Body gas was not allowed in my comments.
Yes, was them that was advertising-must be 6 or 8 years ago. My mateās idea was to single man and go like in the old days-Gib and back in a weekish
Once tipped in Gib, they could be sent anywhere for a reload, a full dayās drive away to Alicante, Murcia or even Barcelona, for fresh fruit or vegetables back to the UK.
The double man drivers burnt out very quickly due to the long hours, the lorry not stopping for a 21 hour shift, a lot of them were not very healthy.
Try: bodegas. Youād get a whiff of sherry to boot
Just by and by, I sometimes used to load in Hemel Hempstead for Marks & Sparks in Gib (the RDC there was called Yorkās IIRC) on my way to Morrocco. Iād tip in Gib and run empty to Algeceras and catch the ferry to Tangiers, then run down country to load.
That brings back memories, you will remember John Mann International, and Tony Bradfield, a regular on the runs to Morocco.
The street kids who knew where the trailer button was to put the parking brake on next to the shunt button, they would cut the Susies or throw rocks at the windscreen in Morocco.
Im sure somebody could expand on that, like the trailer buttons
Thatās a huge jump up from taking a number plate off the back of the trailer
Edit, itās dependent on how far back we would be talking about
The kids used to take the trailer number plate off then the driver would have to pay them to get it back.
I didnāt know that driver but I did know their TM when I was TM at Toray because we delivered many trailer loads of fabric into their depot for onward delivery to Morocco. We became great friends as I had to book all the loads in with him and one day we actually met when I took a load myself. The result was an interesting chat and we recognised how much we had in common when we both, at more or less the same time, resigned our respective positions and took up driving again with the same firms. I met him once more a couple of years or so later when I was living here driving for Gauthier and we both stopped for the night at the same routier south of Paris. A happy reunion but I seem to remember him saying it would be his last trip. His name was John, and he was a big bloke, guess what everybody called him.
I had all that. They cut my red susie on Sale one afternoon. Cool as a cucumber, I got out the cab (and locked the door as always), climbed onto the catwalk, and produced a two-way push-fit valve and re-joined the line. I was away in a cloud of dust. They were expensive (about Ā£8 twenty-five years ago) but brilliant. I recently got a brewery artic going outside my house with the last ones Iād got. He cranked round the corner a bit sharpish with obviously brittle old lines and Virgil here leapt to his rescue
Number plates: I had the trailer plate nicked on another trip (again in Sale) and the following trip I fetched up at the same place. I pleaded with the āguardianā on the gate to get the kids to return the plate. Sheepishly, they came back and handed me the plate. It was a UK plate off a completely different lorry - I doubt if they could read the letters and numbers.
As for John Mann: I did a couple of trips pulling his trailers down there. Also did DTS, Breda, Davies Turner, CSB. Did it for a long time!
And as for Tony Bradfield: remember him very well.
Thatās an interesting post, I enjoyed reading it.
Good story, thanks for posting it.
Tony loved his Barcadi rum and Cola.
He certainly did! I remember one very rainy Saturday morning at Offshore Parking, neither of us could get reloaded. So we cancelled and went on the p iss in his cab. I sat in the passenger seat and he got out the barcadi & coke, plus a load of old photos of lorries he drove in his young day - AECs and all sorts. A pleasant way to while away the hours in Tangiers!
He certainly was a character and well known all over Europe.