Trucks, tracks, tall tales and true from all over the world

[star_down_under]

Thanks Peggydeckboy, I’m enjoying your yarn and outsider’s interpretation of the bush. I think maybe Dave was adding a bit of dramatic effect, for you. Apart from the very aggressive desert taipan/fierce snake, our asps prefer to retreat than attack. Different story if you have them cornered.
We have nine out of ten of the world’s most venomous snakes, poisonous spiders, deadly jellyfish, sharks and crocodiles, but do you know which animal kills more people in Australia, than any other?

European honey bee.

[star_down_under]

Spardo, in respect to Dennis wanting to keep his Roping & Sheeting on subject.

“I did venture south again on a round trip with another mate through western NSW then down into Vic where we were due to stay with his parents. Melbourne was ok but his parents did not like my beard and casual attire so did not stay long. He was very stressed about it. I always thought that it was Poms who were uptight about such things, but posh Aussies blew that idea away. ”

I’ve never met the posh family from Australia. I’ve met a handful who mistakenly thought they were, but they were treated with the contempt they deserved.

[peggydeckboy]

contd.
I was now getting that i did not want to sit outside and have a beer and ■■■ when the light outside was not good, we had some gas lights on the table but it was around my feet i was more concerned about, after the earlier episode, we had eaten inside, defrosted pasta bake made by DAVES wife s very good as well. swilled down by a cool bottle of GREAT NORTHEREN .

I now knew that i would never be able to sleep outside on the deck in a SWAG as they call them, see [outdoor research helium bivy] i think the basic bag, from the early days was like a sleeping bag not like the modern one it is common practice for the youngsters to go off to the beach or in the forests for the weekend no accommodation need just their SWAG.

Another good sleep ,kettle on the go once breakfast was over we did the usual pack up routine it does not take long i am a quick learner
we left the KAMBAIDA area making for Widgiemooltha on the ESPERANCE HIGHWAY, a built up area and more heavy traffic than before
.
Dave decided to go off road for a while and give me more experience of what driving to mines was like on the rutted tracks to be honest i do not know how the drivers did it all the while a lot of nothing ness out there looking for the marker barrel to the drill sites pulling a triple trailer ,the wheat belt and the iron ore mines made for driving than drill sites .After being thoroughly shook about we got back on the tarmac road and were making for NORSEMAN ,A BP garage and a shower. it is a turn off area where all trucks fill up and head off to the other state along the EYRE HIGHWAY.[1] heading for SOUTH AUSTRAILER STATE eventually.

To be honest that place is a truck spotters dream there was every type of triple ,and double you could wish to see, the cattle trucks were way beyond comprehension i could have stayed all day ,the garage was the same style as our BP garages ,all types of truck gear ,food snacks the lot really, showers a bit larger but the key was on a big bit of wood. i though classic.
After making good use of the services and me talking to different drivers i bet they were glad when i left ,however i thoroughly enjoyed it ,to be honest we have no idea what proper trucking is about until you see them long distance men and it was just normal to them.

THE RICHEST SUARE MILE ON EARTH is around NORSMAN the golden square mile of rich red gold dirt .there is a ore train that leaves every day from KALGOORIE to ESPARANCE all ore trucks no passenger service it is a MILE long at least 8 pulling pushing locomotives hopefully i will see it tomorrow, before i was sitting on a old wooden bench table outside by the road taking it all in i can still hear the trucks using their either exhaust of jake brakes slowing down, also air brakes braking , changing down gears ,turbos whistling ,what a day, to me it was as good as it got, i was never really into trucks, not a camera, i have about 3 photos for 37 years driving trucks [lorries] never a polish mad man like some were i never polished wheels i never did them ,one good rain or snow ,and they were all the same shine less.to me back then a truck was for me to earn a living and they kept you away from home [by my choice .yes i know].but if you could not go when the load dictated someone else would take it and you would lose your truck for at least a week…but what i heard and seen that day made me realise yes i was in to trucks but my own way.

[peggydeckboy]

contd.
After another good nights sleep and a good breakfast we set off heading for ESPERANCE ,i wanted to see the ore train so we had to keep our side of the tracks as it crosses the main road then goes out of site DAVE had a idea what time it would be in our area ,[google i expect]we managed to pull over the other side of the road in a small parking area and waited and my god it was hot , you could hear the train before you could see it then it was there 2or3 engines on the front more in the middle the the rear ones what i liked was on the very last wagon there was like a old guards wagon with a red light on the rear.
the driver gave us a blast on his horn, 70 year olds waving at a engine driver ,that was the biscuit, to be honest after a time you had seen enough but i stayed until the last wagon went past the noise from the track was something else, another once in a lifetime event for me.

we arrived at ESPARANCE had a good luck around the dock area one of the deepest docks in the world ,W.A. never seems to stop giving first for me DAVE decided to go to the beach at [stokes inlet road]that was a sand dune type of dirt track odd cars parked around ,eventually we arrived at a parking area where we camped for the night ,the beach sand was pure white .and very rocky in places, another fantastic day was had by me.
we did some home cooking a sort of BELFAST FRY we brought meat /sausages ,chicken, from a butchers [no black pudding though]we had the eggs /bread, and i made patties out of brought mash potatoes ,all cooked in melted butter ,nice, there were showers and toilets in a block that suited me fine.no more outdoor for me…
Next day we finished the milk for breakfast and we made tracks for RAVENSTHORPE on the South Coast Highway [1] once away from the coast fields that were actually green with grass and cattle in them Friesians it was nice to see although i had not seen any wild animals at all It was a driving day for Dave for me still cannot get enough of the scenery .

[dig]

Star down under.:
Thanks Peggydeckboy, I’m enjoying your yarn and outsider’s interpretation of the bush. I think maybe Dave was adding a bit of dramatic effect, for you. Apart from the very aggressive desert taipan/fierce snake, our asps prefer to retreat than attack. Different story if you have them cornered.
We have nine out of ten of the world’s most venomous snakes, poisonous spiders, deadly jellyfish, sharks and crocodiles, but do you know which animal kills more people in Australia, than any other?

No Drama here SUD but one time quite humorous I was at the Crossing inn with several other friends having a few cold ones when we were alerted to a problem in the laundry a large King Brown had decided he would set up camp in the washing machine.
This was obviously in hind sight to many captains to much alcohol and a definite case of the wrong bloke with a shotgun anyhow the end result was a 6 or 7 foot frightened snake heading for the Halls Creek area [300kms away]at a land speed record wriggle and a very distorted and shredded washing machine.

Dig

European honey bee.

[star_down_under]

Onya Dig, what you lack in speed of reply, you make up for with entertainment value.
I took my (Dutch) bride with me on a trip up The Cape. It took three hours to do the last 31 kilometres into Laura, with a single fuel tanker. We had our evening meal there, she asked what the little dark thing were, wriggling on the floor of the open air dining area. She was unimpressed with the reply; hatching, red belly black snakes.

[peggydeckboy]

CONTD.
we were heading for the port of ALABANY it was the last whaling station to be closed, how they used the by-product i have no idea however to actually go inside the station itself was very expensive so we made do with looking from the outside that gave you a good idea of the size of the ship size of the actual whalers with harpoon gun on the bows not the factory ship.

The port can take the largest container ships ,grain ships , we were not allowed inside ,after lunch [not whale sandwich].
we moved of to the beach area of DENMARK another popular area for sea fishing then on to the Valley of the Giants near WALPOLE now that was some thing else walking on high wire made walkways strung out in the tops of massive trees,[see U TUBE] i was interested in the rigging, we were definitely in the green belt all the dry bush had given way to lush fields we stopped off for my very first Subway sandwich
another treat a meal on its own t i had never heard of them.
We had one more camp as it was getting late and sometimes a early night is ok. next day this was my last in the OKA and DAVE had really shown me the different parts of a small AREA of WESTEREN AUSTRIALER I thoroughly enjoyed all of it ,and the prime moment was once we were back at DAVES [YARD ] having a beer you would not believe it , a family of KANGAROOS came skipping out side the lounge window
yes you will say [STAR] [PIG FLYING] but not so 100%true .after my brilliant road trip that i did not know i was going to have ,it was sad to say goodbye ,thanks again. vic [dbp]

[peggydeckboy]

Milage for the trips app 2,220 ,ks mozzie bites etc none, ,weight put on not much. dbp.

[star_down_under]

PDB, kangaroos and wallabies love the tender sweet new shoots of regularly cut grass.

[peggydeckboy]

e had one memorable trip just before I changed jobs the office told me the truck was going to Greece and it was my time off coming up the alternative was I could take my wife if I wished
After she had done some sorting out for getting the lads fed at home my mother livid in the same village and they were working so no problem. I went home changed my gear picked the boss up and away ,night markets. B/ham, Wolverhampton Manchester. Liverpool ,the best to last… you wanted eyes in your eyes…the art of market work was do not get distracted from the back of the trailer once you do you have lost…and when they come for a pallet you ask the fork lift driver “what pitch you for mate “as loud as them just to let them know you are no mug…because any fork lift passing will just drive up to the trailer and lift one off while you are in the back turning one around to be lifted off…believe me , I would do the same…

.
The instruction were go to HARRY YEARDSLY cold store Rochdale load a load of frozen beef from intervention the “Government meat mountain” well the EEC mountain like the wine and butter mountains I remember correct there was a inspector from MAFF there and lots of labels being put on now, this is years ago however I send my wife out on a shopping trip just for the tins etc. and most of all the bread the plan always was if you have a frozen load loves of bread are god send when you are empty ,Warburton in Greece

. So ,the loafs are up the front ok by the MAFF man and not on the paper work ,loaded up, sealed up -25 fridge roaring away it would soon settle down to the correct temperature as the beef was solid blocks all the paper work done and there was a lot C.M.Rs all done. By the look of them I must have 3 to 4 delivers however that will no doubt all change

Last check to see that I had not forgotten anything [as if I would] I had two stops down to Dover all went well ,The ticket for my wife seemed as if it could be a problem as she has no licence at all she could not be booked as a second driver ,after a call to the office for confirmation for travel with the truck and me round to the agents and get parked under the canopy for customs and MAFF inspections, last ring to the office usual banter , like get there as soon as, ship Brindisi Sunday ,ring when empty, that is just the way I like to work given instructions then left alone.

The wife is a seasoned, very sickly ,person on any ferry the part of travelling she does not like, even over to CALAIS this trip is no different but I know what to expect. It would be late by the time we get off in CALAIS I will park up inside the dock and do the customs transit in the morning I worked it out we had 3 days to get to Brindisi as the saying goes [■■■■ it] its around 1.400 miles
I did not bother with a plug I knew how frozen the goods were we are off and she has to go and sit down she does not ,yet know about the overnight ferry to GREECE if she did ,

Once clear of the dock and paid my 20 French francs for the diesel bung to the last customs man ,we were all clear to make our way down to PARIS once we got clear of the town of CALAIS it does get busy at times if you do not manage to get a quick clearance at the dock with the permit stamps you will end up following the tail end of the cars from the ferry, that are also trying to get through the town to however since I stopped for a break I transited easily ,hardly any traffic.

After st omer heading down to the auto route direction PARIS I decided to have a brew break before we hit the mayhem on the Paris ring at the last services ,the turn left ,under the runway at Charles -de-gal airport the runways go over the auto route some site first, time after that you take no notice then after a time you drop down on to the ring road, the dreaded[ peripherique ]
some drivers hate it I do not ,you follow the signs to LYON, all exits, on the road are named [port de] something ,once clear of Paris ,you are on autoroute all the way .after a lot of near misses a bit like on the dodgems cars at a fair ground.

We parked up close to bourg en breese there was a shell garage for toilets if I remember correctly good shift I could have pushed it more but it was time to eat in “the cab” I do the cooking it is easier ,something out of tins for now, after a 8 hour break ,toilets attended to, tea and toast ,check the fridge temp ,diesel, ,usual kick the tyres a general walk around there were other Brit registered motors parked here, at least no one tried to switch the fridge off, back in England some other drivers have not got the sense to leave the fridges alone, here I never have had a problem ,if it is ever switched off you know who done it ,.our own jolly jack.

