In my case,loaded out of Courtaulds Great Coates for the Royal Docks in London.Parked up near Cypress Place on docks and was offloaded a week the following wednesday.
2nd.job again out of Courtaulds for Liverpool docks.Waited until a week the following friday to get offloaded then besieged by idle scousers looking for a lift down the east Lancs road.
I’ve had an issue with cockneys and scousers ever since but the job itself soon improved!
Gidders:
In my case,loaded out of Courtaulds Great Coates for the Royal Docks in London.Parked up near Cypress Place on docks and was offloaded a week the following wednesday.
2nd.job again out of Courtaulds for Liverpool docks.Waited until a week the following friday to get offloaded then besieged by idle scousers looking for a lift down the east Lancs road.
I’ve had an issue with cockneys and scousers ever since but the job itself soon improved!
Guess you aren’t up for election by a popular vote then?
[emoji3]
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My first artic job was meant to be into the stores in the Esso Fawley refinery, I saw a sign saying Esso and took a turn… towards the main offices.
Surprisingly, I kept my new job. Took many, many, other wrong turns, but not that particular one again.
Driving a Scania 80 rigid for Bees tpt, Feltham depot
Finally left the council and started 15 years of night trunking based Feltham DAF 2800 and two return runs to Kilworth.
Hi Franglais.That could be an idea for a new thread. “The daftest wrong turns you’ve ever made.” I’d get sore fingers typing all mine!
Driving BMC FFK 4-wheeler- an oddball in the fleet, having been bought, along with a Bedford TK from a local haulier who had retired. I really liked the lorry but it was soon sold and I ended up with a Bedford S-type which I also liked.
Fred Chappell, Batley
4 wheel Commer tipper (TS3 engine)
7 load of coal a day Roundwood Pit (it’s now Junc 40 on the M1) to Tingley Gas Works.
I don’t know if this qualifies as a job because I never received any payment for it and it was before I passed my test but hopefully it makes for an interesting story.
During my time in the Royal Navy I worked on an Admiral’s staff. As this was a “seagoing” admiral rather than one based at navy headquarters or Whitehall it necessitated a lot of travel to and from various parts of the globe to meet up with ships and taking charge of fleet exercises etc. All this meant that his entire “office files” would be taken in boxes/small containers to RAF Brize Norton and delivered by truck at the other end. I had always wanted my HGV since I was young and having just turned 21 I came up with what I thought was a “cunning plan”. The admirals staff wasn’t large so access to him was easy and I managed to convince him that it would be a great idea if I had my HGV in case of difficulties in getting a truck driver at our various locations. After all we were carrying a lot of top secret files and they had to be guarded at all times!! I told him that I was willing to forego my 2 weeks annual summer leave to attend the course. Amazingly he agreed and I managed to get myself onto a course at RAF St Athans in Barry Island.
What I hadn’t told him was that the course lasted three weeks so I had a dilemma. On the first day of the course we were given the training timetable and told that the test would be “two weeks on Friday”. I explained that I was only there for two weeks and this caused a bit of a problem for the instructors. I was asked if I had ever driven a truck before and I lied saying “yeah loads of times”. I was told that my test would be “on Friday week” My instructor then told me to meet him at the MT workshop at 5am the following morning. Next morning I duly turn up at the required time and was told to jump into “that wagon” (a Bedford TK flat bed with capes) and start it up. I did as I was told and the instructor got into the passenger side. “Ok, let’s go” he says and we proceed to drive out of the camp and through the streets of Barry and on to the M4. “Head for the M5 and go towards Birmingham” he says. After about two hours we turned off and headed into the countryside eventually arriving at a remote farm. We loaded up with about six pallets of eggs and drove back to Cardiff arriving late in the afternoon. Once we reached there we delivered the eggs to what I assume was a wholesaler and then went back to the camp. I don’t know how often this instructor pulled this stunt or how much he made - all I know is that I didn’t get a penny!!
The only thing I could be sure of was that no matter what happened or how badly I did I wasn’t going to fail the test!!
I never bothered with a class one as we had nothing on the fleet that bent in the middle at that time and I couldn’t have managed on the wage drop from class two! 
Pete.
Gidders:
Hi Franglais.That could be an idea for a new thread. “The daftest wrong turns you’ve ever made.” I’d get sore fingers typing all mine!
