As the title says. A thread on the Professional Drivers Forum set me thinking about some of my experiences with preparing and submitting trucks for their annual test during my career.
I think I’m right in that testing came in around 1968 while I was working for a BMC dealership and I do remember the first vehicle that we prepared like it was yesterday. It was an elderly Morris FFK140 owned by Stelco Steels of Richfield Avenue, Reading. Of course nobody knew exactly what the test involved at that stage so this poor truck was stripped down almost to the last nut,bolt and rivet! I remeber dismantling the steering box to fit new bearings (why?) and cutting the rivets off of all the spring hangers to fit new hangers and ream the holes out to fit ‘dead fit’ bolts to secure them. All brakes were renewed ‘just to make sure’ of course! The springs were dismantled completely, all the leaves cleaned and reassembled with new shackle pins and bushes and both kingpins replaced. It must have cost a fortune but the vehicle did pass so all was well, the company could probably have bought a new chassis/cab for less money though!
Our test centre was at Shaw, Newbury, but I could only take the lighter vehicles as I had no HGV licence back then but we had a good pass rate. Then I left and worked for a Bedford agency and the first vehicle I had for test was a Ford K series three tonner. A farmer owned it and drove it in; “brakes might need looking at” he said. Both front tyres were worn but he supplied two ‘brand new remoulds’ on wheels so they should have been OK. I put the truck on the brake rollers, absolutely no response from either front brake! Stripped them down, all four wheel cylinders were solid. Fixed that, the rest wasn’t too bad so it was cleaned and booked for test at Newbury. Trundling down the M4 and BANG went a ‘brand new remould’ so I got the almost bald spare off and changed it on the hard shoulder. Ten miles on and BANG went the other ‘new’ tyre! Garage came out and changed it, test was late of course but they fitted it in later in the day and it finally passed OK.
One of our customers, a thatcher, ran an O Type Bedford from the 1940’s that he had purchased new from our garage, he lived with his family in some woods. Each year at test time we sent our Bedford RL recovery truck to his place and raised the front of the Bedford so that it could be dropped onto a chain stretched between two posts (trees?) so that he could clean it underneath with parafin and a brush! After he cleaned it we went out and lowered it down again!
Back in those days the office at the test centres had an open counter usually staffed by a couple of ladies, however later they were fitted with screens like a bank as (I was told) a disgruntled fitter leapt over the counter to try and get to a lass. I believe I actually knew the chap as he worked locally but I never knew for certain that it was him.
Then in 1975 I moved to Derbyshire to work for Tilcon and, after passing my class 2, did all the pre test inspections and took the vehicles as well but more of that later!
Pete my first trucks were TK Bedford’s and when these went for MOT we did all the spring bushes as a matter of course, I used a chap who worked for Early Eggs at Cadnam as they ran all TK;s so he knew what likely faults they would encounter. My mates dad ran an ex USA six wheel petrol GMC as a lime and chalk spreader, he used to go to Salisbury test centre where they had a purpose built concrete ramp. You had to back up it and they used it to test hand brakes but don’t know if this was just in Salisbury.
Of course nowadays our local test station at Botley does no more truck tests, my present truck gets done at Scania’s as it is close to me and handy. They do a pretest check and then the test but it is the same examiners that once worked for the test station at Botley and a lot of them were only retrained farm workers so there was often arguments with presenting fitters and them as the testers thought they knew more than the proper qualified fitters.
Not a cheap exercise nowadays either, Think it costs Scania about £900 a day for a tester regardless of what he tests,you have to pay for a lane on top of the fee and the testers don’t always turn up and in this case you may lose your slot which can have knock on effects, not for me gladly as I don’t use my truck every day so not so important, how things have changed over the years, cheers Buzzer.
As a youngster I found it all really rather intimidating presenting a vehicle for test. Bert at Hastings was certainly not averse to dishing out bollockings if something was wrong and he thought it wasn’t an arguable point. After the test was completed on the lane at Gillingham you had to take the paperwork to senior T.O. Mr Daniels for him to scrutinise and actually write out the pass certificate. Heaven help you if you didn’t start off with a polite and reverent ‘Good Morning MISTER Daniels’. It was most definitely true that you needed to be ‘a face’ who turned up regularly, to avoid being picked up on the most minor of pedantic issues. Once you got known these seemed to miraculously get overlooked. That doesn’t mean they were all ogres - there were some really good blokes doing the job, who had been on the tools for years, unlike today when some seem to be the product of a two day course.
