mushroomman:
You were lucky to find a pub that opened in Wales on a Sunday back in the sixties so drink up Denzil and crack on with the next episode.Chris you mentioned the North Eastern Area Traffic Office in Leeds, would that of been in a street called Swinegate.
A mate of mine got fined for parking in the seventies and had to send his postal order to the traffic office in Swinegate, what an appropriate address.
I canât remember but that address would be spot on.
Well where was I now ! Ah! yes I omitted to say when we âchecked inâ to Walfords Cafâe in Llansamlet before going for a pint in the Smiths Arms we had a wash and a shave out in the wash house in the yard behind the Cafâe, and it was a âbit taters in winterâ 
Anyhow next morning 6am call and up and down for slap up full English 
Sorry Andrew & Rowly, full South Welsh! Half an hour with some of the other regulars that were always there, two Caledonian Lads, one name I recall âBaldyâ Keenan a grand little fella who was on a Carnation contract 2 pedal Beaver IIRC, after they tipped they reloaded tin plate back to Carnation at Dumfries. Also a Lad off Kennings Tyres and one of Febryâs powder tanker drivers,then there was all ways âHorneyâ Norman with never more than a six month old Foden artic off Robsons Fraeâ Carlisle. He was Maâ Philips âboy friendâ and he never stayed in the CafĂ© always at Ma Philips house up the road 
We wonât go there eh! But Norman got away with â â â â â â â murder, he would phone Carlisle once he was tipped ( Carnation) and say "Itâs very quiet down here at the moment, Bowens can give me a couple of Locals to do and they reckon there will be a load for Carlisle or Irvine on Wednesday ( or words to that effect ) So he would set off back to Carlisle about Thursday ! Believe me this was how it was back in the 60âs!. Anyway back to my World ! I was always finished breakfast first( never smoked !) so I was out to the Octopus, check the oil, we carried a gal can on the foot step inside the n/s LAD door, check the radiator, Crack the 680 up, switch the side lights on and the O/s indicator, âkick roundâ all sixteen tyres and clean the lights and indicator lenses check there was no loose ropes or ties ( there never was!). Then the mirrors and the windscreen, everything hunkey dorey ! Then back into the CafĂ© to give âHim that must be obeyedâ the thumbs up, âwe are ready to rollâ ! 5 minutes later we were on our way down to the The Abbey with their 22ton of Signode strapping from that Great little Steel Works in Barrow-in-Furness ! Hear endeth the 2nd episode. Cheers Bewick.
Cracking stuff Dennis,a real good read,waiting for episode three now.
More great stuff Dennis, thanks, oh and iâm pleased you found our South West Wales hospitality to be to your satisfaction BACK IN THE 60âsâŠ
E.W.
Good stuff Dennis, The times i have heard drivers tell a similar story about getting the sack only for
it all to be forgotten by the time they get back to the yard.
My Dad joined Currie & Co. of Newcastle in the late 30s in his late teens as a trailer mate, and learnt his trade on a " motor and trailer " as he called it, a Leyland of some sort or other. As you all know that meant the driver would " swop " seats whenever the opportunity arose. Dad used to recount the tales of ending some of his early days with his left arm almost black & blue after being told , in no uncertain terms, " Thats not the way ". However on reaching 21, he became a fully fledged driver & spent his lifetime in Transport having been shown the proper way , including 2 spells at Siddle Cooks, so he obviously learnt to drive a Scammell at Curries. Which brings me to my late teens & whenever I went with him, as soon as we were "off road " I did all the shunting, which stood me in good stead as when I began as a fitter at Siddle Cook, I knew my way around a Scammell. As a matter of interest, there was a good article in a recent "HERITAGE COMMERCIAL " by Malcolm Simpson about his days as a Mate at Siddle Cook.
Regards pushrod47
Hello all. At Fridged Freight we had nothing to do with ropes and sheets, but there is nothing that looks like a âproper jobâ than a well loaded and sheeted lorry of any size. We did however have a lot of graft to cope with in the early days before pallet trucks. When loading frozen chickens at Polastra Packers at Eye, Suffolk, the chickens came out of a hole in the cold store wall on a roller track and you stacked them individually - they were in cardboard boxes - your hands were freezing. Unloading onto a bank seemed a doddle cos pallets were usually used. The mate loaded and unloaded the trailer. We also hand balled tins of eggs the same way - after a hundred or more they weighed a ton.
