• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

My days as a driver

S

Stitcher

Guest
vvvv.jpegThis is a photo of the mine refered to in this post.
I remember delivering to every coal mine in England and Wales over the years. I had a smallish lorry one day and found a man and his family broken down. I was going past their house and towed them home. Because I would not accept anything for the favour they told me to always knock their door when I was in the area. He worked at the CWM Colliery and I once had to deliver a very large rubber belt to the Pit-Head Stores. It was late in the day and the storeman said I would have to unload it myself, then he smiled. I undid the chains and reveresd slowly then stood on the brakes. The belt which was wound tightly on a wooden spool started to roll towards the end of the lorry. It was an eight wheeler with a bit of an overhang and when the belt got just past the rear axle , the weight of it tipped the lorry up. I went twenty feet into the air and the belt shot acros the stores yard. then the front of the lorry came down so hard that both mirrors and screen wipers broke off. I was very shook up by the impact but I laughed at what had happened. When I got back to the little office the man could see the lorry was empty and signed the paperwork. I never heard a word about it from that day to this. I went to previously mentioned mans house and they gave me a meal and a cup of tea, he later told me that the stores staff had to cut the belt to required lengths and roll them up as best they could.
Image (2).jpg---Image (6).jpg---kjh.jpeg---nnnn.jpeg
I also made regular deliveries to the pits in or near these S.Wales villages. Ynyshir 1965, Tonypandy 1960, Tonypandy again, 1955 and another view of Ynyshir 1965.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lovely story stitcher my hubby drove lorries early 70's and some stories make my hair curl.:D
 
Wendy, most people do not believe the things I say but I can assure you they are true. When I worked on the door at The Tower Ballroom, I dragged a man down from one of the palm trees around the dancefloor. It turned out he was a well known man who used to star in a beer advert on telly.
 
Stitcher, I liked your story and those people were very hospitable towards you, well you had done them a favour after all. My uncle used to drive a large van and made deliveries of toys etc around the countryside. If I was on holiday from school he would take me with him - I enjoyed the outing and also his sandwiches which my aunt had prepared for his lunch! Anthea:)
 
Yes Anthea, I know what you mean because I used to take my son with me as soon as he could use the toilet alone I have a few pics of him with some of the waggons i drove.
 
Stitcher said:
Wendy, most people do not believe the things I say but I can assure you they are true. When I worked on the door at The Tower Ballroom, I dragged a man down from one of the palm trees around the dancefloor. It turned out he was a well known man who used to star in a beer advert on telly.
Click to expand...
Used to do the weekend run from the Tower on either the inner circle or the outer circle routes. Used to be Sandwell coaches before they were bought out by Stockland coaches. Charged 2/6d per ticket. O happy days.
 
Brilliant story, Stitcher - made me think of this - wasn't you by any chance??

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fy0CJWadJk"]YouTube - Unloading a Big Excavator[/ame]
 
Trevor, glad you started this thread, your tales of your days on the lorries are fascinating. Have you got any photos of the many lorries you drove over the years. When I was a kid, the folks next door ran a snack van on a layby on the A36 about 3 miles outside Bath. Six blokes could sit inside it but many took their stuff back to the lorry. I would spend many happy hours especially in the school holidays sat in there listening to the drivers. I got to know their lorries well. Tate & Lyle ran in twos with AEC Mammoth Major canvas backed 8 leggers, Fina Petrol with Leyland Octopus tankers and British Road Services with allsorts but mainly Bedfords. There was the oldest Scammell artic tanker I had ever seen that had a wooden cab, down the tank was a giant word Formaldehide. That one used to come from a glue works in Bristol and smelt awfull. Then there was lorries from a firm called Pitters that were Commer 2 strokes. You could hear em coming a mile off. Cleveland Petrol came in with short Maudsley tankers whist the Shell boys had Leyland Comet artics. There were so many more, too many to list. Looking back at the food available then it was very simple compared to today, nothing cooked, only cheese or ham rolls, pork pies, jam doughnuts and lardy cakes (dripping cakes in Brum), tea, coffee, milk or squash - oh and Smiths Crisps. I got my taste for Flag Sauce on the leftover pork pies. I had a ABC of British Road Services book so I knew from the code on the cab doors which depot the lorry came from. Later on when I tried a bit of lorry driving with a Ford Thames Trader I found I liked buses better (as you know). Keep them stories coming.
Mike
 
My husband worked at Distillers in Colehill. This is a photo of me in the cab in 1972. I would go with him on a day out on my day off. The vehicle was an AEC Mandator. He later worked in the Oil Industry. I will sort out the other photo's I have of various lorries.
 
