DEANB:
GeoffWant to bad on the barfleur but the Coutances/Purbeck was a different story,but I was lucky and
the rough crossing did not really effect me !Robert will be happy with those ERF pics when he sees them !
I was pretty lucky myself Dean with rough crossings but if I had seen someone talking to hewwy I might of joined in with them. I expect Robert has already seen them on the sofa site. regards Geoff
geoff luther:
DEANB:
Cherbourg,homeward bound on the Barfleur.
It wasn’t always so inviting a sight when the weather was bad Dean.
Think the Normandy Shipper was worse.
Cliff luxton:
Loading apples in nantes area before shipping back Cherbourg to Poole about 1976.
Nice photo of your old truck Cliff and the the date ages you aswell.
What ever happened to Dave Croft who used to come through Poole all the time with a red daf with
a lift axle on the back. Used to pull car parts to Spain ? From memory lived Milton Keynes way ■■
DEANB:
What ever happened to Dave Croft who used to come through Poole all the time with a red daf with
a lift axle on the back. Used to pull car parts to Spain ? From memory lived Milton Keynes way ■■
DEANB:
What ever happened to Dave Croft who used to come through Poole all the time with a red daf with
a lift axle on the back. Used to pull car parts to Spain ? From memory lived Milton Keynes way ■■
DEANB:
What ever happened to Dave Croft who used to come through Poole all the time with a red daf with
a lift axle on the back. Used to pull car parts to Spain ? From memory lived Milton Keynes way ■■
hello dean. David J Croft from Newport Pagnel still lives there and does weekend driving for Waitrose I think. i have many many memories from those wonderful days driving up and down to Spain and Portugal with David and usually with our mutual friend Les Chilvers Les and i both worked for jd fairweather and also mdf from great yarmouth pulling for macandrews who David also pulled for. David went to drive for Mick Denson after winding up his own business and when he got made redundant there he decided that was enough of international driving. We still meet on occasion at the Old ■■■■■ Reunion held which has been held in Bournemouth for the past 12 years.
I have the fondest memories of the Poole ferries. As a Devon boy working for a London firm, Grangewood, going through Poole was like being home - especially when the boys from Axminster were aboard.
Not only the boat but the fact that either side you had human roads to drive on, not endless motorways like the Dover or Sheerness routes. We had a lot of work to Surgeres and always used Poole for that.
Happy days indeed.
David.
geoff luther:
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Many thanks Geoff for posting this picture. I’ve not seen it before! This lorry is mentioned (favourably) in my new book Lorries of Arabia: ERF NGC. Thanks too for the B-series shot. Great pics. Robert 
PS Geoff, do you have any recollection of which gearbox those ERFs of Phil Horridge had? The older NGC probably had a 9-speed Fuller, but some of them had a 13-speed. Same with the B-series. There was a blogger on here some time ago called ‘Dave’ who drove both of these LHD ERFs for Phil and gave a really interesting account of his experiences with them. I’d love to know what engines they had too. It’d be great to hear more! Cheers, Robert 
PS Here’s another shot of that ERF NGC to prompt memories:
geoff luther:
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PPS I see you drove Westermann 768. I variously drove Westermann 714, 738 and 774 (MAN F8, MAN F90 & Scania 113) in my time! Robert
papa noel:
DEANB:
What ever happened to Dave Croft who used to come through Poole all the time with a red daf with
a lift axle on the back. Used to pull car parts to Spain ? From memory lived Milton Keynes way ■■DEANB:
What ever happened to Dave Croft who used to come through Poole all the time with a red daf with
a lift axle on the back. Used to pull car parts to Spain ? From memory lived Milton Keynes way ■■DEANB:
What ever happened to Dave Croft who used to come through Poole all the time with a red daf with
a lift axle on the back. Used to pull car parts to Spain ? From memory lived Milton Keynes way ■■hello dean. David J Croft from Newport Pagnel still lives there and does weekend driving for Waitrose I think. i have many many memories from those wonderful days driving up and down to Spain and Portugal with David and usually with our mutual friend Les Chilvers Les and i both worked for jd fairweather and also mdf from great yarmouth pulling for macandrews who David also pulled for. David went to drive for Mick Denson after winding up his own business and when he got made redundant there he decided that was enough of international driving. We still meet on occasion at the Old ■■■■■ Reunion held which has been held in Bournemouth for the past 12 years.
Thanks for the reply,yes Dave was a good lad, Les Chilvers rings a bell but cant remember what he
looked like. JD Fairweather he had some nice motors,blue/red and white from memory,especially the
F16 globetrotter ! Macandrews that’s right I just could not remember who he pulled for.
David Miller:
I have the fondest memories of the Poole ferries. As a Devon boy working for a London firm, Grangewood, going through Poole was like being home - especially when the boys from Axminster were aboard.
Not only the boat but the fact that either side you had human roads to drive on, not endless motorways like the Dover or Sheerness routes. We had a lot of work to Surgeres and always used Poole for that.
Happy days indeed.David.
Hi David nice to hear from you again, you are right when you say it was like being home when you shipped out of Poole as there was a family feel about the the place. Have you been back to Cliffys place at West Bay since I last saw you? Regards Geoff
robert1952:
PS Geoff, do you have any recollection of which gearbox those ERFs of Phil Horridge had? The older NGC probably had a 9-speed Fuller, but some of them had a 13-speed. Same with the B-series. There was a blogger on here some time ago called ‘Dave’ who drove both of these LHD ERFs for Phil and gave a really interesting account of his experiences with them. I’d love to know what engines they had too. It’d be great to hear more! Cheers, RobertPS Here’s another shot of that ERF NGC to prompt memories:
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Hi Robert good to hear from you again. I am sorry that at this time I cant tell you about the gearboxes as I never drove them.I do know a couple of Phills ex drivers so I will try and let you know. The blogger called Dave that you were on about I am sure he to worked for Phill, I have a pic of him by his truck that I will Post. Sadly he died a couple of years ago out in france where he lived. Fancy you driving for Westermanns aswell, personally I thought they were a good Firm to work for but I was only a driver and enjoyed the work,the problem was the chap that owned the truck.Regards Geoff
geoff luther:
Many thanks for the pic and for helping to put a face to Dave’s name. I quoted a couple of interesting lines from his blogs in Lorries of Arabia: ERF NGC so I hope he’s enjoying his free copy in the sky truck stop, may he rest peacefully. Cheers! Robert
I had a visitor to my shop in West Bay today who used Truckline as much as I did in the 70s for Central Road Transport. Tony Broomfield so nice to see him and I am sure a lot of you will remember him.
DEANB:
Cherbourg,homeward bound on the Barfleur.
Jees, that opening looks a bit small to fit an artic through it! Is that right?! I’ve never driven one you see!
‘C’mon driver! We’ve had bigger ones than this in here!’
John
Cliff luxton:
I had a visitor to my shop in West Bay today who used Truckline as much as I did in the 70s for Central Road Transport. Tony Broomfield so nice to see him and I am sure a lot of you will remember him.
cliff,I remember tony well on central please pass on my regards next time you see him I really need to catch up when I come back in the summer regards dennis
robert1952:
geoff luther:
1Many thanks for the pic and for helping to put a face to Dave’s name. I quoted a couple of interesting lines from his blogs in Lorries of Arabia: ERF NGC so I hope he’s enjoying his free copy in the sky truck stop, may he rest peacefully. Cheers! Robert
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Blimey, TIR Zona Franca I reckon 