At Tilcon’s Ballidon quarry, in 1975 when I started there, they had a fleet of 40+eight wheeler Fodens. Mostly tippers but a lot of powder tankers as well. We also repaired the Fodens based at Kevin quarry in Staffordshire plus three sand tankers based at Cornets End, Meriden. Apart from a handful of S39’s the majority were S50 half cabs and S80’s and the oldest were on J plates. Tilcon had a six year replacement policy, at Ballidon a driver usually had a new truck every three years and his old one passed onto one of the other quarries to end its days!
Being a large fleet we had a test almost every week, usually a set booking on a thursday. A truck would come off the road on friday, steamed off on saturday morning ready for me to inspect it on monday morning. Then the fitters would set about it, all front brakes were stripped and cleaned and more often than not the balance beams and shackles would require replacement. The old ones were sent away to be rebuilt with bronze weld on the worn faces and new bushes pressed in. Any tidying/welding up of the body would be done and if the driver hadn’t booked a holiday, or there was no spare lorry, he would be set on painting the bumper and fuel tank etc. When work was completed I would load 15 tonnes on its back (we always took them laden for test) and take it for a good run round to warm the brakes up and check for any leaks, then readjust the brakes (previously tested on the rollers to make sure they all actually worked!) and it was ready to roll!
Derby (Raynesway) was our preferred station and they got to know me and the fleet (as Cav said, being a regular) and knew that there wouldn’t normally be anything drastically wrong. Handbrakes on the S50 and S39 chassis was the weak point, being only a transmission drum working on the third axle the rollers couldn’t be used so the truck had to go up the ramp. I carried a short length of scaffold pile to give extra leverage on the lever as despite the brake being stripped and relined etc they barely held a loaded truck anyway. So once up the ramp, place scaffold pipe over lever, stand up in the cab and pull like hell! Of course I then had to swing my legs out of the cab door to prove I wasn’t using the footbrake and then, when all was well, the fun started trying to get the bloody handbrake off again!!! “Come on driver, back her down” was the request, and five minutes later after much straining of muscles I was back down again haha.
Occasionally though things did go wrong, and some station staff caused problems as well. More later!
windrush:
At Tilcon’s Ballidon quarry, in 1975 when I started there, they had a fleet of 40+eight wheeler Fodens. Mostly tippers but a lot of powder tankers as well. We also repaired the Fodens based at Kevin quarry in Staffordshire plus three sand tankers based at Cornets End, Meriden. Apart from a handful of S39’s the majority were S50 half cabs and S80’s and the oldest were on J plates. Tilcon had a six year replacement policy, at Ballidon a driver usually had a new truck every three years and his old one passed onto one of the other quarries to end its days!
Being a large fleet we had a test almost every week, usually a set booking on a thursday. A truck would come off the road on friday, steamed off on saturday morning ready for me to inspect it on monday morning. Then the fitters would set about it, all front brakes were stripped and cleaned and more often than not the balance beams and shackles would require replacement. The old ones were sent away to be rebuilt with bronze weld on the worn faces and new bushes pressed in. Any tidying/welding up of the body would be done and if the driver hadn’t booked a holiday, or there was no spare lorry, he would be set on painting the bumper and fuel tank etc. When work was completed I would load 15 tonnes on its back (we always took them laden for test) and take it for a good run round to warm the brakes up and check for any leaks, then readjust the brakes (previously tested on the rollers to make sure they all actually worked!) and it was ready to roll!
Derby (Raynesway) was our preferred station and they got to know me and the fleet (as Cav said, being a regular) and knew that there wouldn’t normally be anything drastically wrong. Handbrakes on the S50 and S39 chassis was the weak point, being only a transmission drum working on the third axle the rollers couldn’t be used so the truck had to go up the ramp. I carried a short length of scaffold pile to give extra leverage on the lever as despite the brake being stripped and relined etc they barely held a loaded truck anyway. So once up the ramp, place scaffold pipe over lever, stand up in the cab and pull like hell! Of course I then had to swing my legs out of the cab door to prove I wasn’t using the footbrake and then, when all was well, the fun started trying to get the bloody handbrake off again!!! “Come on driver, back her down” was the request, and five minutes later after much straining of muscles I was back down again haha.
