I notice that Bewick’s started putting on photos of easily-sheeted loads again. 
Any room in that air raid shelter?
There’s only so many times one can view a sheeted up Bts trailer Rof .
Dan Punchard:
There’s only so many times one can view a sheeted up Bts trailer Rof .
Oh no there isn’t 
Oh yes there is 
HE’S BEHIND YOU !!!
NO back scotch under the sheet have they just used wedges…or a pole through the reel??
As a man from the midlands [not south] as i have said before Bewicks were about the most professional[ not a word i use lightly regarding transport], sheeted and turnd out outfit tramping up the A5 M1 AND M6.,however were paper and pulp were the only loads .?As i read all the banter that the few of you have bettwen each other i think is very entertaining.how do you all know each other ,were you owners or[and] drivers together,where i come from owners and drivers never mixed ,so it would verg on animosity… however once i arrived up north and worked for WH BOWKER PRESTON it all changed to civil ,respected,employment…
deckboypeggy:
NO back scotch under the sheet have they just used wedges…or a pole through the reel??
As a man from the midlands [not south] as i have said before Bewicks were about the most professional[ not a word i use lightly regarding transport], sheeted and turnd out outfit tramping up the A5 M1 AND M6.,however were paper and pulp were the only loads .?As i read all the banter that the few of you have bettwen each other i think is very entertaining.how do you all know each other ,were you owners or[and] drivers together,where i come from owners and drivers never mixed ,so it would verg on animosity… however once i arrived up north and worked for WH BOWKER PRESTON it all changed to civil ,respected,employment…
Hiya,
Hi “deckboypeggy”, I too worked for W H Bowker a couple of times at the old Blackburn
depot the last time would have been around 1970 and it was a good place to work I
always found them decent people to work for with the exception of one driver who was
a detestable sneaky character who no’one spoke to or helped in any way, but the rest of
the guys were the best bunch of lads I’ve ever worked with, one of them I still contact.
thanks harry, long retired.
Hi HARRY it was from 1990 onwards i worked for them there were a lot of long time served men there when i joined at bamber bridge…names are not my best… i loved the yorkshire /lancashire banter,i was never involed,when i lived or worked in the south they thought i was from the north and vie versa,
good work good kit the only thing that did supprise me was the long term men still used to plus on the diesel and oil in france…i never got that…they had the best runs, golden lads, and they still did it… still that was us drivers always looking for the odd shilling…i did my bit over the years…not though where it was a good job…vic
deckboypeggy:
NO back scotch under the sheet have they just used wedges…or a pole through the reel??
As a man from the midlands [not south] as i have said before Bewicks were about the most professional[ not a word i use lightly regarding transport], sheeted and turnd out outfit tramping up the A5 M1 AND M6.,however were paper and pulp were the only loads .?As i read all the banter that the few of you have bettwen each other i think is very entertaining.how do you all know each other ,were you owners or[and] drivers together,where i come from owners and drivers never mixed ,so it would verg on animosity… however once i arrived up north and worked for WH BOWKER PRESTON it all changed to civil ,respected,employment…
That was a load of crepe paper for IIRC either for Kiriemuir or Dundee and would have weighed about 9ton,also the full range of paper and paper products as well as the raw materials were our main traffics and came in all shapes and sizes of loads which required sheeting and roping to high standards more often than not.However, we also hauled all manner of other traffics alongside our regular traffic and at the risk of bringing down a “■■■■ storm” of abuse from some of the “proles” on TNUK our reputation within the industry was second to none and I have said before we were fortunate enough to have employed some of the finest drivers and shunters during the era in which we operated Oh! and neither me or our general manager ever asked, nor expected, a driver to do anything either of us wouldn’t be prepared to do.Cheers Bewick.
One of the many loads of baled trims we hauled back to East Lancs Paper in Radcliffe from the various Bowater Packaging sites we delivered reels into from East Lancs.
You’ve upset him now!
Retired Old ■■■■:
You’ve upset him now!
Dennis upset, Never, He is only speaking the trueth the whole trueth and nothing but the treuth, I believe hime when he says that his drivers were never asked to do what he & his manager couldn’t do themselves, That was allways my policie to, , I did in fact worked for a couple of long distance hauliers who had the same approach, And im sure ROF you will have to at sometime during your driving days, Have a nice evening Eh just thinking about the good old days , Regards Larry. PS Plus some liquid refreshment too, Ha Ha.
What weight would there be on that trailer ,the baled cardboard I carry is nearly half a tonne per bale ,I count 36 bales on the Bts trailer ?edit is that 72?
Lawrence Dunbar:
Retired Old ■■■■:
You’ve upset him now!Dennis upset, Never, He is only speaking the trueth the whole trueth and nothing but the treuth, I believe hime when he says that his drivers were never asked to do what he & his manager couldn’t do themselves, That was allways my policie to, , I did in fact worked for a couple of long distance hauliers who had the same approach, And im sure ROF you will have to at sometime during your driving days, Have a nice evening Eh just thinking about the good old days , Regards Larry. PS Plus some liquid refreshment too, Ha Ha.
You’re quite right, Larry, I have worked for bosses like that. Coincidentely they turned out to be the ones who paid less than the others! But you can’t have everything in this life!
Retired Old ■■■■:
Lawrence Dunbar:
Retired Old ■■■■:
You’ve upset him now!Dennis upset, Never, He is only speaking the trueth the whole trueth and nothing but the treuth, I believe hime when he says that his drivers were never asked to do what he & his manager couldn’t do themselves, That was allways my policie to, , I did in fact worked for a couple of long distance hauliers who had the same approach, And im sure ROF you will have to at sometime during your driving days, Have a nice evening Eh just thinking about the good old days , Regards Larry. PS Plus some liquid refreshment too, Ha Ha.
