hiya ,
remember bray’s liverpool rd islington , i used to stay in private digs just round the corner was in the area the time it went up in flames some lucky escapes i believe but as was said the beds never got cold a lot of suttons lads used it after the fire it never re-opened and stood derelict for years .
thanks harry long retired.
peterm:
Anyone remember the ranch farm on the A5 near Dunstable ?
My worst one was opposite West Brom’ Albion football ground. Told the queer bloke, I had to be up at 4.00am, and there he was sitting on me bed patting me leg at 4.00. I’ve never got up so quick in me life.
OMG, you must be a heavy sleeper, YOU DON’T REMEMBER WHAT HE WAS DOING BETWEEN 0300 AND 0400? For a small fee I won’t tell anyone. That guy had a smile on his face for a week. 
Smee:
Does anyone remember the Kernel on the A34 between Walsall and Cannock, mind you its been closed years…
I certainly do with the night club round the back 
from my Trade Plating days circa 1995.
Also:
The Hollies A5 Cannock (still going)
Luton truckstop.
The Rookery (what a dump).
Jacks Hill Cafe Towcester (still going)
Pub near the lorry park in Southampton (think both long since gone)
and did Truck World at Thurrock have rooms? Think i once stayed there.
Where was the Rookery? Somewhere just north of South Mimms?
A guy who reminded me a bit of Mike Reid used to run it.
DieselDemon:
peterm:
Anyone remember the ranch farm on the A5 near Dunstable ?
My worst one was opposite West Brom’ Albion football ground. Told the queer bloke, I had to be up at 4.00am, and there he was sitting on me bed patting me leg at 4.00. I’ve never got up so quick in me life.OMG, you must be a heavy sleeper, YOU DON’T REMEMBER WHAT HE WAS DOING BETWEEN 0300 AND 0400? For a small fee I won’t tell anyone. That guy had a smile on his face for a week.
And there was me thinking it was me seat that was uncomfortable. 
peterm:
DieselDemon:
peterm:
Anyone remember the ranch farm on the A5 near Dunstable ?
My worst one was opposite West Brom’ Albion football ground. Told the queer bloke, I had to be up at 4.00am, and there he was sitting on me bed patting me leg at 4.00. I’ve never got up so quick in me life.OMG, you must be a heavy sleeper, YOU DON’T REMEMBER WHAT HE WAS DOING BETWEEN 0300 AND 0400? For a small fee I won’t tell anyone. That guy had a smile on his face for a week.
And there was me thinking it was me seat that was uncomfortable.
I’m glad it was your leg he was patting and not mine, it must be a nightmare sitting on a rubber ring for a week.
You’re a good sport Buddy, Regards,DD
1975 thru 1981 Blackpool on a monday, 260 central drive (now a private house) , great memories ,time with drivers from Myers beds and spicers of cambridge ,welchs transport , huntingdon plastics ,Alexon , UDS Taloring of leeds and pegler hattersley from doncaster , Osma wavinflow from durham etc
No1 club then across the rd to the Tangerine club .
Thursdays in the woodlands A1 digs in Micklefield , Miners welfare club just down the rd. drivers from hales -trent cake and redlands transport from cerney.
Long gone but not forgotten own account operator "Supra automotive " the canary yellow lorries !!
I answered a bit earlier, but now we are into the nitty gritty and naming names. The A63 out of Hull towards Goole had a few places. Wembley Cafe at Newport, Normans Cafe and Swifts Cafe at Belby. I don’t remember Mayphil having bedrooms but there were a couple of digs on Fourth Avenue in Goole near LEP Transport and on Colonels Walk off Pasture Road, someone may have an old Headlight magazine they can scan.
Wembley became Ken Mathews Haulage Yard and Swifts was used by RCT Caravan Transport. Normans became a fitness and night club and is now used as overspill car parking for the Press Association in Howden Town Centre.
Two or three spring to mind,my first ever night out the noak on the a13 nr purfleet,the four oaks dagenham the late starters were parked at the back the earlys at the front[no chance to change your mind]and bills transport house opp walton st lorry park hull.
regards dave.
I am not old, but sometimes I had to do some long runs on sprinters…
I HATE it. Either you’ll find some expensive ones, or some full of drunk builders…
Sometimes I just prefered to sleep in the van…
Early 70’s Brays in London only stayed there once the place was a bloody health hazard. It burnt down later sadly I think 8 drivers died in the fire. After that it was always Kittys in Caledonian Road in Islington untill the night of the paper bales incident. Back loaded with compressed paper bales for Warrington. Fast asleep in bed when I get shook awake by plod " Get up and get your keys driver your wagons on fire" some sod had tried to set fire to my load, the street full of blue flashing lights drop your trailer and pull your tractor out I got told which I promptly did. Then Londons Burning get to work ■■■■■ all my ropes, pull my sheets off and then they start breaking open the bales and carried on untill every bloody bale had been broke open. The street was a mountain of paper blowing about, why the fire bobbies cut the bales open beats me because no way would paper compressed so tight into bales held with wire would ever have caught fire. Took an army of council workers to clear it up. Then had to ring glass back Bill in the traffic office next moring to explain but thats another story. Never stayed at Kittys again after that thought it best I didn’t show my face around there again. The good old days eh!
