Buchurest to Zeebrugge!!! after a week loading all over Rumo
Istanbul to Heerlen, new card 8hrs off-Zeebrugge…
Those were the days eh boys…
Oh I just remembered when I used to do Portugal, when I was on for Smithy,
( Eurotrans Rainham) Oporto - Dover, leave Friday night about 10.30 after I cleared with shoes,Sunday afternoon Ferry from Boulogne to Dover, clear and straight up to British Shoe at Leicester, to tip Monday morning, then back down to Rainham.
Some would not agree with all this but thats how it was then," got to get home to load and ship out!!!"
On a return trip from Baghdad,I was coming up through Yugoslavia to load in Italy.Rang home from Zagreb on Thursday to hear my wife had gone into hospital.Loaded in Udina Friday pm,ran to Verona to diesel up as I was running on fumes to find the station out of diesel!Diesel delivery 08.00 Saturday morning,up to the border,over the Brenner pass,through Austria,into Germany before the Saturday midnight ban,out of Germany before breakfast,caught the ferry at mid day.Got home to Stoke Sunday night!
reggio calabria load 18.00 friday. in yard 18.00 sunday night. in norwich
Did a couple of Milan to Erith and Erith to Madrid one hits a few times…nothing like Bucharest to ZB but still ■■■■ tiring!!
Did Huelva, southern Spain to Cambridge non stop but that was in a car so probably doesnt count!! 
Cleared and tipped in Zagreb on 21st Dec then ran through to the border with Italy at Gorizia for the night to reload Italy next day. 22nd Dec did 3 collections 1st Cividale, just to the east of Udine,2nd Treviso, 3rd Cittadella north of Padova then into Vicenza for the groupage. Got there about 2pm to be told that the rest of the load wasn’t in yet and that it would be a long wait (typical groupage) and that they were also putting some stuff on for delivery in Dartford that had to be there before 10am on the 24th of Dec or I would have to sit and wait there till after the xmas break. Originaly I was loading for the north west and they were for delivery after xmas so no real problem but the Dartford del through a spanner in the works, so it was back on the bay and card out until groupage was loaded. Finally loaded at midnight so took another 2 hours off to get my 9hrs rest in and left at 2am on the 23rd with another driver from south wales. Ran straight through and got to Dartford about 9.30am on the 24th tipped then back up north and home for xmas. 
Paul
Nice stuff guys, I knew that would get a few cobwebs out of the cupboard.
Alicante to Cherbourg every Friday night (bloody groupage) 
Was the way it was “trip money” and all that 
Oh and a few Murcia -Glasgows 
Oh and Manchester - Munchen - Manchester (twice in one week)
Oh and Warsaw - Hollyhead
and on 1 particularly busy xmas week Barcelona X 2
Perhaps it’s best that things changed
although maybe not so much fun 
Yes, include me in most of the above.
My longest “one-hitter” was Belgrade-Rainham (“urgent” groupage 
) I always wondered about “urgent” groupage, becasue by its nature, groupage isn’t normally urgent. Truly urgent stuff goes by courier doesn’t it?
Another regular one-hitter for me was Florence-Gatwick Airport with B-Cal air freight. I was a bit wiser by then and so I asked why it was “urgent.” Matey cargo handler told me that the plane for America leaves on a Tuesday, but he decided just what was going to be put on it. He told me never to worry about that, so that took away the “urgent” for me. Turns out that it was urgent for the Italian end of the job, because they believed that the whole lot was going on the same plane, IF it was at Gatwick on-time. They’d made daft promises to their customers, so Matey put them right, saying that it would go on a Tuseday, but he’d decide which Tuesday, and so it turned into a good job in the end.
Today’s guys will probably be in shock and horror, but MM is spot-on, it was just as he said with trip money. Today’s guys might judge us harshly- and it would be a fair comment if we did stuff like that today. To them I say with great respect: if you weren’t there at the time, please understand that things were VERY different back then.
I was lucky enough to get a “proper” salaried job as far back as the mid 80’s, so I count myself as very fortunate.
dieseldave:
Today’s guys will probably be in shock and horror, but MM is spot-on, it was just as he said with trip money. Today’s guys might judge us harshly- and it would be a fair comment if we did stuff like that today. To them I say with great respect: if you weren’t there at the time, please understand that things were VERY different back then.