My sights are set to get in to CLUSES do the French transit customs, up the mountain ,through the tunnel ,in to the auto port at Aosta then out again and get parked up ,big day planned.
It could go well so long as no bad weather ,no breakdowns on the narrow road up, they are in the process of building a 2 way piece from the bottom of the run up, like a ski slope on stilts to cut out a very bad piece of road ,narrow.

Up the mountain ,I stopped at the police /customs wooden hut , ihad got used to that,through the tunnel the pipe as some say,then drop down into AOSTA auto–port as easy as that ,as you all know things never go as planned, however this time it did I could bore you to death with the customs at Aosta however in transit it is very straight forward ,no inspections ,a quick through thank you very much is [addio], we are out and on our way, back to the traffic lights turn right and head for MILANO or TURINO,

Most Brits have the usual popular stopping for the night ,places for food, and showers ,security called [watering holes] the first on en route to Milan is the sisters at near Santhia, then Cariso ,the most popular ,then Novara services .

Novara services for me another good day no problems it all seems to be going to smooth the next day the traffic will start as i reach PERO then turn off to the A1 BOLOGNA and then you do not turn off this road ,direct A 14 to BRINDISI ,you just keep plodding on, and by divine intervention and hard driving you will arrive very late, tired out zb,at BRINDISI.

Now the fun begins just what you do not need ,first you drive into the town follow the port signs and leads you to the dock

Outside and you will guarantee at such a later hour all the parking will be taken the gates, are closed, and they will not let you in to turn around ,so the fun does begin because your fridge is roaring away ,most truck curtains are drawn, and you now jump out ,make sure no one is up behind you ,peace of mind, that you checked now the reverse begins ,great .and yes you got it ,the only place to turn is on your blind side, ohh well, here goes ,I tell my wife keep quite !unless I am directly going to hit anything, and I successfully make my turn.

After parking up ,on the end ,next to another fridge [turned off ] maybe its empty ,no lights on the control panel ,.ahh well mine stays on ,zb other fridges were roaring away on different cycles In the morning after the quickest brew .windows shut, roof hatch open covered in fine Muslim cloth ,no old tights.
It is a open quay side not in the dock town side as they say ,my first call is to lodge my papers in to the [captain -de -port-o] a large white building with two sailors dressed in rig, outside with rifles, with a massive wooden door, grilled windows, double bars on them ,as if a prison, , you step on the step and hand them ,the papers, they open up and go in,i get a glimpse inside it looks like a war room ,it is only a customs and immigration ,i get a paper receipt ,i am told 4 oclock to return. They love their uniforms some have more epaulets than a admiral and they are only clerks.

We go and have cool drink and a pastries, it is so hot, there are men riding around with cooler boxes on bikes full of ice and soft drinks and beer ,not this time but other times the old beer does not touch the sides when I am on my own

Iam dreading the booking hall for the ferry, it gets so humid, and hot, unbelievable. i went to the shipping company we use, do the usual dance explaining why I need two tickets for one driver one truck, etc. etc. 2 people ,for the ferry in the end I shouted my wife to come in to the office and pointed to her wedding ring ,they got it at last.they do love to shout ,express them self’s ,their arms waving around they seem to like to make things dramatic over zb all

That over I am told the tickets will be at the ferry office at 5 o’clock- believe me it does not go as smooth as I have just said ,however you cannot write it it is like queuing for a flight but no ones got a ticket ,you just get used to it
Eventually with all my paper work in order ,tickets collected move in to the loading area on the quay there is a lot of truck movement on the docks ,other ferries are in loading it is all roll on and off…very busy port

Down on the dock it is a sense of more disorder, men acting as loaders in uniforms, radios in their ears, papers waving about ,arms lifting high in the air, tugs going in and out with dropped trailers others trying to back down with irate men guiding them ,i must say, you must at all costs do exact ally as the man who is telling you which way to turn your steering wheel ,he backs you down and never look in your mirrors, it will scare you to death, however theses men are skilled

You leave it to them .and once backed down you will be so close to the next trailer, you have the biggest job to get out of the cab ,you are so close, well as for the the fridge plug in ,forget it, they made lots of gestures to switch it off ,and and I did the same for a plug[ ZB it], trailers backing down ,me checking where the wife is I took her on the ferry and to wait by the doors going up to the accommodation we both had ,a small type grab bag ,toothbrush ,pants ,so I leave the fridge off.zb it idid ask in the shipping office as well might as talked to the bloody fish.

At the pursers office for cabin tickets, and tickets for food ,you pay ,there for tickets I told them about the fridge ,they looked as if I was mad. so I just hoped all would be well ,if it was fresh meat I would have made a fuss and got a plug, but being a deep frozen load it would survive ,I hoped .more pressure I hope it does not goes ■■■■ up

We shared a cabin with 2 other men ,god knows who ,but they smelled very nice !!.After food ,a walk about ,not a lot to see, we soon went to bed as my wife is the worst sailor ever and in the BOTTOM bunk ,i think I slept with one eye open .

We arrived in Patras around 3 pm ish usual performance getting down to the truck let alone getting in I had visions of water flowing out of the back doors seals , why I do not know as I could not open them anyway.
The ferry was on the dock, lots of movements the first lorries were off the ramp while I took my wife to the end of the ramp and told her to keep there out of the way ,do not move for anyone, and wait for me to drive off I would be a while. The ferry crossing was about 16 hours with no fridge going.

My time came to move off I fired the fridge up as soon as possible she roared away for a while but soon closed down to minus -20 i picked my wife up ,only a small procedure on the quay with papers as we had a onward clearance in the TIR Athens ,what a [zb] hole. To look forward too

I knew my way out of the port it is strange, as you drive down a street full of big houses, nothing like many port area all dust ,junk, roughness.
Patras was very nice and clean. it does not take long to get out of the port area and you are soon on the main road ,the service is a smooth as glass, tarmac all gone ,just tar no chippings ,you cannot go wrong as you drive towards Korinthos, the road takes you over the Korinthos canal one of the wonders of the world , it is like a army steel bailey bridge, once we had crossed I stopped, there is a parking area a few stalls selling evething you would not want, I asked my wife would you like to go back and look over down the canal, “no way” she said it was bad enough driving over it as she was on the side seeing the most. I thought then I think maybe she has had enough…soon to be home but she cannot do heights

WE make our way to ATHENS up the massive hill with enough signs telling anyone not to take any photographs if you get caught your own fault…and not so long back some did get caught and I think they were Brits.

Arriving at the compound was not the best of joys because it is a dump, the toilets are the worlds worst like the elephant house in a zoo ,not good I will leave it at that.

A truckers type cafe is across the road well know by all , a telephone ,food beer ,TOILETS the name of it escapes me .lots of photographs of all nationalities lots of Brits, there are a few Brits who only do GREECE …mostly owner drivers.
I do not think that large companies would be able to withstand the time a trip takes ,also a lot of ex Brit trucks are running over in Greece most look ready for the knackers also living in GREECE and operated by Brits did not ask ,leave it at that however it looks a good type of life it that is what you want ,maybe some cannot come back??
Next morning after a cafe visit the agent was found, papers were in they said about 4 hours, today. What he meant ,it will be tomorrow , another wasted day ,however we did walk about the area ,but the heat was to much, so the cab was more shady ,and lots of dozing off that was not a bad thing, as I was all ways tired but just carried on like all the other drivers.

The load was cleared that day the agents runner came to me he explained that it would be tomorrow before delivery he told the veterinary would be in the morning I would be following a car to 2 deliveries ,after the vet and customs had opened the doors up, once that was done, all ok to go.

Around 8 am in rolled a van with the agent the vet did their checks he got out gave me my cmr,s and out I go following a mad hatter to my first delivery a cold store after going round and round I had completely lost any sense of where I was this time I just give up and followed him, down the narrow streets arriving out side the cold store.

It was the wrong way round ,the “entrance” it was very narrow if you get what I mean ,by being geared up for left hand drive tucks ,[if that makes sense] the bays where awkward to get on even for the locals, I could not turn around and back in my side ,it is hard to explain it meant I would have to wait until the truck on the end went and then I would get on a bay…so time for the kettle.

After a hour trucks moved ,I backed on however the doors had to be opened before you got on the bay as they where to high and narrow ,so that done after a scrabble and no assistance from jack [zb], I get on the bay it was not like our cold stores at home ,I took my cmr,s into the office the agent had given me two cmr,s back from the original 4 so that was a bonus ,as I went passed I looked at the boxes of meat and they were frozen solid there was a lot of hand ball for the un loaders to do I had no idea how much they were taking off I was not bothered, there were stacks of pallets scattered around and I seen one electric pallet truck .

After about 2 hours reading ,and doing a crossword with my wife [I might get one right] I asked her do you fancy a brew and some nice fresh toast without butter just jam the butter had gone to liquid[ no such thing as a cab fridge well not for me ]could not afford one I used to try to keep butter in cold water in a plastic bag ■■■■■■■ but not a good idea

.I climb out of the cab jump on to the loading bay/dock pallets strewn every where there looked like ,little checkers type huts on the loading bay
The blokes are getting down the load about a 3rd empty there were 3 men in the back loading a pallet they did not say anything to me in the trailer but they said something to each other and as I walk in .
There were no lights on in the trailer from the unit only day light so as the further I walked in on the load the darker at the front of the fridge, I went to get my bread ,and it is not there, so I spin round and in perfect queens English shout “who the zb has got my zbing bread you [zb]” they look at me as if -what you on about…i made gestures of eating and they still said nothing ,by this time I was pumped ,out of the trailer down the bay to the office, and zb me there are 4 blokes sitting around a upturned electric toasting my zbing bread,

What come next even surprised me, I went ape [zb] screaming at them ,i pushed one bloke he went over into his mate ,the table went over, the bread ,my bread went on the floor, all hell had just broken out, boy was I mad, other men came running up, I come out the office, ran through 2 blokes in to the other type hut and [zb] me they were toasting my bread ,I did the same there ,Jesus I had lost it
.I picked as much bread up as possible SLICES still frozen, shouting likeZB ,
my wife was just getting out of the cab, to see what was going on ,seeing I was coming back I said get back in the cab, these zb ers on the bay have had our bread and are toasting it they were like chickens with there heads cut of ,wondering what did we do.

After 5 minutes I had calmed down a bit, and we where starting to have toast ,and a tap came on the cab door and it was the chap who I first met when I arrived at the store in his hand he had all the bread they had picked up off the floor even the toasted bits, and he gave me them back.

I could tell by his face he was sorry, but I told him what to do with the bread,[ I think he understood me]and sheeply walked away. And that was my first drop in the Greek cold store… could it get worse ?

Luckly the cmr was stamped and signed I made sure there were no comments written down they had half the load ,I fired the fridge up I did not want the next drop to say that the truck came in without the fridge going , the agent s car came back they must have rang them and obliviously told them as he did not say a word getting out was another test , if you ever see Greek fridges look to see if they have any corners left on them ,because I now know why they are knocked about to zb

It was another tight ride to the other cold store ,until we got on the main road and zb me I started to recognise where I was I could see the LUNAR PARK FERRIS WHEEL all mr fowlers, merry trippers will remember that.

I had no problems at the delivery I though they might just zb me about but they did not it went ok a clean signature I was now empty it must have been 5 pm their time so our office would be openI rang the office, I told them I had clean signatures ,never mentioned the bread, no need ,i was told my collection is write this down,we have no idea what the load is all we know is it isTHE COLD STORE BELGRADE. A full load take what they give you as the load ,papers will be supplied by them to transit to the Austrian border .use your own c.m.r. Get T, forms made there for A andG DOVER, that was it nothing more of less. Ring when loaded if you can.

There was no customer name ,no load name ,.no product, no address well I did not mind I liked wandering but it was not a good start i had to find out a few things before I got through the border ,when I get there .like , currency, diesel ,any road tolls, i had enough food, water etc to last another week at lest

Luckily I did have a Michelin map of the whole of Europe it was about time I had one , but it was not define also a DKV booklet with basic maps ,and a thermo king, booklet with maps, just to give a general idea where countries are ,also places if you needed assistance, breakdowns etc however the DKV card we had was only to be used in dire emergencies as we had a shell card ,for diesel, and to pay agents if they took it

Belgrade ,Yugoslavia as it was then ,i did not know that we were transiting so many so called states ,it was just Yugoslavia then, as we were all to find out later that the SERBS, were not the best of people. this will be new for me as I had never been anywhere near there I do like to learn so now was my chance again, with a little bit of the unknown.

