Muckaway:
Why did they block up their windscreens with bunting?
They wouldn’t need much forward vision as nothing would be in front for long! 
Pete.
Here’s a couple of photo’s of a mishap when the new M74 was getting built a couple of years back.
My pal who was on an excavator at the time took the pictures.
The story goes that after the wrecker pulled it back onto it’s wheels the driver jumped back in and roared off raging that he had missed a couple of loads , seemingly there was hardly a mark on the motor not even a broken mirror and the chassis was ok cos the body was down , I think he just went a bit to close to the soft stuff at the edge as he was reversing back.
Funny way it goes when one goes over my mate had a foden over one day the load didn’t move an inch and she flopped. Seen one go as he pulled off the load and it was twisted to ■■■■. You never know.
Tipping muck with an alloy body rather than a normal steel one needs a bit more care.On Smiths they had 2 3000 series fitted with alloys as an experiment to see if they were better than lightweight steels. Trouble was, to protect them they’d been ply-lined which made stuff stick easily, and put up the tare weight so there wasn’t much difference in the end. The ply got taken out but left rivet heads slightly proud in the body. I had a load of muck one day that started to go one sided and nearly tipped me over. Luckily the rest moved, but had another load that moved evenly, but took half an hour to slide out.
Muckaway:
What did they do in the miners’ strike then? Can’t imagine it was no worse than other hauliers?
Why ■■? is it that people on the other side … only remember the firms running into Ravenscraig … what about the boys who were running into Port Talbot, LLanwern, Scunthorpe ■■? we were not all as they say scabs … we were doing our job… and putting food on the table for our familys… stelle is steel … coal is coal … most of the loads I did into Ravenscraig was Iron ore … NOT… coal…
does a driver called graham sill work here,old guy who wears a leather Volvo cap,sorry i do not no his second name ,Keith
I’ve was in transport for 50 years in and around Glasgow before I retired so I have been around the block a few times.
I never worked for Jimmy Yuill, I did, however, know a few of his drivers to talk to.
I dont know what they did elsewhere during the miners strike but one thing I do know is that they were vilified unjustly over those convoys from Hunterston to Ravenscraig.
During the miners strike, the coal was unloaded off the boat at Hunterston by members of the Iron & Steel union, when they got down to the bottom of the holds, what was left was shovelled up by dockers of the T & G.
The ore was used at Ravenscraig by members of the Iron and Steel unions.
Can anyone tell me why, if the ore was scab, why the drivers and Yuills were scabs, and the Hunterston cranemen, the Greenock dockers and the Ravenscraig workers were not?
I’ve waited years for that answer, so far, no one has given me the information.
It would appear that all are equal, but some are more equal than others!
Yuill & Dodds always did the overflow from Hunterston to Ravenscraig when the trains were full. It was their work.
Most of them were decent guys.
As for the speed of the convoys, well, as I hauled many an indivisible load, I can say truthfully that the first thing the escorting police would say was where 's your route sheet. The second was always (And I mean always!) was ‘How fast can you go?’.
They weren’t interested in going slow. My response was, I can go fast but it takes a while to stop. Usually they told me they weren’t planning on stopping!
So if they were going fast, so were the cops in front and behind.
No laws broken then.
Alex
midnightmerc:
after what they did during the miners strike, you won’t see many in fife, at least without the mesh over the windows, ■■■■■ scabs
b/s,never seen a y+d motor wi mesh on windows since the strike,what do they do then,stop just over the bridge and get the mesh and spanners oot,take it off again when they get to perth 
Fifers must have a queer notion of what a scab is!
In the winter of 74/75 the drivers of Glasgow Corporation went on strike after the corporation renaged on a deal (In a letter to the T & G signed by ■■■■ Dynes, a senior labour councillor) to pay the drivers parity with the haulage drivers who had been on strike earlier in the year.
As the rubbish piled up, the corporation hired Youngs of County Durham and David Heeps of Lochgelly, Fife, to move the rubbish.
I was based in the nearby Princes Dock and I saw the army loading them on waste ground in nearby Blackburn St.
In the yard I met our steward who was the chairman of the West of Scotland Road Haulage Committee. I took him up there in my car where he explained to them that no haulier in the West of Scotland would touch the loads.
They agreed to leave.
Meanwhile, I had my car inspected by the police, they couldn’t find anything wrong, I was threatened with a charge of obstruction if I didn’t move away.
They came back later with a bigger police ■■■■■■ and moved the stuff, the police wouldn’t let anyone near them.
Now Heeps and Youngs were scabs!
The NUM in Fife was aware of what Heeps had done. The NUM in the North East of England also knew and both areas continued to allow the firms access to the coalfields.
Fifers, and those in the North East would have cheek if they refused to load a Y & D wagon.
Alex, That’s all in the past now, Jimmy Yuill has built a great haulage firm over the years, Does it matter how he did it, OK His drivers are as hard as nails, But they are earning a living by working , They are not getting owt for nowt, I saw quite a lot of his motors at Inverness a couple of weeks ago, I as an owner driver didn’t stop working because of any strikes, And Im proud to say this because on Company I worked for before I became an owner driver had some right lazy R soles working there or should I say went there, But not to work for their wages but only to cause grief, & One of theh who was a union man Stated that he would put this Company out of business if they didn’t do what he wanted, Anyway he is long gone pushing up the daisies, I think he was related to A S. Regards Larry.
Larry.
I am not knocking Y & D, on the contrary, I’m putting up the other side of the story. They, in the past, were, on the whole, a good bunch of guys.
I also say that in every firm there are always those who rip the a*** out of the job. Nothing new there!
They, over the years, have been refered to as ‘Scabs’ because of the Hunterston/Ravenscraig job while others really did do the scabbing.
So who is the A S you refer to? If you want to PM me on that I’d be interested, as you know, my initials are A S.
I’m not related to any former or present union offical in transport.
Alex
alexsaville:
Larry.
I am not knocking Y & D, on the contrary, I’m putting up the other side of the story. They, in the past, were, on the whole, a good bunch of guys.
I also say that in every firm there are always those who rip the a*** out of the job. Nothing new there!
They, over the years, have been refered to as ‘Scabs’ because of the Hunterston/Ravenscraig job while others really did do the scabbing.
So who is the A S you refer to? If you want to PM me on that I’d be interested, as you know, my initials are A S.
I’m not related to any former or present union offical in transport.
Alex
It was the latter I was referring to, Regards Larry.
Lawrence Dunbar:
alexsaville:
Larry.
I am not knocking Y & D, on the contrary, I’m putting up the other side of the story. They, in the past, were, on the whole, a good bunch of guys.
I also say that in every firm there are always those who rip the a*** out of the job. Nothing new there!
They, over the years, have been refered to as ‘Scabs’ because of the Hunterston/Ravenscraig job while others really did do the scabbing.
So who is the A S you refer to? If you want to PM me on that I’d be interested, as you know, my initials are A S.
I’m not related to any former or present union offical in transport.
AlexIt was the latter I was referring to, Regards Larry.
And defo ArScar. Regards Larry.
Larry
Penny dropped finally!
Take Care
Alex
Y & D own workshop I presume!