Very true Dave and lest we forget to mention that the roads were a lot worse as well. Half the “motorways” that now exist didn’t back then 
Let alone the tunnels and bypasses
However it was a less insular and very sociable job also. So you could pretty much guarantee you weren’t the only one misbehaving and people made a point of running together Both in terms of helping each other out and keeping each other going
montana man:
Was the way it was “trip money” and all that
You`re not wrong there MM…trip money was a ■■■■■…do the job in 4 days or 4 weeks,the money stays the same, hence people rushing there then rushing back to get another trip in and earn more money.
The only people who benifited from that were the bosses, whilst the drivers are stressed to (zb), knackered, over tired and a danger behind the wheel, and thats just the ones who wernt on speed or whatever!!
It really did encourage you to break the law. Does it still go on nowadays?
bullitt:
It really did encourage you to break the law. Does it still go on nowadays?
It does mate but more common in some places ,“to be sure”
montana man:
bullitt:
It really did encourage you to break the law. Does it still go on nowadays?It does mate but more common in some places ,“to be sure”
…of course, nothing changes much there, “to be sure, to be sure”
montana man:
I can remember when parts of the Yugoslavian A1 was cobbled- YES a cobbled motorway ( '81 ish, No tolls though…)
I also remember a stretch of East German motorway just North of the Rudolphstein/Hirschberg border. (IIRC it was '84 ish and part of the E6) There was no chance of using high range for about 10 Km. The concrete slabs were so broken up and tilted alarmingly spewing gallons of water in all directions as you drove over them. That was allegedly a “motorway” as well.
montana man:
However it was a less insular and very sociable job also. So you could pretty much guarantee you weren’t the only one misbehaving and people made a point of running together
Yes MM, we helped each other cos we were all in the same boat. Many a time I’ve helped change a wheel, and many a time I’ve had the help myself. Remember when we used to flash the headlights and wave, just cos it was a Brit coming the other way? It didn’t matter whether you knew the guy or not. I wonder whether they still do that?? I spent several weekends, at different times, in Barcelona TIR park changing wheels, fuel filters and chaining mechanically sprung axles up because we didn’t have enough tyres to leave them on the ground. A tandem tri-axle trailer was a common sight back then, if you catch my drift They wouldn’t let us take them up Jubilee Way though… Something about Construction and Use Regs, so they said. We had a night permit though…
BTW, bullitt’s comment is also how I remember things. People did “do” certain things to stay awake. TBH, I never needed anything like that, it seemed quite natural to me. As for whether the spectre of trip money still exists, I’m afraid I haven’t a clue. Maybe it does, but who’d admit to it these days?
I’ve just noticed this is in the professional drivers’ forum.
I hope the Site Admins accept that our writings are purely historical and I’m not condoning this behaviour these days
BTW Admins, my posts on this topic are all subtitled “what not to do, cos we’ve learned our lesson” (Just in case… )
Yeah Deiseldave
I make you right, im not condoning it, and I wouldnt recommend it, but I just used to do it to get home, or to get a quick re-load as did most of us. If I had ever got nicked, I wouldnt have been to happy, especially if they had got me on Jubilee way!!!
Any way those days are long gone, as are the days of no speed limiter.
I dont think there was anywhere to fit a limiter on a 111 or a 141 do you…
I was young and the only thing I used to take was plenty of shots of coffee, some bad and some really bad. But it made an interesting thread though…
GS OVERLAND
I decline to answer on the grounds…etc
But Milan to Folkestone in emotional turmoil does spring to mind, and of course, Wyndham (WA) to Katherine (NT) with no emotion could qualify.
GS Overland…i worked for Smithy in Rainham…ferry lane…use to run to Pavia empty for the shoes…what a crack …got stranded one trip in italy…for 3 weeks
blown engine…another story for another day …got the sack when i got back after re-building the engine (his fault anyway)…got my revenge in the end…could see the flames for miles…pity he had no office left …another story for another day…
i used to do leeds to coventry then onto peterboro then to dover for the 2am ferry to calais then down to thann les voges in france , then reload mulhouse back to leeds in one hit in a van.
truckyboy:
GS Overland…i worked for Smithy in Rainham…ferry lane…use to run to Pavia empty for the shoes…what a crack …got stranded one trip in italy…for 3 weeks
blown engine…another story for another day …got the sack when i got back after re-building the engine (his fault anyway)…got my revenge in the end…could see the flames for miles…pity he had no office left …another story for another day…
Sounds like another fine story, emotional turmoil and all that…
Reminds me of an old saying: Manners maketh the man. My bit on the end: but windows keep him warm There certainly were some “characters” in Rainham… I remember changing a diff on a 111 in Yugo and being captured by the BAG in Germany for nearly a week until the boss got his act together. As you said, a different story…