Dave
I cant remember if it was a "digs " but i always reflect on Bobs cafe @ kidlington , the unwanted visitors always queuing, ie the cockroaches !! ,for food lol 
peterm:
Anyone remember the ranch farm on the A5 near Dunstable ?
My worst one was opposite West Brom’ Albion football ground. Told the queer bloke, I had to be up at 4.00am, and there he was sitting on me bed patting me leg at 4.00. I’ve never got up so quick in me life.
My ‘queer’ bloke was somewhere around Ashton under Lyme, an ex-Lancashire cricketer, possibly from the 50’s/60’s, as this was late 70’s! I’d had a good anesthetic, a gallon of the foaming ale as I was preparing for ‘cab hotel’, when he offered me a bed for the night! Wondered why all the blokes in the boozer were grinning Not a good nights kip as his ‘boyfriend’ was waiting at home for him when we rolled in. 
Had a not too bad a night out near West Brom FC! Tipping Willenhall, two ‘Baggies’ supporters, had a spare ticket, WBA vs Wolves, (I’m a Wolves fan). Wolves won 4-0 The buggers wouldn’t talk to me in the morning and never got tipped until 14:00 hours! 
I remember Briggs at Drighlington, used to have a big ad in Headlight, I just remember it as a very dark place, at least only 2 to a room Shared with a big, ■■■■■■■ quiet Irishman. Of course the Sunset, which at that time was the dog’s whatsits But when I think about it now it was only a piece of plasterboard between you and next door
There used to be a digs in Morpeth, right sod to get someone to open the door. Me and another bloke were preparing for ‘cab hotel’, ie. consuming vast quantities of ‘anesthetic’ when we gave her one last try. Good digs if you could get in. Mac’s in Kircaldy, ‘mince and tatties’ always seemed to be the staple diet at Mac’s, never got owt else for an evening meal.
The worst has to be some flea/bug infested place in Stretford Thursday night, sheets the same colour as my boots! 8 beds in the room with the width of your legs seperating them, the only things I took off that night were my boots, planted firmly under the bed head legs, and my jacket which I used as a pillow. I escaped the breakfast fortunately.
Unlike this next place, which seems to have dissappeared in the wake of the Kidderminster ring road thingy. Well I could find no trace of ‘The Bull’ PH when I was last there about 14 years ago. It is no great loss and at least I was in a dorm on my own, but my god it stank of a mixture of damp and cats ■■■■ I was lucky enough to dine on finest Chinky Takeaway in the evening before having a couple of pints of ‘anesthetic’ However, because I could not tip until 8am I thought I’d partake of breakfast. Well I had paid for it hadn’t I
There were just the two of us partaking of this repast, myself and the landlord! Sick bags at the ready What arrived on the very large plate was, how can I best describe it? 6 months supply of cholesterol in one hit There were two extremely large and extremely fat rashers of bacon, a sausage that should have been condemned, some tinned tomatoes, something black, which I can only assume was black pudding, a slice of fried bread that wasn’t exactly a crispy golden brown, more a a very dark brown soggy substance, and sat on top of this stodge were two fried eggs, one underdone, the other as hard as the plate! But the ‘piece de reluctance’ was what this mass of culinary delights was floating in. The nearest thing I’d ever seen was the stuff you drain out of an engines sump after 2 or 3 hundred K! Now I’d long since passed the fussy eater stage in my life, but Christ you have to draw the line somewhere. Even their dog wouldn’t eat it, but the old man opposite was wolfing his down If he’d eaten this every day then by rights he shouldn’t have made 70’ish I guessed. Cholesterol wasn’t a word bandied about in the 70’s but here it was in front of me I pushed it all around the plate for a while then made my excuses and left. The last I saw of that breakfast it was being shovelled onto the old man’s plate
Did anyone else ever stay there?
‘Crazytrucker’
dieseldog6:
The Chessnuts at Bodmin, then down to the jail club for the stripper, first time i’d seen one, I was only 16, back to the digs 18 to a room.
was one in Edinburgh we stayed at regular, when I was a mate on Banbury Buildings can’t remember the name though,
The Globe Hotel in Truro, used to stay there when delivering Winget Dumpers out of Gloucester,
Wish I still had my ‘Lorry Drivers Handbook’ they were all in there, anyone still got one?