You’re quite right, Larry, I have worked for bosses like that. Coincidentely they turned out to be the ones who paid less than the others! But you can’t have everything in this life!
ROF you should have taken them round the back of trailer park for a bit of counseling
cheers Johnnie
Dan Punchard:
What weight would there be on that trailer ,the baled cardboard I carry is nearly half a tonne per bale ,I count 36 bales on the Bts trailer ?edit is that 72?
Usually between 22 and 24 ton from memory they were big and bloody heavy bales,you should have seen the size of the balers that Rexam/Bowater used !! Cheers Dennis.
You’re quite right, Larry, I have worked for bosses like that. Coincidentely they turned out to be the ones who paid less than the others! But you can’t have everything in this life!
[/quote]
ROF you should have taken them round the back of trailer park for a bit of counseling
cheers Johnnie
[/quote]
It only came to that once, Johnnie! Usually I tried to persuade my employer that the chaps who actually did the work should get a little more of the company’s earnings than the vultures in his family who claimed an annual salary for running “ghost” companies. This practice was quite common and it usually came to light by a little gentle prodding at the wage “negotiations” when the boss attempted to gain our sympathy with spurious figures.
It didn’t take too long to work out which firms were worth working for.
On the ■■■■■■■■ Companies thread, Bewick told me we must have been too rough with our 2 mastiffs as he had very little trouble with theirs - my reply was:
Quote/Yes, probably too rough! I could rope and sheet though, and you needed to be able to do that on Bowater Scott’s. That’s why I moved onto vans and tautliners! I didn’t like it! Did all right on loads back from Northfleet as well until Bill Keith (haven’t read the whole thread yet, but haven’t seen any of his motors on it) cut the rate by £30.00 - a lot of money then.
Belongs on the other thread really, but we all shuddered when BRS started a night trunk out of there. They obviously sent the wrong day man. The first load was in the sheets turning into princes street, Ulverston, and the second at Newby Bridge! I don’t think they lasted the week./Quote
That got me thinking more about roping and sheeting. I’d carried mainly round timber out of Scotland and North Wales - easy to chain down, but always looked heavy and rough on the trucks, so we got stopped a fair bit.
When I first started loading in Bowater Scott in 1970, the traffic office was run by Dave Southam and another lad, Dave Heavyside. He was nearer my age than Dave Southam, about 22.
I had already bought brand new sheets from Mayors at Preston ready for general haulage. I couldn’t really afford fly sheets, so (Pat?) Mayor gave me two older sheets, still in good condition and said put those on first & you’ll be alright.
The toilet rolls were loaded by clamp truck and pushed tight together. You were then lifted onto the swaying heap with your sheets and left. I rolled out the undersheet and then the brand new canvas.
First problem!
I’d bought sheets for a 7’ load - the toilet rolls were 8’. I was 1’ short on either side!
The great thing in those days was that there were lots of experienced lads about, who although happy to take the p*** and laugh at such things, were also willing to literally ‘show you the ropes’. I think it was Lol Chorlton, the Bowies night shunter who told me to roll up the top sheet again, pull the undersheet down one side , then hang the top sheet to cover down the other side.
No remarks about snotty hankies Bewick! I had the sheets extended, but anyway soon decided that 40’ vans were a better bet.
We never had any wet damage, but I once brought a load up from Northfleet of what was essentially ‘Petal’, but own label for (I think) Spar. Dave Southam was in a foul mood and rejected about 40 boxes with slightly bent corners as rope damaged. Should have used corner boards!
There was a Spar shop at the top of Hawcoat and I sold him 30 of the boxes for what Bowie’s charged me, and my parents had a guest house at the time, so the other 10 boxes were welcomed there.
When I moved onto vans, Lol Chorlton was also happy to load and shunt the vans out when you’d run out of time - for a quid! If it doesn’t seem much now, I seem to remember that drivers were striking for £1 an hour at the time. We were both happy with the arrangement. Last time I saw Lol was about 1981. He was working in Shaw Hadwins office, near the the shoe factory at the top of Mill Brow. i think he said he had Asthma badly and struggled to walk more than a few steps.
We used to get a regular visit from ‘the monastery’ to look at and discuss log sheets. He was actually a nice guy and Dad and I used to take him in the dining room (I worked from home) and serve him coffee and biscuits. Since he said that many of these interviews were carried out on the doorstep, with him in the rain, I think we had the right approach!
Bowaters used to take your name as you arrived and left at the gate, but only put your surname. The ministry guy would collect these before the visit and then make comparisons. One time he asked me how I had managed to go in to load at 9.00pm, coming out at 11.00pm unit only, and then going in again at 4.30am to retrieve the trailer. Long silence and throat clearing from me. Then Dad piped up, ‘I think that was the night I loaded the trailer for you.’ Since Dad, like Lol Chorlton, had chronic asthma, was overweight and clearly past his truck driving days, that was obviously a lie. However, Mr Ministry just said, ‘OK that’s fine, be careful about your hours in future!’
I suspect the conversation would have ended differently on a wet doorstep.
Specially for you “JW” probably a 1977 shot of an ex Bowies load in the depot at Milnthorpe ready for one of the night trunks that we ran to Daventry,the load would be on the doorstep at West Thurrock next morning.Cheers Dennis.
HI Bewick nice picture yes it looks like a lloyd or grahams load. i also sused graham out on this forum he used a place name you know very well.
Bewick:
Specially for you “JW” probably a 1977 shot of an ex Bowies load in the depot at Milnthorpe ready for one of the night trunks that we ran to Daventry,the load would be on the doorstep at West Thurrock next morning.Cheers Dennis.
Hey, we called it Always a (Kerkevoer - a load so high as a church) because of the high load and low cabs in those days.
Eric,