Looks like a Bowater - Scott Andrex load to me. Did you get much back from Northfleet Dennis?
My r&s was never as good as that, Dollys all in a row! But I would never have made the mistake one of your drivers did in a photo earlier on this or the ■■■■■■■■ thread where he’d folded the sheet back at the front, he couldn’t have seen much in the mirrors!
‘My office, now!’
Followed by a Fergie style hair dryer I guess.
Odd, isn’t it. I put up a new washing line for the bride this summer. I haven’t done a dolly for 40 years, but the action was totally automatic.
Hiya,
I was given my army number at age 18 and at age 78 I can remember it as if it was only
yesterday, my Dad showed me how to sheet up and tie a dolly at age 21 the sheeting
would now be out of my depth I couldn’t climb on the trailer but the dolly would be a
case of it’s impossible to forget how to do it funnily I was tidying the shed and came
across an old bag I used to always carry in the boot of my car, the contents being a
tow rope a set of jump leads and a battery operated inspection lamp and just for fun I
threw the rope over the shed and put a dolly in it without having to think about it, I
then put it back in the bag and transferred it and many other motoring items to the
dustbin awaiting the Thursday collection.
thanks harry, long retired.
Only recently found the forum, but I’m working my way through several threads including Middle East, my particular interest, and ■■■■■■■ Hauliers, (knew Bewick when he was young and only a tiny bit less grumpy!) as well as getting sidetracked by stuff like Williams at Spennymoor.
See your name regularly. Excellent contributions. I’m ‘only’ 66, but wouldn’t like to rope and sheet now - I wasn’t that keen then! But you immediately understand things like making a loop to put your foot in to tighten the rope.
Unloading bog rolls at Asda in Lincoln. Circa 1972, rope slipped and I fell off the trailer. Luckily the fall was broken by a woman walking by. She shouted at me and I shouted at her for walking by so close. I did get a solicitor’s letter, but just ignored it. Never heard anything more. Hope she isn’t reading this, Suethem & Grabbit will be on the case like a shot!
My uncle told me about the buses cafe at the top of shap, which I don’t remember, but you will. Was delighted to find photos and news of the girls that ran it. I did call regularly at the Jungle though. First time I visited the girl behind the counter with red hair and a Scots accent, said ‘sorry, transport drivers only in here’. I don’t think I’d begun to shave at that point. After protestations she served me, but that was then her catchphrase every time I went in. She happened to be in Charnock Richard services about 10 years later - she immediately said ‘sorry, transport drivers only in here’. I almost bit!
Only recently found the forum, but I’m working my way through several threads including Middle East, my particular interest, and ■■■■■■■ Hauliers, (knew Bewick when he was young and only a tiny bit less grumpy!) as well as getting sidetracked by stuff like Williams at Spennymoor.
See your name regularly. Excellent contributions. I’m ‘only’ 66, but wouldn’t like to rope and sheet now - I wasn’t that keen then! But you immediately understand things like making a loop to put your foot in to tighten the rope.
Unloading bog rolls at Asda in Lincoln. Circa 1972, rope slipped and I fell off the trailer. Luckily the fall was broken by a woman walking by. She shouted at me and I shouted at her for walking by so close. I did get a solicitor’s letter, but just ignored it. Never heard anything more. Hope she isn’t reading this, Suethem & Grabbit will be on the case like a shot!
My uncle told me about the buses cafe at the top of shap, which I don’t remember, but you will. Was delighted to find photos and news of the girls that ran it. I did call regularly at the Jungle though. First time I visited the girl behind the counter with red hair and a Scots accent, said ‘sorry, transport drivers only in here’. I don’t think I’d begun to shave at that point. After protestations she served me, but that was then her catchphrase every time I went in. She happened to be in Charnock Richard services about 10 years later - she immediately said ‘sorry, transport drivers only in here’. I almost bit!
Dear Mr. West,
Our client has informed us that she feels compelled to commence a retrospective action for damages caused by a falling lorry driver. She has spent the last forty years searching for the culprit and is delighted to at last have not only a lead as to his whereabouts but also a candid confession on the pages of a digital forum.
You would be well advised to instruct your own legal advisors whom we trust will suggest a course of action in the event of your not making an acceptable offer to our client.
Assuring you of our best intention at all times,
Yours faithfully,
Dombie & Son, solicitors.
Retired Old ■■■■:
Dear Mr. West,
Our client has informed us that she feels compelled to commence a retrospective action for damages caused by a falling lorry driver. She has spent the last forty years searching for the culprit and is delighted to at last have not only a lead as to his whereabouts but also a candid confession on the pages of a digital forum.
You would be well advised to instruct your own legal advisors whom we trust will suggest a course of action in the event of your not making an acceptable offer to our client.
Assuring you of our best intention at all times,
Yours faithfully,
Dombie & Son, solicitors.
Dropped yourself in it rof , it’s obvious from the excellently written “solicitors” letter that you have been the recipient of more than one in the past . Must be all those expensive divorces .
John West:
Looks like a Bowater - Scott Andrex load to me. Did you get much back from Northfleet Dennis?
My r&s was never as good as that, Dollys all in a row! But I would never have made the mistake one of your drivers did in a photo earlier on this or the ■■■■■■■■ thread where he’d folded the sheet back at the front, he couldn’t have seen much in the mirrors!
‘My office, now!’
Followed by a Fergie style hair dryer I guess.
Odd, isn’t it. I put up a new washing line for the bride this summer. I haven’t done a dolly for 40 years, but the action was totally automatic.