I sussed out that the border to make for was Niki, it is now Macedonia it looked better than a long way to go up to Theselonikia.

The time it took me to get up to the boarder I do not remember I do realise there was very little traffic coming the other way ,not a good sign, but I was past the point of no return, ie go another way

I did eventually get to the boarder and I had made the right choice, as there were a few trucks coming out no BRITS .and just me going in, so ,I did the usual ,sus it out, make out as if I knew where I was going we my wife with me and a booklet with my lorry papers .

I had opened one of the trailer doors and tied them back so it was showing I was empty ,i had no idea how to say empty ,after I had filled up with diesel at the last shell garage I think it was a shell at the border there was no parking compound, all trucks ,parked along the road side ,it looked just like a proper border.

There was a restaurant up some stairs ,and a link span over the road with a covered walk way for all the different agents to work the paper trail as for me it was easy passport, police, customs, and out…
by both sides, the most thing I remember was all the GREEK statue type Greek god type .with massive ■■■■■ they were grotesque. Like phallic symbols

The store had hundreds of them, why? It was time to leave ,no one spoke a word ,i did not know if they where Greek or Yugoslavia people.

[peggydeckboy]

Sorry i should have said, i posted this before in my driving history memories2017,maybe newer drivers might like to read it.as it keeps me from twiddling my thumbs as i have no other hobbies,[not twiddling thumbs] except reading/writing,badly dbp.

[peggydeckboy]

After a short while driving i soon became aware of the countryside change and a certain drabness as if everything has been abandoned ,the houses I seen some thatched roofs were of the garden shed type, rough , also old terracotta tiled roofs some missing ,how did I see them I was going so slow in village areas ,I never seen any animals the odd farm ,it all looked every where just like a ramshackle dump just like the war films I use to watch from the late 1950s

We had not seen many people walking about, like normal places not a shop in site we have been driving about a few hours, like schools, or people in villages bus stops cars not seen one, the road narrowed the tarmac had vanished, i thought this is not right ,this cannot be the major route, then out of the blue another truck ,absolutely covered in muck and grime came towards me, that made me feel better ,not as I did not un well just unsure of is this the right road? but if you had seen the road you would have thought no way is the main road you would never believe it. [lots of men who have transited before or middle east men would have ] but I did not have that knowledge yet.

So onwards we went getting more shocked at what we saw as peoples places what they lived in also it was slow going and getting misty, all the damp around ,also being right hand drive ,not the best roads to be on after passing through a few villages i had not overtaken anything ,as there was nothing to overtake it was like no mans land

Nearing a village i came up behind ,what was to me a old railway carriage, I thought bloody hell what is this , no lights, sweet zb all ,it was just like the back of our freight trains [a guards van the old type the roof goes up to a slight arch,] only men in their late 60s would remember them .on the railway in England

I could not believe it it was going about 3 miles a hour ,my words were ,!what the zb,as i got closer there was a window in the back, and Jesus Christ ,there were people in it , good job i had my wife with me as i would have still been behind it now, in all I told her she was going to help me overtake this wagon ,that is [what it was ] she was not happy but i could not stay where i was i would just creep out a bit so she would be able to see well ahead ,it was a big responsibility ,i know for her but i trusted her ,so when she was sure it was ok i pulled out slightly and she straight away said its ok and went for it

My god ,it was the oldest type of transport you would ever see a old carriage ,side windows as well ,pulled by two zb ing horses like the “village bus” ,without a bus, full of people it made such a impression on me that i still remember it as yesterday…i new what to expect now.

I could bore you to death about what the country looked like to me ,however no different from any of the non EEC countries in the rest of EUROPE dire they. all eventually want to join us you could not blame them if that was the communist socialist regime they can go zb themselves.

Eventually after finding some hard ground I parked up for the night going around some towns we started to see the outskirts of Belgrade I am sure there was At.i.r .ihad i good idea i would soon come across their TIR route saying TRANSI Ti did not want to Transit i wanted to get to the city so i ignored the signs and carried on at least it looked as the main road went in towards the city, not like most of the communist countries towns and citys with massive TIR routes to keep you well away ,who would want to go anyway i doubt they had thought of that.

Driving through the suburbs on the most god awful roads i kept looking for anything resembling a cold store, kept looking out for types of chimneys and loads of stem or cold air blowing out. i had no idea i was map blind ,i did not have one ,soon i would have to start trying things to get someone to take me like a Taxi, ,so i parked up on a pice of waste ground, well it all looked like waste ground anyway, i got out, a CMR in my hand with ,”cooling house” haus, cold store, frigo plant,foigofri, ice cream ,anything word related to COLD i could remember from different countries that someone maybe recognise the word, and put it together to what i wanted ,no chance I went into like a store with hardly anything in ,they thought I had come form outer space.

After about half an hour i was seriously ■■■■■■ off ,i had smoked about 10 ■■■■ i went off again towards the city the way people were looking they had never seen a new DAF95 before even a trailer as big only a normal 40foot ,even down the roads i was going but i was now committed ,famous last words ,it will be right…

The buildings were getting bigger and more affluent looking, like a city even pavements, shops getting to look normal more motorised traffic, but the thing was not one type of truck transport at all ,i am starting to think i have dropped a bullock here ,now i am starting to twitch, come on police where are you, none ,it is now like me driving down oxford street in London ,but I am here in Belgrade ooh zb

More and more people are around looking staring ,{because they think my wife is driving, as she is their side] no way can i stop i am looking for a taxi rank or police ,nothing ,as i am going forward it looks as if the road disappears into buildings ahead ,Jesus i am imagining the phone call back to the office, "you are where ,"stuck in the MAIN DRAG ,you pillock

Still driving forward and blind and by luck the road turns sharp right as if by magic the road opened out in to a proper width road with wide pavements hops ,flags fountains ,like a massive square trams or buses ,but i should not be there that is for sure. at this time my wife had kept quite, but then she shouts look vic a massive American flag flying just down the road ,i thought ENGLISH SPEAKING i have cracked it ,all will be well,■■

I pulled up outside THE AMERICAN EMBASSY, jumped out. Paper in hand ,making my way to the door, when out of nowhere two men come running at me long flowing grey rain coats shouting some thing, what i don’t know, but i got the drift, and i shouted I am English ,English I am lost ,they stopped and looked stunned ,what ,one said ,i repeated it, all he could say was move the truck ,move the truck, he opened the door thinking it was left hand drive, and my wife sat there ,no steering wheel ,now he was zb ed.

They calmed down and i got in to the driving seat left the door open, and one man came round ,i told him what i wanted and i needed directions as i had no address next thing a police car arrives 2 officers get out the American speaks to them, explains what i want, they nod their heads and jesters for me to follow, and they took me to a cold store the other side of the city, well it was outside the main housing area [it was not as easy as that but i got to the correct one in the end] they let me off for being where I should have not been, no fine ,so i gave them some BENSONS ■■■■. Another day in the life of a fridge man .

RIDER [no doubt all the regular drivers who used to transit Belgrade and use the hotel national maybe would say what a load of old crap ,believe me it was a true as whatever I had never heard of the national as I had never transited that way and I made sure I never went there again

The outside the cold store was rough ground, reluctant to drive on it ,so half blocked the road and went up to the gate type house with a CMR with nothing on it, lots of jabbering on a phone to the office i suspect, and he asked me if i was Dutch, well Dutch, with guttural sounds so i said ya, ya, so he opened the gate and beckoned me in, thank zb for that plus he could not understand how I drive on the right side,I could tell as he was staring at my wife doing nothing a start at least, but when the cab passed him his eyes popped out of his head as he thought my wife was driving …

Thankfully a Dutch[NL] truck was on a loading bay, i knew then that it would be ok. I parked up found the office, one women in it ,and another man ,so i gave them my CMR[blank] and the look back was also blank, with lots of hand gestures like [,what the zb is this, there is nothing on it]
so i calmly said in perfect English ,ENGLISH ,ENGLATTER, no DUTCH, you know how that used to go until one side gives up, like i did .my next best bet would be the Dutch driver ,9 times out of 10 they would speak German, and i bet these people here would,

I looked in the Dutch cab ,not there so got to be in the cold store, so back i go to the office and gesture to go into the cold store for the other driver, etc, NO, i understood was the answer, so zb you to was my reply ,no response, so i go back to my cab and wait, it is now getting dark so it looks as this day is zb ed ,no one came out of the office so i started to get some food, just as workers were walking out of the factory, staring at the cab because my wife was in the driving seat…
They thought

SO after a while we called it a night ,went to bed and thought 6 oclock am would be a good time to get up.
In the grey morning the Dutch man was still on the bay, curtains drawn, so I would wait ,i had no choice, after the first coffee the old bowls needed attention also my wife so we headed in the office door ,towel in hands hoping for a loo ,or even a shower, tapping the office window the women came out of the office ,and was amazed to see another women, she did lots of chatter incomprehensible to us but was smiling ,so that was a bonus, and she shown us to the toilets , 1950s style spread axel and a tap of sorts ,cold water, brilliant.

Once we had finished, and went to the office the flying Dutch man was there, jabbering away in GERMAN well i think it was so i greeted him in my perfect English and handshake ,he must have been one of the very few who spoke little English ,my loss again, in the end i went for my CMR and he understood that was all i had and nothing else, so he kindly phoned up someone it was a Agent

This man arrived I could tell hge was important he had matching clothes like a suit on and a briefcase I gathered he knew about a English load but i was early, he then said to me TIR carnet, well he did not exactly say that but he picked one up and pointed to me by my looks he knew i did not have one ,so more chatter, on the phone, i had no idea what was being said but it sounded like a big problem.

…There was a TIR carnet that was in the type writer being filled in by the Dutch drive ,not the office women
What more could go wrong, the driver was loaded , and doing his own typing i could not believe it when he had finished the women took it next door done whatever gave it the driver backand he said to me his colleague would be here later loading tomorrow, maybe i might see him.

Once on the loading bay i gestured [will i put the fridge on now ]No was the answer so whatever the load is it must be well down in temperature -20 About 4 o clock they come round and tell me to pull of the bay. I do then go around the back and the back is full of sacks. so high from the floor i have no idea how many or how much weight is on the trailer ,so i thought zb ing shut the doors ,get sealed up and get the [zb] out of there it was getting dark and i knew ,the Dutch man had told me it was not the best of roads back to the Austrian boarder. But that was my goal and that was what i was going to do…,

Customs men I think they were,they sealed the back doors up ,and told me to go to the office, where the CMR had been filled in, of sorts ,also another man was there with a brief case so i thought he must be the agent he gave me some papers like invoices also one that looked like our T2L and he made it clear it was only to the exit border.lots of stamps on it writing i could not understand.CMR copy taken by him ,the rest for me lots of shaking hands.

I fired the fridge up, set it to minus 10 just to see how long it would take to freeze down. I would stop in half an hour to check it then if ok set it to minus -25 so off we go in the dark into the unknown, well all you ex ME men and commie block drivers would know what the transit road around Belgrade was like ruts like ditches, as it was my first time and with a new DAF every lurch and bump, and the low front of the cab ,i think it was a 36 ATI not a space cab, i could imagine it getting wrecked just on this road . I am sure i went past the Famous Hotel and park place THE NATIONAL .but i had no idea then. I was on the T.I.R ROUTE.

We eventually get near GYOA ,what time i do not remember but I called in a night don’t ask where I parked I have no idea ,in the morning I made my way to the border i knew i needed a agent now i did not know if the paper i had would get me through in to AUSTRIA or if i had to get it made this side so i though i would walk through first ,to see what the crack was and watch the others what they did…always a good move, as the AUSRTRIANS are as ignorant and arrogant ,even worse than the Swiss and they take some beating.

.I was looking for a English speaking agent so i went around the huts, and came up with , only one who did understand what i wanted but no conversation so i left it with them and told them my route home exit , then exit then Germany then in to Belgium at ACCHEN, ]exit Belgium, entry Dover ,agent in Dover was A and G so simple or so I thought as they made my papers up. I paid them with the DKV as i had no Austrian shillings, so the procedure began papers to be placed by different agencies ,police ,customs, etc. all went well until the final customs paper trail, if you have never done it you have not missed zb all if you are wrong they slam the window shut as if you are a bad smell, so you either stay there and tap the window, or meekly slip away and wait until others have done their papers or a shift change, and try to figure out what is wrong.