At every opportunity I got behind the wheel - yep - we broke the law quite frequently, but nobody ever got hurt and the job got done. We often got waved onto the bank whilst the driver was sorting the paperwork in the office, so yours truely got to hone his skills.
Nobody who visited Liverpool docks to load has a good word for the tossers who idled away their existence there and I am no exception, but all docks were the same. The saving grace was that I never had trouble with Union membership although I nearly caused a problem when returning from a break I threw a bag of frozen peas off the pallet onto the floor of the trailer. That was forbidden (it took four of them) and I was threatening their jobs!
Jim
What was your weekly wage packet as a trailer mate in the 1960s Dennis?
My Godfather used to drive for a company called Baileys at Fole ( near Uttoxeter) and in the 30âs he drove a Leyland Octopus with a drag delivering milk from Fole Dairy to the West Midlands.He was nearly home and said to his trailer mate " nearly home now with no problems" but then he got done for exceeding the speed limit of 20 M.P.H. Late at night so bobbys wouldnât have too busy.
Dennis,
Before you answer Gingerfoldâs Question ref your wages as trailer mate, why not add a little deviation to the post for the moment and see who can get closest to your wage packet total⊠
if ok my guess is âŠ
ÂŁ5 8S 9d
E.W.
P.SâŠDennis if you donât approveâŠapologies 
Well I can tell you what my largest pay packet was at Bradyâs in mid '67 about and the others were within 3 or 4 ÂŁ there aboutâs. I had ÂŁ33 top line and ÂŁ22 net in my packet. Plus Eric handled all the excâs and whatever was left at the end of a week he split with me so there was always a couple of ÂŁ extra. The number of hours we put in every week would be looked at to-day as horrendous but that was then and this is now ! Cheers Dennis.
wow iâm astonished, my 1st pay packet as an apprentice mechanic was ÂŁ12 something or other, proudly have it upstairs ⊠oh and incidentally that was june 1976 
E.W.
EW car truck & bus:
wow iâm astonished, my 1st pay packet as an apprentice mechanic was ÂŁ12 something or other, proudly have it upstairs ⊠oh and incidentally that was june 1976E.W.
When I started work at Croppers Paper mill near Kendal inâ63 IIRC my first pay packet had about ÂŁ6 10s in it for 40 hrs. With regard to the hours I put in at Bradyâs, totally illegal but legal on the actual time sheet as at the bottom of the sheet there was a clean strip and our actual hours were written there then âAunty Bessieâ ( Jack and Bobâs aunt) would slice the strip off with a pair of scissors Cheers Dennis.
My first job paid ÂŁ2.7s.6d. After about 18 months I was âhead-huntedâ for the princely sum of ÂŁ3.2s.6d plus a gallon of petrol a week for the motor bike.
EW car truck & bus:
wow iâm astonished, my 1st pay packet as an apprentice mechanic was ÂŁ12 something or other, proudly have it upstairs ⊠oh and incidentally that was june 1976E.W.
Ten years before you, July 66 and an apprentice HGV mechanic at a main dealer, my wage was ÂŁ4 6s 8d aged 15. It rose by ÂŁ1 per week each year until I was 21. When I moved north in 1975 my hourly pay dropped from 97 pence to 50 pence, the north/south divide I guess!
Pete.
When I started work with Rank Hovis McDougall in 1968 my salary was the equivalent of ÂŁ16 and 7 shillings weekly.
gingerfold:
What was your weekly wage packet as a trailer mate in the 1960s Dennis?
Whatever it was,it was too much!?!?
David
gingerfold:
When I started work with Rank Hovis McDougall in 1968 my salary was the equivalent of ÂŁ16 and 7 shillings weekly.
When I started with C H Prestons in Sheffield,March 1968 my basic on a 6-legger was ÂŁ11-11-9d. 
Retired Old â â â â :
My first job paid ÂŁ2.7s.6d. After about 18 months I was âhead-huntedâ for the princely sum of ÂŁ3.2s.6d plus a gallon of petrol a week for the motor bike.
So now let me guess what this new job was , including a Gal of juice for the BSA Bantam ? " Assistant swine herder in The Forrest" Anon 1.
Bewick:
Retired Old â â â â :
My first job paid ÂŁ2.7s.6d. After about 18 months I was âhead-huntedâ for the princely sum of ÂŁ3.2s.6d plus a gallon of petrol a week for the motor bike.So now let me guess what this new job was , including a Gal of juice for the BSA Bantam ? " Assistant swine herder in The Forrest"
Witchfinder General. 
Anon 2.