Occasionally though things did go wrong, and some station staff caused problems as well. More later!
Pete.
Hi Pete so the ramps were in all test stations then, IIRC TK’s had transmission hand brakes too, Buzzer
Thanks for the comments lads, yes they all had the test ramps. Early TK’s did have transmission handbrakes as well but their’s worked on the propshaft at the gearbox end. A drum brake at first, a disc later, and then a spring brake replaced it alltogether.
As I said, we did have some problems! I remember taking a S50 cabbed powder tanker (PRA 344K) to Derby and the outside inspection (cab, wheelnuts, smoke etc) had gone well and the next stage was over the pit. Now to do the steering lock to lock check they normally raised the second axle to take the weight off but for some reason that day the lad didn’t. As I turned from left hand to right hand lock I ‘felt’ something go and at the same time there came a scream from the pit! Much garbled swearing came over the tannoy then silence. Out of the pit emerged a figure drenched from head to feet in red power steering fluid, a pipe on the second axle ram had burst! Ooops! “Is that a failure?” I asked, yes, it @@@@ was. Poor chap was cleaned up and sent home, a fitter came out to replace the hose and then I think they reinspected it and it passed.
We had a Leyland Boxer four wheeler at Ballidon, it was inherited along with two Mastiffs and three drivers plus a fitter from Grimshaws Haulage of Hartington when they folded as there was a shortage of four wheelers. They were all well worn but the Boxer was prepared for test and I took it to Derby. All appeared to go OK and I took the sheet to the station manager to be signed which was the normal procedure. “You have a failure” he said. I asked what on as nobody had said anything; “controls” he said. So I tackled the lad who had done the outside inspection; “There’s a shovel in the passenger side, it could slide aross and interfere with the pedals” he said. So I chucked the shovel on top of the load, he ticked it as a ‘pass’ and the station manager gave him a rollicking for wasting time and paperwork!
Another time, Foden S80 tanker (VRB 607N) which was an early test so I loaded it with 15 tonne of filler and took it home with me. On the way home I went via Cromford Hill (a long 1 in to bed the brakes in as I hadn’t had time to do that beforehand and then I readjusted them in the lorry park at Matlock Bath station. The next morning, over the pit at Derby, and I heard “you had better come down here driver” which was never good to hear. In the pit and the tester pointed out the nut missing from the nearside first axle trackrod end!! ■■■■, it was on there when I inspected it but the kingpin had been replaced since then so the nut must have been removed and not refitted? However if that was the case it would surely have jumped out, strange. Anyway I nipped round to BRS for a nut, no joy so they came out from the quarry with one. What had happened was our apprentice, (a young lad with the surname the same as a North Notts town and who now owns a large Buxton based recovery concern ) had already loosened the nut to do the kingpin when a fitter came and told him to undo the actual steering knuckle instead as it was far easier so he never actually split the joint but didn’t retighten the nut either! It showed how good the taper held the joint in place though, didn’t really need a nut on it at all did it!
Things went ‘pear shaped’ though when Derby were over subscribed so we were sent to Watnall test centre near Nottingham. More on that later…
Pete you mentioned that sometimes when during a test if it was something minor they would let a fitter fix it so as to gain a pass, Les Slater who looked after my units during the 80’s & 90’s always had a toolbox with bits and bobs in it for a quick fix plus the light bulbs as well. Sometimes you came out the test lane and fixed it outside and they would come and check it for a pass, not so as time went on and of course you had to have a nice man in the office to accommodate you, cheers Buzzer.
PS I once owned a Mammoth Minor twin steer which was basically a Mandator, I used it on round timber haulage but off terra firmer it was useless and acted like a seesaw taking any weight of the drive axle so we removed the second steer axle and I ended up with a long wheel base four wheeled unit, far better but on the test for notified alteration on full lock it pinched the brake air pipe as the stop bolt was on the axle removed, this was remedied but did cause some consternation at the time.