We retire to the cab like two undesirables , what is wrong ,god knows so we had a brew and i said to my wife ,stay here read or whatever ,i will go alone and try to sort it out…it is only some Austrians they cannot lock you up, i hope.

I have noticed over time that most European drivers from non eec countries are very quite and like subservient with all types of authority they come against so i thought maybe they did not know i was English I stood in line with the others waiting for the window to be opened just enough for the dirty yellowish curtains to be pulled back as they look at you as if you are from a different planet, as my time came i hoped it was not the same man ,who ZB me off before , my time came, the curtains pulled back the window open i put my papers in the window the curtains closed, next thing i know my papers are flying out of the window with a load of abuse ,i thought right ZB this
,i picked my papers up ,banged on the door they opened the door ,and i threw the papers back in ,with the most verbal abuse you would hear i went mental ,i lost it, i remember calling the one at the window the most god awful names, i kept saying English .someone had picked the papers up and was shouting at me raus, raus, so out i went but stood at the window and the other drivers there just kept quite every one looked gob smacked .i knew i was playing a daft game as they could really keep me there .

Eventually one of the customs men came out of the Smokey office leaned on the door flicked his fingers at me as if to say ,“yes you come here” and kept kept pointing at the papers on the CMR where it stated what the product was inside the truck, they could or would not understand the Yugoslavia meaning word for the product ,well the product was SWEET-CORN,

Now how do i say sweet corn, i remember saying "green giant "that was popular then as it is now ,and they wanted a sample of the product, but they would not undo the seal or reseal it, why ,god only knows ,so there, now i had learned one of the most important lessons i have ever learned about haulage , keep a sample of the load. IF POSSIBLE

I moved away from the window, i thought i have done it know, they will just ZB me off and wait
peggydeckboy
SENIOR MEMBER

Posts: 1012
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:25 pm

[star_down_under]

peggydeckboy:
Sorry i should have said, i posted this before in my driving history memories2017,maybe newer drivers might like to read it.as it keeps me from twiddling my thumbs as i have no other hobbies,[not twiddling thumbs] except reading/writing,badly dbp.

Still a good story and you get the message across fine. I’m enjoying your input, keep it coming. Thanks.

[peggydeckboy]

Back at the cab i had calmed down had had a brew and thought how do i find out what sweet corn is in AUSTRIAN i knew i did not have any in tins or any loose product on the trailer that had got on the bumber back bar it would have been long gone by now i needed someone to translate one word. I walked around the trucks and they were all kinds of reg no EUROPEAN

I decided to walk,not far ,to the Yugoslav side just to see if someone would translate sweet corn to Austrian. and there to my relief was a Swiss truck, not my favourite people, however at that time they were ,i just hope he spoke English. it was one of them low loaders yellow and grey paint job.a American truck a low loader.

I knocked the cab door and hope to god he was not asleep, luckily he was not and i said in good ENGLISH excuse me mate ,yes the mate bit, etc, etc any chance you could translate this word etc etc he looked at it ,and i told him in English it was sweet corn i drew a head of corn on paper for him ,and he got it straight away and said the word MAZE!!

you could have blown me over, MAZE yes that what it is i went back to the original agent and wrote down MAZE, they then got it and changed the wording on the papers and CMR ,i told my wife it is [zb] or bust ,and i went back to the queue in the hall ,the hall was full of smoke it never left ,as there was no ventilation atall only the door ,all different kinds of [zb] ■■■ smells, but you got used to it.

My time came to the window the curtain came back the window open, i put my papers in and i had wrote MAZE in big zboff of letters on the back of sheet of paper A4…next minute out comes a customs man big grey coat ,and the sealing pliers he jesters me to follow he has my papers as well we walk to the truck he puts another seal on gives me my papers and the yellow card, and gesture me to go ,with a verbal ZB OFF in Austrian, i say" cheers old pal" so next the border would be easy…I had no trouble going in to GERMANY to be honest I have no recollection of a tank shine, I remember they measured the tank and dipped it I needed fuel that was for sure a shell garage was needed or desperate I could use the DKV I was headed to Graz ,Suben Frankfurt Aachen, Zeebruge filled up who knows where

After a 2 shifts+ of driving ,it ended up I was chasing to catch the Zeebruge ferry, it was about 1.300 KS from MARRIBOR believe me it was good to get into Belgium get cleared and up to Frigoscania Kings Lynn, believe me it did not go as easy as that however the cold store knew I was coming , a hand ball load to unload, [not by the drivers] a lot of frozen imports go to Frigoscania depots for storage, and redistribution all over the uk

Once unloaded I had a good job sweeping all the loose maze from the floor in to some bins the put the bins up to the back of the trailer by fork lift and you just filled them up, I got a clear signature on the cmr that was the main thing the weight was wrong by about 2 tons they put 18,00ks on the cmr but when I weight on the weigh bridge I was well over nearly 40 tons my tare about 17,000 with meat hooks,no pallets diesel so they got a good load thank god I never got pulled coming out of Dover

Once I had left the in Bedford and took the car home truck ,and it is all forgotten , all the [zb] ,the Hassel ,short sleep ,no sleep, agro ,it all makes the job of a fridge driver ,well [zb] really, but we all do it again and again, why god knows, because we were drivers.

The best trucks ,eye catching to be correct, were mostly fridge companies and drivers trained to work like owner drivers , now after a time i look back and think , why did i not get out of the fridge game and drive a beat up old truck on dry freight around my local area.or European honestly i cannot answer that question I expect i liked what I did .

After enough time back home to get the washing done, the truck i was driving was somehow on market work, evening and nights when I got back to it, I was waiting for the phone to say go and load here or there for export but it did not seem to come ,maybe I had zb up and they are not telling me so after time i was getting fed up i asked to speak to the boss about why no European for me,i was told that he was in a company merger with Pulleyns transport reading and they were doing most of the meat and export loads…

I did know a few of the Pulleyn,s drivers you would meet up at different places and they always seemed to be a happier bunch they always spoke of the boss Adrian Pulleyn as a real nice man. to cut a long story short, a merger went ahead between Rokold and Pulleyn, not many of you new that, and it did not last that long ,i have no idea what so ever why ,and i did not care either way. not my business

Rokold at the time had built a good new fleet and they were having a depot built ,well units were there at Bicester and they used the premises’ as a office /depot a large /fuel tank was installed as the company had grown to maybe 10 +drivers and trucks also lot of room for parking however
Many trucks were there at the same time

A lot of the work was a lot of “short hop” bus route I used to call it work from Belguim Holland all cold store work, frozen vegetables ,chips, a lot of empty running back over to load ,it got as we would do 3 trips a week, tip and load ,start Sunday night ship over empty knock your nuts out to get the trips in ,i used to love it if when you got back on your 2nd trip to load and the product would not be ready, un till the next day it meant you got a proper nights sleep. you would not believe how your sleep was broken up if you have never done the job, of course some of the younger lads loved it.
Alot of the loads were hand ball ,not on pallets as it added nearly a extra ton however some of `the trailers we were now using were new light weight, no meat rails eventually also a dividing partion that flipped up in the roof for loading frozen and fresh goods they had like ventilator opening so as you could let the frozen air in to the back section to be for fresh products

Before that system there was a large air blow up part ion like a massive blow up bed that went from one side of the trailer to the other
It I had carted it around in a trailer box for another drive to be used I never used it my self however I have seen loads when they were split with the blow up partition that is where your new long daf air line was to be used from your air tanks or have someone get close to your rear doors and use their air or drop your own trailer pleased I never had to use it .

,There were about 5 of us on the short runs ,not as easy as you would think, you had delivers in England maybe more than 3 delivers [timed ] up to Leeds cold store in the fruit market it was non stop believe me, what i did not think about at the time but i had about 20 years age difference to the other drivers, a lot had not long passed the test, “first jobs” lucky to have a newish DAF ,good kit to work with so they loved the mad rush and tare and pace of the job some of the drivers you knew would not stick it as they had” home lives,” and could see the drawbacks of European haulage .

Posts: 1012
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:25 pm

[peggydeckboy]

Dover was at that time a massive meeting point of all euro drivers non stop ferries like buses from CALAIS .
You would get to know men of different companies every one would know of some one who knew some one from a certain company and the lies were rife about all drivers doing this and that, running bent was the main game drivers would be in “THE WHEEL HOUSE” the clearance customs cafe bar ,rest room, a melting pot of European talk, [zb] ,bragging rites, other companies work truck drivers and of course the beer…

We all ended up in there once off the ferry, the parking was manic, us fridge drivers tried to park together out of the way but that always went ■■■■ up, dry fright drivers would park close then at night try to switch the fridges off ,the noise it got as a bloody nightmare.

Lack of sleep was the drawback of the job, it was a good job we were paid a salary as they could not have paid you the actual hours you worked ,it just meant if you had 3 days off at home you convinced your self you were getting paid for being at home but the real truth was it was for nothing ,pennies.

BUT !we got to drive new DAF,s AND SCANIAS , with lovely paint work ,chrome wheels, trucks driver would dream, also the trailers were very smart
If you stopped to think about it, you would not have done it ,i liked the long distance and i made that clear in the office many times, weekends away, not a problem for 3 weeks but then time home at least 2 full days.

One night i was unloading in Covent garden fruit market ,and one of Pulleyns’ drivers was also there ,we got chatting, i told him i missed doing the meat, and though no more about It once we were unloaded we would get back from the market run get back about 6 in the morning ,go home and wait for the phone at 5 pm for the nights run instructions.

While i was in bed PULLEYNS had rang ,and asked me to ring when i was up, that i did and spoke to Adrian the boss ,he offered me a new daf, 36 not used ,a fridge trailer for meat loads , he also had tilts for dry freight that would be used if the meat work ever dried up .would i be interested .on condition was i was to give my months notice but on no account what so ever tell anyone where i was going to work and not to tell Mr East, so i agreed .

So the rumours started once I put my months notice in, where was i going, everyone thought it was ACH i never let on at all. but I started the rumour Untill the very last minute of my time at Rokold .

.ROKOLD had been good to me ,starting me out on Europe I really appreciated it, I was loyal for a few years, however ,the reward ,cash wise was not what you would have thought for the work time also all the other drivers not just me ,however I am talking for only me,! No one ever complained to me about the wages.

My leaving Rokold was, going to me, be a change in the loads and places i would go to .I was fed up with loading from cold stores, then unloading maybe 3or 4 delivers to supermarkets, all silly timed delivers ,to be honest it was like being a van driver but with a 40 foot trailer, sorry not for me ,
.
On my getting back to the depot on my last trip my instructions from the office was to telephone Mr EAST at home to let him know what time i would be in the yard at Bicester, that i did i got back about 6 pm drove around to the fuel pumps and started to fill up most of the fleet were in ,all parked up like soldiers like most companies, clean i thought i am not going to wash down not today as sometimes you could get into the yard at 5p m and still be there waiting to wash the unit down at 7 pm not unusual,

I am thinking i will get away quick, just as i had finished ,fuelling in drove Mr EAST, he casually wanders over and we started chatting he was thanking me for what i had done and i replied with the same words thanked him for the opportunity[I never mentioned when I started he wanted rid of me ] i said i will park up now robin and get away , I parked ,first shunt no messing,it was tight when all the trucks were in there so i breathed a sigh as i had not had any dings. scrapes, accidents for a while .

.I am getting my bedding and gear in the car ,i never carried as much just lately, as it was lots of local work [euro]and you did not need it ,when I finished i thought right ,time to say bye and hope he does not ask me where i am going .as i will tell him the truth .i never did lie to him ,yes the office but not personal to him so we are shaking hands.

He said so i hope you are happy at A.C.H.YOU ARE ALLWAYS WELCOME HERE .so i thought ,and i said who told you i was going to A.C.H ,”the office” he said, i told him oh no ,not ACH.I i am going to Pulleyns he turned and walked away, he went ballistic, unprintable, he walked over to the shutter doors and kicked them ,zb brilliant!,. I thought now you know what it is like being lied too, so i get in the car and make off but i thought zb-it i stopped, got out walked over to where he was and said to him mr East i can work wherever i like i do not need your permission. He said yes i suppose ,you are right and i walked away I knew I never owed him anything I had done my bit.i never did ever seen him again.