Wendy said:
My husband worked at Distillers in Colehill. This is a photo of me in the cab in 1972. I would go with him on a day out on my day off. The vehicle was an AEC Mandator. He later worked in the Oil Industry. I will sort out the other photo's I have of various lorries.
Click to expand...
I used to work for a Bedford garage in Station rd Coleshill and repaired Distillers vehicles, early 1971, before returning to work for Shell Kingsbury.
I remember taking one of Distillers AEC tractor/trailers for mot at Garrison lane. As i crossed over the duel carrigeway on the Coleshill road the gearbox failed and i had to be towed back to the garage.:D I,m sure i did not see you in the cab Wendy because if i had i would have remembered.
 
Blimey Wendy, I bet he was happy having you for a mate. Although it was always hard work and the lorries were knackers compared to todays luxurious vehicles, it was an ineresting and I found rewarding job. The job satisfaction was good as well. In my years on the road I met many people and all but a small handful were very nice.
 
You are both kind but it was a long time ago.:beam: Michael tells me that Distillers was a cream job not really hard work and the vehicles were very good compared to some he drove before. They were even allowed in the 'Tap Room' at the breweries. The worst wind up for me was when he was delivering to Ansells and set it up for a cab search. I was frozen to the spot when these two uniform men got in the cab. I looked up an there on the gantry were a crowd of guys laughing. I still wonder why I married him!:D
 
I remember in the early sixties going out to a breakdown at Whitbreads brewery. A senior mechanic and two apprentices (i was one of the apprentices) had to change a back road spring on one of the dray wagons. After we had finished, the Whitbread staff pointed us in the direction of a stand pipe in the middle of this large building and told us to help ourselves. Of course we all did and could hardly walk after, how the senior mechanic was able to drive us back to work i will never know.
 
2.jpgWhen I was a driver for a Scottish Co. with a yard in Tysely, I was sent to S.Wales with a load of timber on a Flat-bed six wheeler. For some reason I went over the Malverns and through Ledbury. I was in 'doze mode' as I went along Ledbury Hight St. and the load hit one of the overhanging buildings and slid off the back of the lorry. That caused quite a lot of trouble because the shortest diversion was quite a long one.
I have downloaded the picture from Google, I doubt it is the building involved but it will give those who do not know Ledbury a clue as to what I have said. The overhang was obviously on my left when the incident happened.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Michael worked for a short time delivering tyres. He picked up a loaded truck from Dunlop for delivery at London Docks. While traveling along the motorway the load started to slip pavement side. He stopped on the services, a container driver tried to straighten it up by backing up to the side and pushing the load, Michael tightened the ropes, it seemed OK so off he went. You guessed it it soon started to move again. By the time he got to London he was having to drive around lamp posts and avoid pedestrians. He was lucky not to get stopped. When he reached the docks he just loosened the ropes and the lot came crashing down. He said the reason was the tyres were for export and were wrapped in paper so they did not hold like rubber..........he didn't stay with the company long!:D
 
Nice story Wendy, I loaded at Dunlops a few times and I remember one time a man who was helping to throw the tyres well, not throw, they used to rolll them along the lorry towards the driver who then had to stack them. This man asked me where I was going and I told him "three drops around the Blackpool area". He said quietly, "if you are interested I will put ten extra tyres on and give an address in Preston where a man will buy them." I did not do it but as I went onto the weigh bridge to come out of Dunlops I was sent to another deck where the load was removed and checked. They could not believe the count was correct and expected me to re-load my lorry. I refused and eventually they put a gang to work doing it for me. I always looked for the man who I think tried to set me up but I never saw him again.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yes Stitcher, I know a lot of dodgy things went on but it wasn't worth getting involved. Michael had a lot of problems when he was in the oil industry with fuel theft. He knew all the tricks as he had seen it when he was a driver, he often gave drivers a second chance if caught but that was all. He once caught a driver at the back of his tanker with two full buckets of diesel (he owned a diesel Land Rover). He told me he could hardly keep his face straight, he told him if he saw it again he would be fired!
I bet the guy who tried to stitch you got caught eventually!
 