John
We hauled out of Bowies for about 13 years kicking off with one West Thurrock per day in '73 after the big fire and this steadily built up thru '2 per day and in the later years it was 3 and 4 a day plus retails to Newport Pag,Northampton and regular odd loads to Croydon when they were desperate for the load to be there next morning!We only did West Thurrock as that suited our reloads out of Tilbury back to Milnthorpe and also we loaded core board from Reeds Tovil mill in Kent back to vital supplies at Bowies which could be 3 loads a week on average.I always got on well with Jim Lamb at Bowies and he looked after us but we were reliable and we were also well in at West Thurrock so they didn’t want all and sundry turning up at all times of day as it disrupted their loading of their vans.Our shunters were on the door step at Oliver Road every morning at 7a.m. No I never got involved with loading out of Northfleet as the rates were crap plus we had more of our own traffic coming back North than our own motors could handle.I packed up running out of Bowies at Christmas '85,we had struggled to get any rate increases for 2 or 3 years as they started to let every man and his dog in also encouraged their own drivers to buy a Bowies motor and start work as an owner driver when they were pulling out of running their own fleet.We didn’t miss the Bowie traffic as we were by that time well established at other paper mills at home and in Lancashire as well as by then we were the main haulier out of Libbys on our doorstep in Milnthorpe and the rate out of Barrow by that time was a lump less than our rates from home.However,in IIRC the early '90’s I was invited to a meeting at Northfleet with the terminal manager Capt. ? and asked to quote for all the pulp to Barrow Mill,behind the scenes I was told that they were trying to squeeze the Young’un and I didn’t want the poxy job anyway so I did quote but added £1:50 per ton onto Bradys rate !!! The Capt.asked me if I was joking as they were trying to get a cheaper price than they were currently paying ! So I informed him that yes we could do the job but our empty motors had to travel back to Milnthorpe so there was no way I could compete with Bradys ! They then tried to ship the pulp on rail to Fogartys rail head in Blackburn and asked if we were interested,so I quoted but was informed that we wanted more per ton from Blackburn to Barrow than they were wanting to pay for the whole through job !! For 10 years Bowies was a great regular job plus their cheque turned up like clockwork every month,but then the quailty of the job turned to crap so we parted company and stuck with customers that appreciated quailty service and were prepared to pay a fair price for it.Phew ! Cheers Dennis.
rigsby:
Dropped yourself in it rof , it’s obvious from the excellently written “solicitors” letter that you have been the recipient of more than one in the past . Must be all those expensive divorces .
That’s what’s known as, “A triumph of experience over education”, Rigsby!
Thanks for that fascinating insight into your operation Dennis. I have to say that you achieved what I was aiming for when I started out. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy how things turned out - I did well in the Middle East and the Amtrak Franchise I bought in '87 when I came back kept me busy for the next 20 years. However, Amtrak going bankrupt when I was 60, I could have done without!
The reason I bought a parcels franchise was because, as you well know, haulage is like selling very fresh fruit - if you don’t sell it today it’s gone. Whereas you can be quiet one day with parcels and make it up the next day. You obviously avoided all that with carefully worked out trunks and very little empty running. Plus you had the balls to say no when the rates lost viability.
I was sad to hear about The Big’un’s death. A big man in every sense of the word. He always called me ‘young west’ even when I was close to 60!
You’ve probably heard all the old tales about him. The one I liked best, although it may of course be apocryphal, was about the Scammell that I think they ran on a night trunk from the Blackpool area. Bill Glassy came running through to the workshops where Bob was tightening up U bolts - you know how he couldn’t resist mucking in.
Apparently the night trunk driver had an infrequently recurring unfortunate affliction - ‘Big’un, Big’un, Jim can’t do the night trunk tonight - he’s dropped a testicle again’
‘Well tell him to get the b***** into Scammell’s and get it sorted out!’
I’ll leave it to those more able than me to comment on the sheeting. I would have taken it!
Andy green, who’s dad ran Arthur Green of Silsden, remarked at Harrogate this summer that his dad didn’t see the need of a passenger windscreen wiper (extra!).
John West:
I’ll leave it to those more able than me to comment on the sheeting. I would have taken it!
Andy green, who’s dad ran Arthur Green of Silsden, remarked at Harrogate this summer that his dad didn’t see the need of a passenger windscreen wiper (extra!).
I guess John Rhind? Didn’t either.
The drivers side wiper isn’t much better either John,look at the blade length,6 maybe 8 inches??!!
John West:
I’ll leave it to those more able than me to comment on the sheeting. I would have taken it!
Andy green, who’s dad ran Arthur Green of Silsden, remarked at Harrogate this summer that his dad didn’t see the need of a passenger windscreen wiper (extra!).
I guess John Rhind? Didn’t either.
The drivers side wiper isn’t much better either John,look at the blade length,6 maybe 8 inches??!!
David
Hiya,
Most vehicles of this ones era only had one wiper, and on the rare occasion you was blessed with
one for the trailer boy it was usually independently switched, the old Octopus’s was my very first
drive slightly older than the one pictured and you could jog faster, but get you there they did at
steady rate of knots, the sheeting and roping on this one leaves a lot to be desired but at the
leisurely speed this old girl would plod on at there wouldn’t be much sheet flap, I would taken it
but only on night trunk in the Winter months.
thanks harry, long retired.
That’s the trouble with you blokes! Make a success of a company and you think you can ride roughshod over every poor hard-working lorry driver who unfortunately comes your way. Let me tell you this, lad, COME THE REVOLUTION THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT AROUND HERE!!!