Before I do pull the ROKOLD PLUG , some of the loads were “different ”one load I was tipping in Glasgow fruit market with instructions to ring the night man whenever I was empty, that I did, he gave me orders to go to OBAN he gave me the address with words they are expecting you today ,another long day to come then when I got there, not a lot to be seen as a factories it was a tourist place I drove down the sea front and eventually came to a quay with trailers parked up another sigh of relief i pulled up and there were fishermen types around so I asked one of them if he knew so and so ,yes he did he would ring them.

Not long after they showed me where to back in up to a old trailer parked up they told me to open the doors then go and sit in the cab and when they were finished loading they would tell me ,great ,head down ,
It was about 5 hours later I had been well away, it was dark they said come to back and have a look before we shut the doors up, well zb me plastic sacks full of what looked like shells and water in them ,is all i could see they told me it was old scallop shells .and it stank of ammonia
It was overwhelming .

Once I arrived in France near LYON in a old quarry, the unloaders were going to wear gas masks, when I opened the door the smell was overpowering again I was told to go to the cab,they were just throwing the sacks out in a massive heap about 15 tons worth.

WASHING OUT at a firms wash took me ages the fridge stank the only way to clear the smell was to dry the fridge completely and try to find some vanilla smelling powder, like custard powder. one chap understood English ,he knew what I wanted and he took me to a bakery. they had none so I got some bleach from a super market and made do with that, no ideal but it was better than ammonia.

ANOTHER return load job was from Alba ,Italy I have no idea whose work it was, from Ferrio rhocha chocolates the loads went back to Rotherham and also south Wales The crack there was getting chocolates you were not allowed, there was a shop but they never let you have a lot of chocs.

One day there loading ,I watched a man pushing a green bin on wheels out side near where we were the bins you see over here for paper and cardboard ,my magpie instinct got the better of me so when he went I went ,and it was jack pot it was only full of the plastic trays that you buy in the shops but the lids were cracked so for the dump, as I dug deeper the bigger ones were also there ,the plastic bags from duty free came in very handy ,i only told a few others about the find and yes you can get fed up with chocolate .

My start with Pulleyns was when they were still down by the canal in Reading then they moved to where they are now 3 mile cross, and i will say most of my time was very happy there lots of good experienced drivers, the best of trucks anyone could have to drive also top of the range trailers ,it was and i hope now a very good company to work for all though, i went there twice

I could go on for ever about the loads we did and we went everywhere in Europe you never new from one month to the next where you would be going ,Russia was the talk, Fransens had not been there yet, not many went to Russia back then, not fridges the odd one maybe I did not know about the dry fright companies that were going there, I am talking 1989 there was one from queensbrough on the island that did Moscow the name eludes me road trains

More than once i have shipped out solo, unit only, from Poole to Cherbourg to pick up another new trailer from CHEROUE fridge trailers from Avanranches with all the new meat rails fitted in them to also large side trailer boxes big enough to put 20 pallets in the tilts were the best ,sliding roofs steel coil carriers

As a company they were so clewed up on EUROPEAN HAULAGE it was a pleasure to work for them .
When you first started you would be given £1000 in travellers cheque, all drivers were the same and you would take your night out allowance out of that every day. it was also for any expenses incurred by you for the load or truck so long as you had receipts it would be ok. i never once had any problem ,however they did get one or two know all ,fly by nights manage to get work the but they did not last long. you would see some change the travellers cheques at Dover in to sterling the post the cash home ie their night out money, and hope they never needed a large sum for whatever reason, a few come unstuck.and fiddling expenses was a no ,no,… no need if you wanted anything you would ring up and it would be ok , you would pay it back later.

I could go on for ever about all the different meat loads i did from the UK and Europe some went fine and some a pain in the arse, if you all ways told the truth no matter what happened while at Pulleyens and you were correct they would back you up.

When the French farmers were playing up they would keep us working out of HOLLAND OR Germany we did whatever we were told to load as we had all the right equipment we even had the european meat rails in the trailers so that when you backed up to the loading bay we had the connectors that clipped on to the hanging meat rails inside of the abattoir so it meant that the meat would be pushed out of the cold store straight on to the meat rails inside the trailer, no lifting like every where else in England." and we would then just exchange the meat hooks that would be pushed back on to the trailer ready to load again it was then the best thing for a meat trailer we also had room in lockers under the trailers if the hooks had to come out of the trailer

THE unloading or for us the loading of meat from a abattoir, every carcass no matter what had to be manually lift off the hook in the abattoir carried then put on a hook within the trailer all meat it was a time consuming job however it had always been done that way until some clever European decided that lifting was the wrong way so they had different hooks to us in the uk

They had round meat rails in the abattoirs also round meat rails in their trailers where our uk meat rails were like a t piece of steel up side down and the hooks only come of if you undid the holding bar at the back of the trailer above the door

It meant, on the round meat rails the meat hooks could be pushed any where there was a round rail when you looked up to the roof/ceiling of ant abettor it was a mass of pipes and steel ,rails it looked like a rail track shunting area in and out of the chill rooms ,so when the trailers were backed up to the loading bay there was a small gap from their rail to the trailers so someone designed a joining piece about a 18 inches long that fitted the trailer rail and the abattoir rail then the meat would be pushed straight on to the trailer no lifting and quick loaded, why did we in the uk not get on board with the easy option ,there were two joining pieces with every meat trailer and they were like rocking horse [zb], the trailers meat rails would not be changed because home market preceded export. good old fashion no change its been fine years let every one do all the lifting of the meat .we have done it this way for years.

Some meat hooks were called Christmas tree hooks ,these would be hooks that would carry 12 pork legs on one hook and that would hang from the rail in the roof of the truck all meat trailers had stops that would be clipped down to stop the actual full hooks sliding up and down .

, If you were to heavy on the steering wheel when turning or roundabouts they all got swinging you then new about it and you sure took note ,and watched the road for camber changes and sharp bends, it was ok in Holland .as not so many sharp bends etc

Most times it would be around Paris, where you were constantly fighting the traffic but still right hand drive we had a advantage of being able to see the [zb] that what they were they had no idea what you had on ,the trailer did not move around like lift the wheels up that never happened but you knew what was happing inside all going swinging together you got used to it.

I loaded Bull meat ,not cow or steer from a abattoir in northern Germany,[called a slachtoffer] i rang the office to tell them i was ready to leave I was very heavy c m r said 22 tons well in kilos it was 44 tons gross in Europe.
The middle rail was empty [the wonders of ,how do the meat rails hold up] just to confirm ,the worst thing a driver can do is take it in to his or her own hands to decide which way to go when you have a option of different routes on a outward bound journey as for the veterinary clearing border compounds , the paper work also has preferred crossing places .

Return loads was normally up to you however .I was told go via Paris for some reason to clear in AOSTA the long way round they, the exporting company did not like their loads going down through GERMANY all though we loaded in northern Germany [oldenburg area] the most direct route was make your way to the BRENNER PASS, over and down in to VIPPATINO, compound ITALY and clear, it is the other side of the Brenner pass, the problem was the veterinary, [meat doctors]in the auto port for some reason they had a habit of too long a inspection ,that was what I was told any way, did I care NO all meat trucks no matter where they were loaded from had to leave the centre rail in the fridge empty so the VETS could and would walk down inside the load in the trailer and check the whole load of meat why ?they were the only country to do it.

The route was out Germany, Karlsruhe, Strasbourg ,Mulhouse Besancon, Bourg en Bress Nantua, skirting Genève, Cluses, a long route from GERMANY to ITALY let alone Mt Blanc[my memory may be a little out in direction but that was the way-ish.] all was well untill around Bourg en- Bresse, there was a farmers protest ,the roads were blocked many, many trucks all going south and that was us all ZB ed, so you just stuck with it moved a bit then some more, but no distance the main thing was to make sure you had diesel for the fridge at the moment i was ok, however you would be able to syphon diesel from your tank into the fridge so long as you had the pipe etc ,i did have the kit…

Having stopped and started we crept slowly on through Nantu then duel carriageway after 2 days we were now slowly heading towards Cluses masses of trucks, my fridge was ok.purring away at+1 all good,

[[[ i all ways had plenty of food, i also had a pressure cooker, i had potatoes,carrots, cabbage,onion,main oxo cubes,i would buy meat from a supermarket and i have been known to be going through a village a spot a butchers ,stop,run back and get what i liked the look of , so all was good for me " i would boil bacon with cabbage in the cooker, i had flour,milk, i would make pancakes ,and use them as yorkshire puddings jams,tinned meat ,to be honest there was no end what you could do with one gas ring ,i had contrary to safety, a 5 kilo gas bottle in the passenger foot well, a small table that had 2 flat hooks that clipped in the front air vent at the bottom of the windscreen.
I used to hear men say [i never cook in the cab etc] however they would never refuse a feed or just a cup of tea. opened the windows ,and i washed the cab curtains i when week ended while some went on the ■■■■,well i would later,i did like the beer ,but only weekends.]]] back to the road.

The office were well aware of what was going on you just had to stick with it to be honest i did not mind it at all, another night went and come round ,i had given up walking up and down the ranks of trucks again no movement one thing these old French farmers do not zb about. No one came and knocked my door that was a good thing I was not one of theses men who needed to be with others.i expect I was getting good at avoiding others.

Once into Cluses parking was nightmare, you were better off on the old road but every where was chocker block so i just followed the bloke in front when he stopped i did ,there was not going to be any quick exit everyone was blocking every one in, if you have not ever been like that you just have to chill. you will get out in the end.
You will then be moved up to the parking area by the sky slope that had been opened .what a god send that was Then the police will let trucks out of the at there leisure as there was no farmers here blocking the roads up.it was just a mass of volume of trucks,

I do not remember the whole length of time lost but it must have been around, 4 days, the fridge was going ok i was ok just follow the leader ,creeping up slow time ,when i eventually got to the top, the last french pay phone, i thought i would phone the depot ,they were fine ,instructions were “keep us posted” i had 4 delivers ,2 in Milan market one Bologna and the last in Forli-in-pola i new where the market was and the last one but BOLANGA never done that before .

Once i got through slowly, slowly ,done the customs at the top then followed the snake down the mountian, it was low gear most of the way ,easy on the brakes that was for sure. Eventually i pulled in to the auto port in AOSTA ,with the airfield across the road ,i did manage to get parked on one of the vets inspection bays that was lucky still no other English trucks around at all some Southern IRISH they were fine but kept to themselfs.

My papers were put into the agent as with the masses of others so it was just wait they were generally cleared within 4/5 hours however the auto port was full of trucks so it could be the next day and it was it would be lunch time around 11 am was the normal about 9/10 o’clock the parade of vets and customs me would start cutting seals on the doors and another man would open the rear door ,then move away so GOD, the vet ,could just walk in to the load and do his bit.

,It was no use hanging around standing watching them the looks would be enough they were the men and ladies of importance.[jumped up ,never come down, [zb]] Hanging around the truck it would make no difference to the clearance time or whatever ,so it was feet up in the cab and dose or read , it was amazing no matter what sleep you had you would bet that within a few minutes reading ,feet up ,you would be away with the fairies snoring ,i must have dosed off as the sound of trucks woke me up ,the clock said i have, had nearly 2 hours kip ,jesus, i jumped out, half asleep.

I made my way to queue up at the agents door with all the other hopefuls these agents were the new gods ,it all depended on them, they would have a stack of paper work on the desk that you could see, and they would shout out truck numbers then your papers would be handed to you after you had paid unless your company had a account with them ,[i never did pay any agent in Aosta [all i worked for had accounts].

So i waited and waited until they were getting up from the desks to put their coats on,[not a good sign] so i asked .excuse,ee and her the companies name .and a women looks at me and does the look of ,what the zb are you saying speak ITALIAN.and a banter goes on between 2 office workers, papers are picked up ,put down ,arms are out stretched ,all the gestures, that said to me, Mr you have a problem.

That was my next expletive word, in English ,i asked, is there a problem with my truck and load ,after time the answer was ,yes there is, and you will have to wait, so i ask what is the problem ,and they reply [VETENIARY],with outstretched arms as if to say ,ZB all to do with me…so i say problem FRIGO!! temperature ,and the reply was no ,nnono. paperie.[paper].or ZB off …they say to me go back to the truck for another inspection, vet…

I am not the only fridge left, but all that was overnight with me have gone, after a while the door open gang are standing around a sort of pointing at my fridge and sort of giggling, so with the packet of ■■■■ i sunter round and say to them ,HEEY MISSTER PROBLEMEO WITH FRIGO

[[in my best broken stupid Italian I detest doing the trying to speak English with a foreign accent some drivers used to do it all the time and think they were smart, when they do it times I have to walk away.]]