Same here…too much choice…
Sorry, I didn’t notice the HGV Class 1 bit, I never took a test, I got my ‘ticket’ automatically…again at Fred Chappells.
I got to thinking, it’s 62/63 years ago that I started driving lorries.
Must have three yrs after passing class one and driving class three then class two proving myself to the management . Iirc ford d series two speed axle pulling a single axle lowloader it had a jack up by hand and roll out wheels and jack down to load/unload. The load was two tractors fitted with side grass cutters from Dumfries highways depot to stranraer main highways depot , and coming back a engine blown transit pushed as close as possible then winched on by hand winch . Was then used as spare loader man .
Can’t recall the first load, but the first class 1 job they threw the key to an S39 Foden at me and just left to get on with it, that first trip saw me come to a complete stop several times to start again cos lost where i was in that, er, interesting gearbox, once lost the novice hads little chance of recovering on the move, well that’s my excuse.
Well recall the first reverse, 4-in-line flatbread (they were all flats) trailer from a narrow road into a narrow gateway, many many shunts later 
i was finally in, however that lack of power steering helped you learn pdq how to reverse proper like.
Have an idea that first load was a piece of machinery from Leicester up to Liverpool area, back load was drums of oil out of Castrol i think…recall Castol’s site well, it was where i learned from watching incredulously the bod shunting how it should be done…take one BigJ and reverse as fast as possible and i mean flat out and ram into the trailer, empty or loaded made no difference 
, can’t say i’ve ever done that meself and i’m still wondering what the thinking was.
Nope, just told you a lie, memory playing tricks, that first trip was with a Leyland Badger (ergomatic cab) tractor and 4 in line, still no power steering mind, the Foden wasn’t ready for use when i started so got handed that when i got back the next day.
My first artic job was Sheffield to Netherton near Dudley with a load of billets,then a reload out of Wolverhampton and Birchley Rolling Mills for Flathers,Sheffield.Albion Chieftan SWB 425F,with splitter lever back of cab and with a 4-in-line shed ont back 1968.
March 1976 passed my test in the morning,delivered load of waste paper Sheffield to Selby in the afternoon.ERF 64cu GWX 628J.Next morning was given another 64cu PWX856E as regular motor.Happy days long gone unfortunately.
I passed my Class 2 in February 1976 (a 1968 Foden S34) and delivered my first ‘proper’ loads one day in 1982, two loads of stone from Tilcon’s Ballidon quarry near Ashbourne to Manchester airport and two loads to Carsington Water in between driving a Gardner engined Foden Haulmaster while the regular driver had a day off.
Pete.
Carryfast:
Finally left the council and started 15 years of night trunking based Feltham DAF 2800 and two return runs to Kilworth.
proper job 
can you remember Jeff Rabone? …at one time night manager at NK,as well as being a part-time plod.
late '79…National Carriers Leicester. can’t remember where i went,but i was driving the Pride of the Fleet…an old Albion artic 
Reading these previous posts it would seem I didn’t do too badly with my Class One at first, driving a Scania 81 around 1980. We were running large diameter 40ft gas pipes up to Portobello from Durham, tip and back empty although even then it was a push on for a days driving hours. The job was ok but the company wasn’t, when things got a little quiet at the Hartlepool Mill they would lay drivers off for a few days until the pipe work got going again, that was no good for me even as a newbee so I left. I did drive a new F7 there when they hired in a couple of motors, which I thought was a lovely machine. It wasn’t until a couple of years later when I worked for a bigger General Haulier that I got to drive the crap but only to be expected I suppose. Franky.
carryfast-yeti:
Carryfast:
Finally left the council and started 15 years of night trunking based Feltham DAF 2800 and two return runs to Kilworth.proper job
can you remember Jeff Rabone? …at one time night manager at NK,as well as being a part-time plod.
Often don’t even remember the names of my own depot staff now.I can remember Tony Kersey the phone chucker and someone from the old firm on here later reminded me of Chris Aldridge.Tony died quite early on.
That job especially was generally just a quick trailer swap and back to Feltham for my break and then same again to avoid the morning traffic on the way back on the second run.
Bonus points if it was just a single trailer for the shift.Get back quick go home proper job and finish terms in those days.But I think some of them transferred to Nuneaton ?. 
Do you remember Kelly at Dewsbury he was reputed to have a bad temper but I got on with him fine.Although I had a few ‘arguments’ with Krska based there in my time.