Buzzer:
Pete you mentioned that sometimes when during a test if it was something minor they would let a fitter fix it so as to gain a pass, Les Slater who looked after my units during the 80’s & 90’s always had a toolbox with bits and bobs in it for a quick fix plus the light bulbs as well. Sometimes you came out the test lane and fixed it outside and they would come and check it for a pass, not so as time went on and of course you had to have a nice man in the office to accommodate you, cheers Buzzer.
Yes Buzzer, you could do minor repairs at one time (I once saw a Leyland Comet up on axle stands with both front hubs and brake linings off at Derby!) but I understand that a fatal accident at a station ‘somewhere’ stopped all that? I did have a tyre tread split on the brake rollers but I had to go outside the gates before they would let a tyre company change it. Actually the very first Foden I took to Derby had the offside front brake with no reading, despite having been relined, (we had no brake test rollers at the quarry back then) and the fitter hadn’t locked the collar off on the slack adjuster and it unwound itself on route. They let me wind it up and it passed ok. I always took a box of tools and bulbs etc with me and never had a problem replacing any blown ones at the centre, however In my next posting I will mention some of the ‘issues’ I had with station staff about other corrections!
As I said earlier we were suddenly redirected to Watnall for tests. The first time there I turned up with a Sed Ak 400, booked in and waited. A chap turned up eventually with his little hammer; “what are you doing here?” I told him we had been redirected from Derby, he promptly vanished into the office! A while later he reappeared; “How any of these eight wheelers have you?” and I told him around 40. Off he went again, presumably to the manager, and when he came back he said “we already have all the NCB eight wheelers plus K & M haulage and most of the Notts coal hauliers, the last thing we want is another 40+” and I said that it wasn’t my choice either! He tapped round outside…then vanished. Twenty minutes later back he came, I asked if he had been on a break; “working to rule mate, will have a break shortly”. Meanwhile I was chatting to another fitter waiting his turn and he said this was pretty normal, “You are in Notts now, surely you know from the miners etc how militant folk are in this region?” and that was my first taste of such things. Anyway it passed and away I went.
Following week I took our Bedford TK road sweeper, chap starts tapping round the wheelnuts and out came the yellow chalk. “Loose wheelnut there I think, it sounds different” so I said that there’s a wheelbrace sitting there so could I borrow it please? “No, that’s for our use only” was the reply. Ok, so the rest of the test went fine and I asked if it had passed. “No, failed on a suspected loose wheelnut”. Can I borrow the brace please; “No, it’s a failure, you will have to take it away and book a retest”. So off to the manager I go, he just said it’s a failure so do as the tester said! Right, can I use your phone to call our manager then and he asked why? So I can explain why it has failed, he knows folk in high places (he didn’t!) and they can sort this farce once and for all. “Well you can’t use our brace but if somebody has one in another truck, and will let you borrow it, then we will let you use it and pass it” and that is what happened. All that drama over nothing. Why did THEY need a wheelbrace for heavens sake?
Almost every truck I took there for test was the same, they always found something trivial and failed a few but usually I could sort it there and then. Apparently they were the same with other firms from the Derbyshire region. One day however I was taking Mick Shaw’s Haulmaster and half way down the Via Gelia to Cromford the instrument panel caught fire!! Luckily it was just a few wires shorted which I ripped out but it left me with no wipers, washers or indicators. I phoned our garage to send somebody out to Watnall and I carried on. At the test centre I explained the situation to the manager; “not a problem, we will test the rest and if you can repair it then we will test those items” and that’s what we did with a temporary fix. They couldn’t have been nicer, apparently most of the ‘old guard’ had been removed and things improved, but we were very pleased when Derby had us back again though!
The last time I went to Watnall was many years later when I was driving/fitting for a local haulier and picked up a GV9 for a loose spring bolt on a roadside check, we had to go there for a full test to clear the GV9 and everything was ok.