One starts smiling and says to me ohh lee,o,LEE,O, i have no idea what he is on about so i laugh with him give him a ■■■ and walk away and he shouts me again in a laughing manner MR,
points at the truck and says leeo lee,o, and laughs again ,i have no idea what is going onabout the fridge is still sound +1 ticking over ,the gas is good as i had checked it, i could see the bubble in the sight glass so as far as i am concerned all is well plenty of diesel…

I have all ready rang the office and told them the score and will ring as soon as i find out in the mean time maybe they said they could ring the agent office ,that would not do a lot of good as they do not want to try to speak English ,well you cannot blame them can you.

At 4 o clock the “fridge door openers” are at the back door and there is a posse of white coats at the back of the fridge ,and I mean 3 men one women ,as if they were going operating on the meat.and they had face masks on After 2 mins papers in hand doors closed one of the agents me calls me and says follow him to the office…
i will not try to do this in Italian however it was very dramatic for them, the basic story is=

When the first lot of meat was slaughtered in GERMANY IT WAS PUT IN COLD STORE UNTILL A LOAD WAS READY, each carcass has a eec stamp on it and it is recorded by date ,and apparently fresh hung meat is allowed only 21 days to be fridged and transported from the date of slaughter.
it must be used by the date shown on the dated health certificate the hold up in the journey down ,by the strike a lot of the meat had gone into the 21st days and some was over, and the importer did not want it now, so it was going to be sent back to GERMANY OR THE PLACE OF ORIGIN or to a cold store and be used for meat to feed the ZOO. AKA LEEO THE LION… NOW I KNEW
The agent had been in touch with the office and the balls have been rolling ,and it was to go to the cold store in MILANO at MELZO. I knew it well all you fridge men will also know it.

So papers sorted i eventfully got on my way and to the cold store to unload the next day, when the doors were open there was a smell of meat going off that was for sure, thank god i did not have to help but i knew a very hot wash would be needed to get the oddur,PLUS SOME BLEACH, it was not a pungent as the fish smell. so i would have to find a haulage yard with a hot water wash, another problem?. A office worker spoke very good English and he sorted it for me…another eventful trip.
I do know that of our beef especially scottish beef is supposed to be better when hung for at lest 20 od days matured yellow beef fat on the outside however the rule was the ITALIANS .

[peggydeckboy]

Pulleyens as a transport company had some very good work ,anything anywhere you never knew from one week to another what you would be doing or where you would end up, the whole of EUROPE WAS THEIR WORK PLACE and of course good back up, TOP OF THE RANGE trucks and trailers as a driver for me to say there was not one thing wrong with PULLEYNS transport ,you could not fault it and the new yard was all you needed.

The dry goods work was as good as the fridge work the TIR tilts had all the mod cons you needed you were able to load any load thrown at you ,there were wells in the floor for carrying steel coils up to 20 ton one coil, side bars for loading steel bars ,lots of floor hooks, for straps to be tied to and best of all sliding roofs, now if you have never stripped a tilt down and rebuilt, you never forget how to do it.

None of you curtain side trailers with clips ,like now days all though. with a sliding roof you are in heaven .If you dropped a fridge trailer in the yard or any other trailer or even a small van anything you could guarantee that all trucks trailers would be in the most immaculate condition as you left it they had their own full truck wash ,all serviced in the workshops.

One of the main sources of work was from Basingstoke, for dry,white goods, there could be a small camera that was needed in the anywhere and a van or small truck or even a 40 foot trailer would do the job more often some of the younger men on the small stuff would get as much flight time as driving as soon as the deliver was made if not needed to race back one driver would fly home.

They also had their own low loader I did a few loads with it mostly down in to France to AiR-ESPATIALAL in TOULISE where `they built Concord it was oversize for parts for the massive front loading cargo plane called the [Guupie] or similar name 1992 ish we did drive right in to the hanger it was unbelievable to see such a thing up close.

One job was a classic it was the yearly MONTREUX festival in Swiss everyone driver available was on it , they used to hire a warehouse outside the town and men would be there all the time unloading and loading Pulleyns men ,goods to go to the large exhibition centre, all drivers, warehouse staff would stop in a the hotel even us drivers who brought a 40 ft trailer down you just did as you were told, we were all dressed the same smart PULLEYN TOPS SHORTS /TROUSERS SHIRTS, all embossed when we were told to go anywhere we would all have to drive back through the town all trucks nice and clean

We would all use the small border south of Besancon, Pontillier called [ Vallorb] then ,on to Lausanne Montreux.it was a cracking job,if anyone no matter who upset anyone there they would be sent back home.
They even paid us our night out money when we were in the hotel ,all meals free we would all shower, dress smart then in with the boss in the main lounge and have what you wanted to eat even a sweet and drinks however we all watched the drink as you might all have to drive back to get another load at short notice like ,now…

I did get to travel to some amazing places with Pulleyns Moscow was the talk for a long time ,other firms were doing dry goods and the Dutch ,Danes etc were doing fridge work but hardly any from the UK, Fransens had not yet started to go to Russia yet.

I did some Poland for them that was not as easy and good as you would think as it was still the classed as east commie block ,also East German was still GDR. i was in WARSAW after the Berlin wall came down, i have one entry stamp for the .G.D.R and no exit stamp as it all collapsedwhen I was unloading I did get caught up in the mass exodus of all the east Germans and their old smokey beat up [trIbants] cars the people had never been outside their towns and city ,it was manic.

Good job i had my own food and water it was 3 deep in cars for as far as you could see people were just stopped anywhere on the roads ,the fumes from their old cars was choking kids all climbing on the truck steps, hanging off the mirrors, it was a unbelievable site however after a time it wore a bit thin ,i had a load of FROZEN PORK BACKS for a well know pie and sausage maker? temperature minus -20/

Them people had never seen trucks like what i had and other Dutch trucks ,i was the only Englishman .that I know off it was not the normal run of the mill run for English trucks [to much hassle] in the end it got to much you just wanted to get away, some of the Dutch and German not G.D.R .started to blow their horns to get a passage through the beat up mêlée of cars i did the same

After hours and hours and hours of non stop we eventually reached the boarder “FrankFurt Oder” luckily there was no customs procedures THE EAST German side was empty, who would ever had believed it they made us all go out on the MILITARY lane up the hill,

The military lane was for all the military going to Berlin and back not civilian

At the top of the hill, now we were in Germany ,who were normally the worst of any police rule enforcers, in Europe for foreign drivers, however they made every truck just keep going, we never stopped anywhere , hard to believe they just pushed us on,and out so it was go for it, the border area was just like a football crowd hundreds of people never before been in to free Germany it was manic,the fumes from, the old two stroke car engines was chocking you could see the clouds of fumes just hanging ,

My route was Aachen and the driver in front was from BELGUIM [ the office had no idea where I was at all ]so following him .knowing the Belgium’s they are masters at running bent and long hours so i hoped he lived up to that.
I just kept on and on the |“old nodding dog” [wanting to fall asleep,] kept creeping up so open the windows at start singing, once you get it that tiredness come over you common séance says stop ,you know you have to have your wits about you or else that will be it, off the road

I would do the most silly things to keep awake ,like having a dry shave ,or wash with out water rubbing your head ,or change your clothes without looking what you are doing ,concentrating of the road ahead ,you try taking your shoes off and drive , try to reach something that is out of reach that was my favourite until it got that it was impossible cab radio full blast ,or tape I only had one as I do not like cab music never have .and of course smoke a lot[this is what I did] it would end up that I was smoking nearly 24 hours ,we started to get on the outskirts of KOLON so i knew we had cracked it, the only thing would be the customs but i new to follow the driver in front and if needed he would tell all .

It must have been about 9 am Monday and the traffic was building that is the last thing you need when you are zb ed, another day gone, when we reached the exit from Germany the barriers were up in the truck lane [I COULD NOT SEE],as i was behind the other truck, he did no more carried on and went straight through ,no challenge nothing at that moment , it was one of those things you would not believe it if you was not there ,however that was the way it was that Sunday ,I did not give two zb s,I was what you called bushed.FATIGUE IS THE WORD. and pulled in to a lay by and crashed out, the tachograph was a mass unreadable lines and stating to crunch up in the head ,I did keep, it as they liked us to run straight but “this was a exception,” it never happened to many uk drivers that weekend.

Again another trip i can honestly say that, the day to day life of me ,i am talking about me only, was never dull ,every day had a “drama” not in the theoretical way , just nothing was ever straight forward ,and i now realise that was the way i liked it it kept you on your toes .

I was always 100% aware of all my surroundings no matter where i was or what i was doing.[just a self observation] now! back then i never realised it, most drivers doing what i did and there were hundreds of us were nearly all same minded.

A few European drivers were the men ,that when they were children they were maybe" hyper-active ,they would just be sleep-less, when they grew up they would become a good asset as drivers to any company as sleep was not their priority.i was pleased to say there were none at that time working for PULLEYNS. running bent was the last thing you did, unless you got asked to then they would take full responsibility.

PULLEYNS had a lot of meat export jobs mostly subbed i would imagine, down to one man who worked in the office i will not name him however he was a Scotsman and had lots of connections and he was brought in to PULLEYNS for that reason, he was there when i started and we got on very well, he did not "suffer fools gladly "

The job i am going to tell you about is 100% true and maybe a bit long winded ,so if you do not want to read it is up to you.

The job was hanging meat PORK , BUT SOW MEAT the big old pig, maybe 4/5 years old very heavy and long they would hang down from the meat hooks and the heads would touch the floor ,so when fully loaded you knew you had got your weight on board,[if the sea was rough the ferry captains would not take you, you had to wait until the sea calmed down ,as there was 20 tons plus swinging around that was at POOLE

The place of loading was a back and beyond place behind Sneterton race track[motorbikes ,cars, etc]in a village called BANHAM, not to far from DISS. NORFOLK.

The abattoir was just outside the village on a country road in the middle of fields, just down the road ,from a proper [ drinking pup called “cider house”] you could see the village church spire from where you were parked for loading, that was about it all for at least 2 miles around, you used to go to the village to tare off at the weighbridge at BANHAM CHICKEN FACTORY then when finished loading back weigh off .
The abattoir doubled up as what is called a knackers -yard that meant they had the licence to kill “anything,” and they did, from horses to donkeys ,bulls, yes i did go into the slaughter house to watch, a very slick organisation ,you name and they slaughtered they had the licences also they did prime pork nice 1 yearold pork ,we all like to eat ,so next time you get big slices of bacon, it is from a old bird ,a sow pig…

Once you were ready to be loaded ,Your trailer would be inspected by the vet for hygiene ,you could used their wash if needed ,however most times we were ready to load, also they had the euro loading system the we just clipped our joining pieces from our trailer rails to theirs in the loading bays, very quick loading, the only draw back was our units are so long a ,twin steer daf 95, also the 40 ft trailer, Cherua,[make] we used to stick out into the road ,only a small narrow road, a car could just get passed anything bigger would cause big trouble, loading would have to stop, = unclip the hooks pull off or try to jack knife around to allow transit, it was a pain. But very rare as most people knew the crack Most loading was early morning or late in the evening .you had just enough room to pull off the bay straight so the doors could be shut then you could drive back on to the bay doors up to theirs

Providing no one was parked next to you there were 3 bays but only one used for export all in all it was a good job, you would load up, do all the weighing off and go out the village way, and the make you way down to Poole you were always booked on the night boat ,[ferry] .sometimes you might have to drive down to the yard or maybe swap over trailers, you never knew ,but it was never a problem, you may have to take your 3 day break .

However they liked to keep the same drivers on a job if all was going good until
it was time for your home time then swapping around would happen that was never a problem for even me all the trucks and trailers were kept very clean.

