as the ministry did shut them down, but that was in the era when everyone ( and I do mean everyone) running international was taking liberties - Murfitts was the biggest and therefore the biggest scalp for the ministry, I do know of smaller companies that did far worse and are still running today.
Don’t believe everything you hear about Murfitts the majority did run right(ish) … but I as an ex Murfitts driver do enjoy the fact the tales even if inaccurate means the legend lives on