I’ve still got one, a little pink book about the size of the old book type driving licence, my god there were some horrors in there. Glasgow used to be the Sally Army Hostel if I remember rightly. I seem to come across it everytime I move home, saw it last July so must be about somewhere. Even have a sort of updated type version, not digs as such but all the good cafes off the M/ways. Got that from Swindon Truckstop about 14 years ago and it seems it hasn’t improved any
‘Crazytrucker’
matt f:
when i was a kid i lived in my dads lorry during the holidays due to him being a widower and me living with my grand parents during school terms and as my father had one of the first sleeper cabs on the fleet a (harris road services a erf c40 reg no cca 846x ) so didnt really sleep in digs but used to when working for mars out of slough as the landlady used to look after me whilst my old man and a few others went to the pub !! used to get well looked after there and wasnt a issue my old man going out as mars used to give you a small bag of things and i used to get to eat all the spangles before the old man got a chance ! and always saved the topics until the next day . now thats brought back a few memories. sleeping in a tautliner when they were fairly rare and also my old man who regularly ran over a chip pan that he put outside after we had cooked chips in the cab !!! but wasnt to keen on hiding behind the drivers seat for hours at the likes of melton mowbray (pedigree petfoods at the time ) and remember my old man and a mate waiting outside a phone box waiting to ring for a load whilst a salesman/ rep was on there for ages after he said something like ■■■■ off they got a old rope and tied him in the phone box ! i often wonder how long he was stuck in there !!
Nice one
The good old days, tip, find a phone box with enough coppers to spit out the phone number so they could ring you back Till you get some dosy whatshisname who dithers and you have to part with silver 
‘Crazytrucker’
little enis:
Now I know a lot of you youngsters only know about sleeper cabs but it was not that long ago when long haul truckers had to find over night accommadation, one of the worst that I can remember staying at was Berts of Bagshot it was [zb] hole. One of the last times I stayed there I shared a room with 6 Irish Navies it was just terrible can any one remember [zb] holes that you have stayed in
Yes I remember, Berts Gone Mad as i remember it being called. I was in there every Mon /Thurs Night in the midd 70s i was on for Burtons
Biscits from Blackpool to Slough then.What memories ,The Hero pub over the road was ok.Then got a currie before going to bed.
Are all HGV drivers so old on here they can remember the dark old days!. There will be no one left to drive soon. We’ll all be retiring.
tortoise:
Are all HGV drivers so old on here they can remember the dark old days!.
The dark old days? Hardly, the dark days are now aren’t they?
No time hungry digi tachos, no vosa as such, no high viz vests, no mobile phones, no trucks full of electronics so you can’t fix 'em if they stop, no OTT H & S rules, gate house staff knew where every co. was for 10 miles around, no points & fines for drivers for things wrong with your employers equipment, etc. etc.
… and i only got involved with haulage in the late 80’s.
tortoise:
Are all HGV drivers so old on here they can remember the dark old days!.
If you have nothing to contribute why do you come on here and make snidy comments about those that do They may have been ‘the dark old days’, but there was a certain comradeship amongst fellow truckers, you were all more or less in the same boat, but at least you chatted to each other and would help each other out if you were in the brown and smelly None of this sod you jack I’m alright, draw the curtains and put on the telly, or is it fiddle with your dingle-dongles these days
Besides, these dark old days (getit ) you can hardly help anybody out what with 'me computers gone down and wont let me start it Oh Boo Hoo. Even back in those ‘dark old days’ there’d be somebody with a spanner, a piece of string, a rope or two and a bashing stick that would get you up and running, no sitting in an all singing all dancing air conditioned/centrally heated, microwave ovens, fridges, sat navs sending you to god knows where, and built in TV/Sat/DVD, waiting for the repair man You wanted air conditioning You opened the window a bit more, by hand You wanted a fridge You left your milk and perishibles on the top step or in that little ■■■■ and cranny that you’d find on most trailers. Entertainment Find the nearest boozer, and if it had a stripper under 40 you had a good night out Sat navs Pah Get a decent map
Thursday or sometimes Friday nights in Kates Cabin with all the Southern boys going South and the Northerners heading back oop North. Whole convoys charging through Huntingdon over that old bridge frightening all the children and old ladies
That’s enough nonesense for a Monday morning, got to get the dog fed and watered, then a bit of ball chasing, him not me, and may have a pint in the back garden this afternoon as the sun appears to be out.
Have a good day guys, won’t be thinking of you too much
‘Crazytrucker’
Driveroneuk:
tortoise:
Are all HGV drivers so old on here they can remember the dark old days!.The dark old days? Hardly, the dark days are now aren’t they?
No time hungry digi tachos, no vosa as such, no high viz vests, no mobile phones, no trucks full of electronics so you can’t fix 'em if they stop, no OTT H & S rules, gate house staff knew where every co. was for 10 miles around, no points & fines for drivers for things wrong with your employers equipment, etc. etc.… and i only got involved with haulage in the late 80’s.
Arrange these 3 words into a proper sentence
NAIL…Head…Hit
‘Crazytrucker’