Actually, even though I suddenly found myself on a friday afternoon in 1984 being employed on the monday as a driver instead of a fitter which was rather unexpected but pleasing, I did have one more vehicle to take for annual test. This was in 1997 with my last new Foden, P207 AJU, when STB Transport were running the tipper fleet that had previously been Tilcon’s. It was due for it’s first test and, even though Derby test centre was still in operation, the ‘gaffer’ chose to send it and it’s sister vehicle (P 208 AJU driven by Ray Gould) to A.M Bells Haulage depot near Macclesfield. Why I know not as it cost more, although I believe the thinking was that there would be someone on site at Bell’s to carry out any repairs needed? Anyway our fitters prepared it, I loaded it with 20 tonnes of 10mm for Marshall Mono at Cannock Wood and off I went. Of course these ‘satellite’ test centres didn’t have a tester on site but one came out from the Bredbury (Stockport) centre for the day. He had a good look around it, clouted a few nuts and tested the brakes and passed it. Off I went to Cannock and could hear something rattling underneath! Turning the radio up cured that, I returned to the quarry after tipping and ran it over the pit to find the front axle U bolts jingling about! While a fitter tightened them I went to the office and handed my notice in, a couple of weeks later, after 22 years, I was gone! Thank’s for reading my ramblings!
The best job I ever had entailed organising the maintenace of the fleet rather than actually doing very much of it. Practically everything was leased on contract mainrenance but WE had the say on who did the work. Why should we send two drivers 10 - 15 miles to take and collect a vehicle for/ from service if we could get it done more locally?This meant keeping the contractors on their toes - and boy did we have a go at the main dealers. This meant quite a lot of quality control PMI inspections either before or after the vehicle went to the garage. It also meant visits to our Kearsley, Manchester and East Kilbride sites to QC inspect their vehicles and visit the repairers. We had a couple of issues with one dealer missing a couple of obvious Bedford TK defects that resulted in MOT failures - a missing bolt from underneath the TK hand control valve and a seized brake servo travel indicator.
The most amusing incident also involved a TK. We had an excellent mobile company visiting who started off with just the trailers but very soon proved to have simply top notch fitters on the books. We had three fairly regular guys but Vic Goodsell in particular was out no1 choice. It was not just the opportunity of effectively havig our own fitter, but also the liason with his company. No two week wait for a booking, just a phone call and he or another would be there the next day, or even later that day to sort out some problem. Yes, I could do the job and did do so on occasions, but we were already paying the leasing company for all maintenance to be doen at theor expense. He picked up on KG tractor unit which had a broken rear spring leaf. Neother ourselvs nor the leasing comany were able to find a repalcement spring in time for the test. I rang Gillingham and explained the problem, but since were were inside the 7 day limit we woild not just forfeit the fee but could not obtain another appointment for a further three weeks. They said just bring it along and get a fail then we canrebook it for retest any time in the 14 day limit. Accordingly I took it along solo since the load simulator was sufficient for such a lightweight unit. I carefully made sure that I dislodged the boken leaf so that it was clearly visible … and it passed.
I remeber dismantling the steering box to fit new bearings (why?) and cutting the rivets off of all the spring hangers to fit new hangers and ream the holes out to fit ‘dead fit’ bolts to secure them. All brakes were renewed ‘just to make sure’ of course! The springs were dismantled completely, all the leaves cleaned and reassembled with new shackle pins and bushes and both kingpins replaced. It must have cost a fortune but the vehicle did pass so all was well, the company could probably have bought a new chassis/cab for less money though! 
“Come on driver, back her down” was the request, and five minutes later after much straining of muscles I was back down again haha. 
I asked what on as nobody had said anything; “controls” he said. So I tackled the lad who had done the outside inspection; “There’s a shovel in the passenger side, it could slide aross and interfere with the pedals” he said. So I chucked the shovel on top of the load, he ticked it as a ‘pass’ and the station manager gave him a rollicking for wasting time and paperwork! 
to bed the brakes in as I hadn’t had time to do that beforehand and then I readjusted them in the lorry park at Matlock Bath station. The next morning, over the pit at Derby, and I heard “you had better come down here driver” which was never good to hear. In the pit and the tester pointed out the nut missing from the nearside first axle trackrod end!! 
The first time there I turned up with a Sed Ak 400, booked in and waited. A chap turned up eventually with his little hammer; “what are you doing here?” I told him we had been redirected from Derby, he promptly vanished into the office! A while later he reappeared; “How any of these eight wheelers have you?” and I told him around 40. Off he went again, presumably to the manager, and when he came back he said “we already have all the NCB eight wheelers plus K & M haulage and most of the Notts coal hauliers, the last thing we want is another 40+” and I said that it wasn’t my choice either!