I REMEMBER AUBERVILLIERS BULLIT WE USED TO GO TO FRANS MAAS FOR CLEARENCE I REMEMBER THEIR WAS ALWAYS JONES TANKERS THEIR AND BARKERS FROM BIRTLEY, I WORKED FOR K&J INTERNATIONAL NEWCASTLE.
CHEERS MARK
NORMANS TPT CAFE BROTHERTON, WAS A REGULAR STOP FOR US N.E DRIVERS, THURSDAY NIGHT WAS CLUB NIGHT, THEN ON TO SHADOWS AT PONTY.
hiya,
Marcus, good digs not the Ritz but always clean and warm stayed there when on for Glenny’s and Cooky’s remember when it was Ma Green’s, i wonder why it closed ■■ last time i passed, “it was a while back” the land was still vacant, it still looks the same on Google.
thanks harry long retired.
Thank you ben walker for reviving this thread after such a long time of inactivity 
. This was one of my first posts on here when I first joined and it still seems to be relevant, even though there have been a couple in a similar vein recently.
Les.
Halo Kickstart
Glad to see your Thread going again hope it keeps up,I have been retired a long time now stayed in a lot of Digs,in the 60s&70s,have a lot of Cards some in good condition some not so good, wonder if their is anybody out there who has any use for them.
Ben
Hi Ben,
when I was travelling throughout the UK back in the 70’s I mostly stayed in the “Cab Hotel” (Leyland Mastiff with passenger seats removed and foam mattress to replace them, pre sleeper cab days) or the “York” Hotel (box van trailer, I used to carry a single mattress on top of the load of boxes of plastic cups so could usually find room to make a decent bed up, as long as I had got rid of at least one drop) and rarely used digs. I also had a frame made up to hold a small calor gas cylinder, this was bolted to the units chassis and powered a 2 ring camping stove in the cab. On the couple of occasions when I did stay in digs it reminded me why I preferred to cab it. I remember one time, when I broke down in Braintree (in January), and my unit had to stay in the workshop awaiting repair I stayed in a pub in the middle of the town and would have been warmer sleeping underneath my trailer than I was in the attic dormitory of the pub! It must have been 60 ft long with a single bar electric fire to heat the whole room. The breakfast was crap too! No wonder I was the only one daft enough to stay there, and it came at the recommendation of the workshop foreman when I asked if he knew of any decent digs nearby (i think he must have been the landlord’s relation).
With the proliferation of decent sleeper cabs nowadays I doubt if many drivers use digs now, and I suspect that most of the decent ones which were around in the 60’s and 70’s have probably shut up shop now.
Perhaps that would be a good subject for a new thread which could be of use to the members on here - “Decent digs which are still operating, which you can recommend, within walking distance of a lorry park, even if they haven’t been around since the 60’s”
Any suggestions anyone?
Les.
Hi harry never used the digs, but my dad did he,s called stan been at freeway haulage about 38 years before that he was at associated dairies.
thanks MARK.
Is ponty still open harry, i got out of driving about 8 year ago, i was with Ron tailford, RTH- international for 8 year, running the offshore equipment about from aberdeen, i now work offshore but still keep my hand in when RTH & MTL Aberdeen stuck for a driver, with job i do now i do 5 weeks on 5 weeks off
cheers MARK
ainacs:
I used to stay in Heywood parked on a piece of ground near the Talbot Pub handy for the chippy aswell.
Birch Services Westbound (before they charged you) you could walk out the back to a little pub (Can’t remember the name!)
3 Arrows opposite Heywood Ind estate or the Gardners near the Birch hotel near the bridge.
hiya,
It’s a lot longer than eight years since i was up and down the road as a long distance driver marcus22 so i’m not aware whats still open, you could more than likely enlighten me on that score.
thanks harry long retired.
Hullo all,
What about Carisio, both sides of the road, either Garonne or Paladini, get ■■■■■■ as a ■■■■ whichever one you were at. I fact one of my sons stayed there and is still in Italy yet, 17 years later. I could’nt do it now I don’t think but it was a pretty good night about once a month.