So if you could you would ship out on the Friday night boat Poole -Cherbourg .Saturday morning off you would drive to either Le-mans or Vanes’ they were regular unloading abattoirs so by early afternoon you would be parked up in the compound by the loading bays suture, to do whatever…

Both places had a brilliant hot wash for the trailer when you were unloaded so you could go and load anything anywhere and we did if you had the blue EEC BOOK[no permits] you knew you would be going down to spain or even down and across to Italy ,if there were loads to be collected by PULLEYNS distance when empty, was never a problem in the end, i just never thought about it just did it it was brilliant. T

Having been on the same run as i have just written about, it did get a bit like i could do with a change and you only had to say and the office would do their best for you this certain time i had my wife with me so we were back loading the pork at BANHAM i ,and also other drivers had got to know most of the loaders and some slaughter men as we were a regular men there and all was good.

As normal on Friday all the same procedures ,loaded ready to go ,i phoned to office and asked them to book my wife on the ferry it was never any problem sometime they might charge me, not all the time so all went well that trip tipped ok ,reloaded frozen vegetables from Belgium back to kings lynn then back for the meat again, all was not ok a delay loading the frozen vegetables meant that i would not be able to load the pork[ just what i wanted] so somon else would and that would get me off the routine for me that was ok

Pulleyns were very good at giving new drivers a chance, a good job some companies did ,they had a new ish driver from MILTON KYNES who i had sort of [the new word is mentored] i was showing him the ropes so they made sure most of time, to new countries he was with someone if there was 2 loads and it was me a lot and he took to it very well ,most new drivers problem is the time away from home, if you want to be home every week do not drive into Europe, well not with PULLEYNS
Some companies do have regular Sunday to Friday runs in Europe but i never have .

I was asked by the office they said do you think he will be able to do the pork run ok, and yes was the answer he was a carful driver no [zb], nice and steady we had done loads of lambs before together ,but pork was a bit different but take his time ,no rush ,yes he will be fine ,end of story…

I get on with my load tip and go else where, my wife has another week with me as i reminded the office ,however if something comes up ,she will not be able to come with me we always get her home as then i lived about 40 miles from reading…

All was going good it was Saturday morning i was loaded from Doncaster ,local [zb], for Peterborough dog food, the cab phone rang, it was Adrian Pulleyn ,i thought this is not normal and he said there has been a problem with the meat load from BANHAM he said he has been Hijacked, what ! I replyed and he told me what they knew also he was pumping me as well.

The true story was he half loaded his trailer Friday night and there was a problem with the meat temperature so it would be delayed until Saturday morning it had happened before to me, that was fine so as i said before ,once you pulled off the bay shut the doors back back, again you unit is still on the road, his fridge was running ok +1 so the meat was ok in the trailer and the next bay to him was the local delivery meat lorry, a 4 wheeler that was loaded with the good pork, how i knew as it was al ways being loaded the same time as us and you could see the small young pork, for Smithfield meat market in london.or eles where.

He is sat in the passenger seat of a Mercedes A 2014 pr-select or something like that [at one time there was a lot of Mercedes in the yard]with his feet across the middle area between the seats , in his underpants ,getting ready for bed and his telly going, no curtains drawn as it was as dark as it could get about 10pm.

Next thing he knows there is a baseball bat smashing the drivers window in ,he starts to jump up and the same happens to the passenger window and they are both smashed out, next he is grabbed from outside and he is pulled out of the cab via the window as the doors are locked [normal procedure when parked up anywhere] he is bounced to the ground 2 men grab him and throw him in the back of a van, by the time he bounces inside, the van doors are slammed he is [zb] himself and only in underpants [ he is very slightly built] and the drive him around he does not know where, like over fields so he was getting thrown around like a rag doll, he does not have anything with him at all not even a watch, and he passes out.

It must have been at least a hour ,he wakes up doors left open in the pitch black with no clothes he is very cold, he goes around to the drivers door ,falls in and lays on the hooter with his hands that does not work so he starts shouting and banging ,and after time someone heard him and called the police…it must have been a very harrowing experience ,i know it took him a long time to get over it if he ever did…

The truck was found in a barn in a field near great Yarmouth at least a week after, and all of the meat was still inside all gone rotten as the fridge had run out of diesel…The load was taken and disposed of, the trailer had mega washing out ,the unit repaired they would not have got him out of a DAF cab to high.

The conclusion by us drivers was that it was a inside job, however THEY TOOK THE WRONG TRUCK. The one with the good meat on ,why have I told you this is because it was only by chance that it should have been me and my wife there loading for FRANCE it did not do, to think about .after time it all faded away, however i never went back there to load for different reasons?

I have not named the driver and not many will know about what happened to him ,if by chance he has read this ,or someone knows him well ,ask him to private email me on here thanks.

After about 3 years I had been with PULLEYNS a long term driver went in to the office to work as a traffic clerk years ago it was the natural progress of older drivers to go in the office but this man was not old, however he had been with them from the start-ish ,and he was not my favourite person PULLEYNS fleet had really grown at least 20 units if not more and all the smaller trucks they had a contract with TESCO to bring fresh chicken out from FRANCE and deliver it to all TESCOS hub depots for onward shop delivers ,some of the trucks were dedicated just for that work any overflow and general fridge men like me ,would do the odd load.

. My so called ex best buddy gave me so much local work that in the end ,i just rolled in one day asked to speak to BOB NEDOMER the 2nd boss one of the nicest men you could ever meet and told him my problem with all the local work, but as management they have to back each other up so he said nothing he can do give it time, it will work out i did appreciate what he said and could see his side of the story but my mind was made up, time to go that all happened within a week.

So it was goodbye .if any one was leaving and put notice in they would have to go there and then ,no notice worked ,you would be paid up in full there and then, get your gear and seen out of the yard i do not blame ADRIAN one bit as some one with a grudge could do thousands pounds worth of damage to the fleet ,but we all new the system you were told when you started and if anyone was ever stroppy or threaten anyone drivers or staff ,no matter who you would be escorted off, and you would not mess with the man . Not for me

So now i was slightly zbed I had done it as i had only just started back on my 3 week turn around i had all my gear in to my car and drove away …my own fault but you can only do so many inter cold stores it was like a van boys job some of the lads loved it but they had done zb all before, in transport anyway, and that is the type of driver they wanted now so i was better off away ,or so thought.

I had some cash all my monies due were paid ,and my salary went into the bank to keep the wife and home going ,so it was now down to me to get a job
IT WAS NOW 1990.
I knew in myself i could go and work anywhere on dry goods or fridge haulage on European and the reason for leaving was not nothing to do with conduct or problems I just did not want uk work.

.OPTIONS not a lot ,i had a diary with lots of companies and drivers names and phone numbers, i did not have mobile phone so i had to use the public phones s i will start nearest to my home… nr Banbury,

[peggydeckboy]

HI MEMBERS
i do not know if what i am doing is correct way of telling my story as i have printed this all before on here.

writing a book is not as some make out easy and self publish also not easy as income tax s involved ,i have sent some work to a publisher BARBARA HOLTEN and was told it required a ghost writer i was told that to get my story in to any kind of shape it was big money up to £10.000.based on the word count it is£70 per hour for GHOST WRITER on basic uk pension not in my league.

As the posts on here are about drivers stories most of what happened years ago will never come back, however i thought that maybe the new drivers would some how like to know what some of us did .my story is 100% true all self inflicted ,no one forced me to work any where i did it all by myself .and not regretted any. i will start from 198o after being made redundant from MORTONS BRS. after the strike [over Christmas] 1979/1980.dbp.

[peggydeckboy]

After the strike We started to get back to taking goods to the docks and private wharves ,and most defiantly fiddling nights out,we were owed a lot of lost money ,our own fault,[yes] , did we care if we got it from the company [no] had we got any sense [no] we new the writing was on the wall. A ,lot of the car companies that were exporting started to adapt the sizes of the cases filled with car parts to fit in the 20foot [6 meters] or 40 foot[12 meters] long containers that we did not haul.

Although there was tons of case cars standing ready to go for export at the depot it appeared as if some orders had been lost and the export company were going to have to unpack them and reuse the goods for others .and be packed into containers,
It was not long after Christmas ,we had got our £5 that was over due, and the talk that some drivers were going to be made redundant on a [last in first out ] meaning the longest serving drivers would be kept on and the newer ones would have to leave, also it meant that company would not have to pay as much redundant payment for the men with the shortest service. with the company. what helped me in the first redundancy was that my service with the Banbury B. R .S was added on to my service with Mortons as it was the same Nationalised company [sort of]when it suited them .

We had to then do all kinds of work local and export you did not know from one day to another and the nights out were getting less, and the fiddles as well. It got to be near summer holidays around June where there came another wave of men who they had got to let go I was in that batch, I am glad I hung on in and waited ,and not left before the actual redundancy came ,as a few men had got themselves other jobs and left and lost out of any payment ,however small, Len was safe for the moment as he had got longer service than me. It took a while to get used to the idea that I would now have to look for employment also I knew there was very little work around our area especially within the road haulage .
Not forgetting a nice little sum of money coming our way, that was not to be overlooked ,however I knew it would not take long for it to disappear very quick .
You were allowed to sign on the dole as soon as you finished work however getting money was another thing, you had a lump sum paid to you there were entitlements that you would be able to claim ,that is what I did and did not feel guilty at all .

The day came and my service was no longer required a few of us went to the local pub and enjoyed the day with a nice wage packet and a cheque, some of the men were working so we had their beer. I think I was driven home safely, well I am still here so I must have been, and a new chapter of my working life was about to begin ,if you have been bored reading what I have all ready wriiten the next 22 years coming up may be a little better or not.
?what I said before is all true, as this next saga rolls out, I found doing the work that I did quite interesting and new .follow me.

After the initial feeling of having some money had worn off , it had not worn off ,but we had to be careful as we both new it could well be a time before I managed to get employment that I wanted although I new beggars cannot be choosers so I would see what hand would be dealt me .

We had now got a house phone installed and that was important. And I used the local papers to look out for any type of work, I had rang round all of the local transport companies some I would not have ever worked for but I knew I would have to change my working ways. However it was all a waste of time.

There were quite a lot of factory’s in the local area doing all kinds of work but they did not need anyone. I was offered one chance, only because I knew the man at some casual driving and that was with the local skip/scrap man .i thought once and said I would do it , in my head I thought .[zb] me what have I come down to, but it did not take me long to get into the swing of things, he showed me once how to pick a loaded skip up, and how to unload it at the skip tip site ,also how to carry 3 skips in each other for dropping off at wherever they were needed and the best job was picking up cars for the crusher ,that was good ,your got near to the car first you had to make sure it was the right car you had to takeaway if it was at a property ,you just smashed the windows in with the hook on the chain then chain it up through the doors, and over the roof and lift it up off the ground with the 2 arms on the back of the lorry that lifted the skip in place on the lorry bed ,but it was a car this time not a skip ,all the broken glass would have stayed inside the car ,you hoped, and away you went…
It was not that simple ever time some of the cars would be in the back of a farm yard ,or in another scrap yard, normally full of scrap and [zb], mud, then you earned your tax free money ,especial if it was ■■■■■■■ with rain.

You would sometimes have to pull and drag them out sideways all the tyres being pulled of the rims but you just got on with it I did realise after a time that I quite liked being destructive I really enjoyed it. “do everything by the road law “now being total opposite from what I had been doing for the last 12 ish years, no road tax ,no log books ,no tachograph, completely not me although I used to break the company law ,not the road law, that would involve the police or ministry of transport , I was on the edge all the time in the skip lorry .but it did work out very good some weeks I would have 3 days work, no tax good money, yes I worked for it I did not count the hours ,and new I had to just get on with it that I did, although I would not have liked the job permanent ,some men loved that type of work not me.

[peggydeckboy]

After time it was getting that I would have to find a permanent job even if it meant going further away from my area and living in B$B somewhere, now was the time I wished I had been good at maths and English as I think that gives you a good basis to take most exams. i had even thought I would go to collage ,school ,to learn maths.that was looked into and not possible as the collage was far away and the cost etc.

I kept going to the job centre ,hoping it was going to pay off ,and it did ,there was a job at the Engine Manufacturing Factory going as a Material Handler at ■■■■■■■■■ at Daventry 8 miles away I did know some men who worked there but they were all skilled men as far as knew. so I was given a date and time for a interview, I thought for [zb] sake what am I doing, going for a job you have no idea what it is ,what is required of me and a factory of all places locked inside for 8 hours a day however beggars cannot be choosers.