Cheers, Archie.
Aye carisio well set up for drivers archie had a few good weekends their myself, who is your son then archie, is it a guy called eric.
cheers mark
hiya,
Marcus22 carlisle was’nt all that many moons ago when all the pubs had to sell the state owned beer, when did that end?? it was horrible stuff, always tried to overnight north or south of the place to get a decent pint. PS Sorry read the above post wrong thought you said Carlisle, i’ll get myself fixed up with some reading lessons.
thanks harry long retired.
not sure about the beer harry, i used to like the one that was a gretna or the cafe at crawford, you probably know my dad harry, STAN of freeway haulage dunston, he has been their nearly 38 year now. was it peter cooks you were at harry, i worked for ron tailford , RTH-international
hiya,
Marcus the outfits i worked for was Youngs Leadgate, Glendennings Shotley Bridge and Siddle C Cook (BRS) Consett did’nt move to the Durham area until 1973 so i don’t think i would know your Dad, finished up driving for the water board on local work, wasn’t long at Youngs and Glenny’s did’nt like the work so never got to know the drivers very well.
thanks harry long retired.
marcus 22:
Aye carisio well set up for drivers archie had a few good weekends their myself, who is your son then archie, is it a guy called eric.cheers mark
Hullo marcus 22,
The son that was living at Carisio was called Nick, he worked with those heart scanner trailers, he’s a Hells Angel, rides a Harley. ( that’s his choice ). But for the last ten years he’s lived in Monza, he’s now on for an Italian Supermarket firm.
Cheers, Archie.
I know who you mean now archie, always had his truck parked at carisio, i used to wake up on a sunday morning wishing he had his trailer their, nice lad is nick, he will remember us guys of RTH-international we ran the offshore equipment about, dont know if he will remember me personally but send my regards to him.
cheers MARK
Hi Les
Was not as well equipped as you for Nights in the Cab although spent a lot of Nights in it, very uncomortable ones at that, especially in Winter after an Hour or two had to move on because of the Cold, which did not make a lot of difference as we did not have Heaters in the Cab anyway.Remember a Driver when i was on Davis Bros called Lancashire Woody who Cabbed it all the time and carried a Primos Stove with him and parked up in Laybys and did not use Cafes either pass him Brewing up in Laybys during the Day as well,hard times.
Ben.
Quite a lot of Manchester lads used to park on North Wharf rd. in paddington behind sarah siddons school. In the summer we would sit and ogle the girls playing netball,nowadays we would be classed as paedophiles, we drank in the Irongate or the Dudley arms on Harrow rd. or the Nottingham castle on pread st.or for a change we would go up camden town to the black cap.
Hi Ben,
I wouldn’t say that I was well equipped in the cab, just tried to make it as good as I could. It was surprising how well I used to sleep in the cab, even in the winter, when I had to scrape the ice off the inside of the windscreen before de-icing the outsiden the mornings, but I had a good quality sleeping bag and had an old single eiderdown to put on top as well. A good set of thick curtains helped as well. What a difference from the luxurious cabs which seem to be the norm now.
The last time I did a night out was with the agency I used to drive for occasionally, doing a fairly regular Friday afternoon run for Turner’s of Soham going from the Bristol area delivering mushrooms around the home counties and overnighting in their yard at Soham, before bringing a load of fruit and veg back to Sainsbury’s RDC in Bristol, I had a Scania sleeper unit which I would have killed for back in the 70’s instead of my crappy Mastiff.
Talking of Primus stoves, I remember one of the welsh boys who used to park up on one of my regular parking spots at Richmond (Surrey) called Tommy Carter who drove for Rest Assured beds from the valleys who set fire to the cab of his Bedford TK when the headlining caught fire when he left the stove lit when he took the kettle off.
I often wonder if any of the regulars from the valleys on the Christy-Tyler furniture wagons etc who used to park there are still around.
Les.