The day arrived for my interview, dressed up smart, if you went for a drivers job all smart you would never get it you had to have good working black hands, big boots ,jeans covered in grease I think I even had a tie on ,when you think about it what does it matter what you look like as you are going to be in overalls and covered in some kind of muck ,well that is what I thought at the time.

The interview went well I took all my previous work paper work etc and it seemed to be all right I was not asked to do any tests so that was good, then I was asked would I like to go around the factory to see what the job entailed so all eyes and ears said yes. The first thing to hit me was the noise of all kinds of massive machines doing all kinds of engineering tasks to engine blocks in their shell form, as if just arrived from the foundry where they were cast and that was what they were. Big lumps that were moved along a steel roller track ,with drilling, shaving, boring ,machines at benches at different places along the track being operated by men in goggles, and ear muffs. I though wow have I got to operate a machine, but no, that was skilled work, it turned out my job along with 3 others on each shift was to keep the waste material from building up under the machines ,that had been machined off the engine block, so as the operator of the machine did not waste time doing that job .

Some of the blocks that were finished at a certain work stations along the track built up at different stages of the work operation so either some men were held up waiting for the next one or vis-à-vis .so either a massive overhead crane was used to move them on or it was done by fork lift
so the task for me was ,1 learn to drive the massive overhead crane that spanned the whole of the
factory floor , it had two cranes one each end and then learn to drive the fork lift[properly not like we did in transport yards] with proper instruction by a health and safety company man .Two things straight away occurred to me [1] I have a big problem taking any kind of instruction] 2 anyone watching me meaningfully puts me off I thought , for once you do not know anything about the job just go along with it and see. and the last part was using a shovel and
wheelbarrow, that I was good at.

They t took me around all the factory from start to finish , to see the engine blocks, come in on a lorry to being a finished engine [not lorries engines] they were to big .well then they were.
I straight away sussed out that there was a clean part of the manufacture and a dirty one i was in the dirty one.

After the tour, the humming noise of a factory had my ears buzzing ,very strange ,so then I was taken to see the shift foreman who would be my boss ,as I would have to learn all the jobs on day shift before you go on nights understandable as it all was like clock work .

I could not believe who sat in front of me [the foreman] was a man I knew from 1959 we had only just left school when were 15, I worked with him on my second job I had before I went to sea.

[peggydeckboy]

I got along with the training very well in fact I enjoyed it as I had been used to cranes and fork lifts and just getting into the rhythm of being in a factory and not being able to just clear off and have a tea or ■■■ there was always some one waiting on your next move as your job was a material handler and that is what I became after a few months training I held a fork lift certificate and a 20 ton crane handlers certificate within the company, that was the new word for me to get my head around everything was the Company. I had never been a company’s man before but I was drifting that way.

If you have never been inside a large factory I will try to explain what the size is like also the crane==
If you can imagine that you are in a oblong room ,look up to the ceiling and look where the wall meets the ceiling and come down 2 foot with your eye and imagine that there is a massive steel beam or girder going from one end to the other both sides on the walls, held up by straight steel girders about 10 foot apart ,and on the top of the steel is a rail, like a railway track all the length of the girder …with me ?next, there is a steel beam going across the space from one side to the other, and on that is two steel beams joined together ,in-between the 2 beams is a massive cotton reel type engine ,with a steel cable hanging down to the floor with a big hook on the end also a electrical cable hanging down to just above the floor that is the control cable with a box at the end with buttons on it to use for all types of movement of the crane .

The crane works the same as =in a amusement arcade there are grab type machines that will go forward or back and left and right to pick toys up ,that you control ,that is the same actions as the works crane.
Also if you see the size of a Olympic swimming pool. That is the size area of this factory.[analogy]
right
so after 2 months of getting used to all the workings I think I have got the job sorted in my head I am ready to go on to a shift, although I have 3 months probationer .and I have now joined the engineering union. That is a must from the company you have no option. but I did not get a new
shovel, as I was the new man I spent a lot of time clearing all the shavings up, it is called [swarf]
steel or metal fillings [scrap].

I got into the rhythm of shift work, I soon realised that there was competition between the
shift foreman with each other and the machinist on each shift , who gets most production done on each shift. but there was ,and the person who would determine the end of shift performance was the lowly material handler .

Engine block size [analogy] if you look at a ordinary bath in a house and see it as a square. imagine another bath the same size placed on top of the first one upside down ,so you now have a steel box, hollow. Imagine that now that looks like a oblong steel engine block ,but inside there is like tunnels and caves moulded within the steel ,and rough edges, all around it so you can see through it from all different angles .and you wonder how did they mould it together as looking like one whole structure they had one end as a open bottom .

if turned upside down you would see how it was done, a labyrinth of galleries that took the different parts of the engine to be assembled later on ,also the channels for the lubricant oils and they had machines that would drill, and refine all the inside .i do not know how much weight the block lost,once they were working on them but it was a lot for the amount of [swarf ]that used to come of them .steel shavings.
When the block first arrived in the factory it must have weight 1,500 kilos or one and half tons. when it left the machine shop it looked slim ,slick,i am not sure of the weight loss but substantial .

It was how many complete engine blocks would have been machined and finish and ready for the other part of the build. And that was done by clearing blocks from the stations where the men were working, trouble was some men held back with production while some had none,as the blocks were not ready ,so that would start the foreman off ,throwing wobbles and it was us handlers would get moaned at as we were not keeping production up and who was the worst at it my new friend, my old friend the one who give me the job so we clashed,i would not take [zb] of no one ,I would say ,look at that chap,he is the one who held us up excreta he was holding on to his block he was working on ,he finished what he had to do and did not want to start another block as that meant setting all machine up and by the time he had done that he would not have time to start working and it would be ready for the other shift,[[zb]]. It went on and on pure silliness.

The rivalry even crept into our small band of handlers,the fork lift would be left with flat batteries and not changed over for the next shift, you would then be playing catch up all shift. and we were always last to be finished when it was time to go,all because of the men on the shop floor not playing the game,after every shift you had to change your c overhauls ,they were black with machine dust and your hands were like a coal miners. most of the machinist there always got cleaned up and ready for the off at least by a quarter of a hour before home time that ■■■■■■ me off as a lot could have been done to help us out, but they never did.

After about a year there I was one of the team,well my own team ,i had got the job sorted, and checked things before I started work ,like make sure the batteries are charged,[silly I know but it worked] finding the wheelbarrow and brush ,daft yes ,but necessary as your so called mates would just abandon gear you needed, the Foreman would be on the ball as the shift started, I would be one step ahead,and it worked also I would work through my dinner break [no one would know,or even notice,]just to get out of work clean and on time ,as I was now sharing a car with 3 men from the same village [we were all on the same shirts different jobs though] and it worked ,as I could eat my dinner at any time [ the dinner I had at the time was very small and low in calories ,as I was on blood pressure tablets + 1000, calories a day ,it was a ladies diet, however I was overweight ] as we were like butterflies everywhere on the shop floor I soon got the weight down.

Gentlemen ,just before i post, some younger members of my family were here yesterday ,i asked them to read what i have posted and they said "boring grandad"fair comment ,i expect it is, however they have no connection to the haulage industry so they were not interested.my point is i am trying to say, is if any younger drivers are reading this ,back then work conditions were different, once a driver,it was very unlikely you would change your job ,why would you, however i am trying to show that we could and did adapt to any job through necessity ,the next stage maybe boring however it will lead you, to read on,thanks dbp
I had got my head on two things,well three really but there was no transport work around so I thought make the best of what you have got or get out.

The get out was =join the prison service as a prison officer [warder] I had looked into it in depth? and there was one man living in the village and I got to know him quite well then,[do not ask me his name now I have no recollection ] and he gave me insight as much as he could into the job. He was a chef so was a bit different .

After I had made the first moves for a application form things started to move quite quick. i do know that reverences were checked from previous employers all of them from20 years [not CW KNIGHT] I left them out. I did think though ,after all what went on when I was on strike and helping our selves to goods , [stealing] perhaps it was not the right thing to do ,but I was not going to beat myself up over it what will be will be.
The big day arrived and I was asked to report to a Borstal near WELLINGBOROUGH I do recall i was a bit on the nervous side, but not [zb] myself, just going into the unknown .and getting in my head to call everyone sir, eventually there were about 20 of men. All seated around a massive circular table ,well stood up, until told to sit by the enormous prison officer with a hat on just like they wear in the army guards units the peak was covering nearly all his noise you immediately thought “[zb]” but a tough one so we did as we were told , we were given papers, told you start when told and stop the same and got on with it .

Well the first page was kids stuff then it got harder ,and harder ,and I knew i was now out of my league in the end I had not go a clue as to some of the papers so I just sat back and waited until we were told to stop. I knew I was out so I did not feel bad at all .everything seems easy until you are put out of your normal level and comfort zone. However after a time some of were told to stand and leave, so I was not on my own. Out of the room I was told to follow this officer, still no idea what for .anyway he said the governor would like to see me so I go into a room and a lady is sat there a governor ,and tells me that all my previous work history and background is what is required by them and I would fit in etcetera, however my English and Maths were of a twelve year old,s standard, go to night school and reapply when you get up to GCSE standard. Goodbye and that was it.
I go, a bit disappointed, but I knew before I went what my standard was like so nothing new as you may be able to tell by how ,and what ,I type and I now knew that I would have to carry on at the factory just like all the others, in actual fact I was no different from any of the men there all though most were skilled men at what they did and apprentice trained,.

I felt I needed to get on ,and get a better position in the factory there was a opportunity within the factory to get promoted for the skilled men however I needed to learn new skills but they would recruit skilled men from outside before they would give in house training on the machines .
So my time in the machine shop was up for me I wanted to move on to engine build department and that was going to be a wait, as it was a better clean job but with no immediate vacancy, and also others were waiting to move into that department.

I knew that there would be a lot of competition from all the workers not classed as tradesman for a internal transfer to the build department , I asked one of the engine build workers I knew, if there was any company reading material showing and describing the sequence of the engine build so I could in theory be able to describe engine parts and where they went and show I was interested I would go and ask for it and I was given it.

I had to stay where I was for the time ,in the engineering shop the smell of the lubricant oil they used did not get any sweeter . I did not dislike working at the factory at all, I was thinking it is better that pounding up and down the roads ,nice and dry, however I was always getting drawn to the doors ,to get out of the factory, I could at lest see the doors, some men. Stayed at their work station all of their shift on the same machine doing the same work day in and out.
They were highly trained 5 year apprentice-ship time served men. but now their skilled work was done by computers and they just programmed their work orders to the machine and let it get on with it.
I did let the human resources department know that I would like to move departments, over to the engine build ,i was sure that if the foreman knew I wanted to move he would block it . I was told that they were only recruiting experienced engine fitters from outside as it took to long to train in house men up to their standard, however there maybe a vacancy soon in the stores department maybe I would like to go for that so I said yes please. but I would still have to have a interview with the relevant head of the department and no guarantee I would get the job as departments did not like taking men from one department to another, also outside recruiting would take place for the job.

The Falklands war was taking place ,and there seemed to be a sort of buzz around the factory men talking in groups at break times ,it just seemed as if their was a together spirit about the place a nice change. small union flags would appear on walls all ex service men walking ramrod straight .all wanting to go and stick it in the Argentines, but all to old but willing ,i thought, among all the workers in the whole factory I would bet anything that I was the only person ever who had been to Argentina, but I never let on, I was waiting for anyone to say “yea I was there” ,but no one did so i
told no one ,i did not matter any way so had thousands of other men been to Argentina.

The time kept marching on and I was waiting for my stores interview, that never happened, but the strangest thing did ,I was asked by the personal department if I would consider moving over to the engine build department as a material handler, as there is a “ vacancy , going to be created” there was no material handler in the build department ,all the heavy material was lifted by a man from the stores on a fork lift . all the other material was collected from the stores by the individuals working on the engine they were building. it was strange, how do you get something you want in the end, w? I knew a lot of people within the factory , and I was not shy in saying what I would like to do .so as they say [zb] happens not always bad.
So after a time I left the Machine shop and started within the engine build department. I had a week in the stores trying to get in touch with all the bolts ,nuts washers, clips, all the ancillary parts that are used in all different parts of the engine build, nearly every engine was build with a different use once it left the factory.dbp