This again is a true story. I was delivering four large tyers to Dumfries depot when I was on Road Services Caledonian. Before the M6 was open we had to go over Shap on the A 6. I had a bite to eat and a mug of tea in The Jungle Cafe and set out on the last part of the journey. I was driving an eight wheeler rigid. As I went down the north side of Shap I was confronted with a slow lorry going south, passing a caravan that was on one wheel and a jack. I was in the wrong because in those days the lorry going uphill always assumed precedence. I could not stop so I put the nearside onto the grass. Just my luck, there was a ditch that took the rainwater from the road and this ditch ripped the two front axles off. The lorry almost turned over and the ropes broke letting these four tyres run loose. They went bounding across the fields rolling and bouncing through, and over dry-stone walls. I was taken into Dumfries Depot on a suspended tow using a massive break-down truck. I filled a report out and they sent me home with a different lorry and that was the last I heard about it.
 
I was, as far as I know the only lorry driver in my family. I now have a grandson who is following in my footstaeps. He drives an eight wheeler and trailer delivering and collecting industrial size skips. He travels as far as Scotland and Wales taking empty skips and bringing full ones back for re-cycling. The workload at the yard is dropping month by month and I am afraid he is going to lose his job because if production stops, so does the scrap.
I am surprised there are not more lorry drivers contributing to this thread because I always found the job interesting and enjoyable, the money was'nt bad and the vast majority of drivers in my time on the road were nice genuine honest men.
 
Stitcher! I was a Class I artic driver 1976-1996 working mostly on security vehicles in the 1980's. As a smartarse in the driving world (can i use that word? :biggrin:) I graduated to become an HGV instructor from 1990 onwards:)
 
Richie, I was out of it by the 90s. I still have a great deal of respect for well mannered truckers although some of them these days are not so mindful of other road users. The weather this last week bought back to me how we used to sit dithering in the Jungle Cafe half way up Shap on the old A6. I have been over there when we were only allowed to go at timed intervals as it were. If the one in front got stuck we had to wait until he got going again. I was taken over the summit one day by a snow plough. I say taken because the instructions were that I kept the lorry in gear and running but I was not to push the plough. It was rather difficult really and from then on, in bad weather I went up the A1 and across Brough back to the A6. That way cut out the long climb do you see. As I said before, I enjoyed all my miles on the road.

jungle_big_2.jpg---jungle_1024_752.jpg
These two photos show The Jungle where I have breakfasted or supperd many times.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I remember a transport cafe 50s and early 60s on the shap we had a few good meals as kids in there on the way to Glasgow as nippers my sister and I used to be plonked in a sidecar my mom and dad on a nold motorbike cant remember an Ariel I think? it was but we used the old road many a time before the motorways I remember also it took ages and ages to get there the bike usually broke down my dad used to fix it by the side of the road one time he had the clutch plates apart while we were in that cafe at the shap all these little bits of cork in oil and him cutting up bits with a pair of scissors and putting it back together Happy Days:)De Ja Vu may have told this before ? sorry:)
 
I dont know how good your memory is otherhalf but the cafe on the South-side near the start of the big climb was The Jungle, on the left going north. The cafe at the top, literally sitting on the summit was two converted single decker buses or coaches. They had been kitted out very well and were comfortable. Happy times eh.
winter-shap-fell.jpg---mobile_transport_cafe_shap_circa_1957.jpg---eagles_nest_shap.jpgThe first of these three shows the conditions on Shap during the winter, the second one shows the difficulty in finding a parking space when the weather was bad and the third shows the two old coaches fixed back to back which served as The Eagles Nest cafe.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi ya sticher i,ve put my three penny worth on here before now i was a heavy goods driver till last day of June 1999,had some grt time,s
i had a sleeper some could pic and choose where i stopped even been stuck out hours at oldbury, nine time out of ten i would stay at a truck stop,as the old song goes i,ve been every where man.
my Dad was a lorry driver worked for pickford brs even triumph motorcycles meriden,traveled the country it was a family concern when we were young,
out in all weathers picking the RAF boys and soldiers up going or coming back off leave fantastic times as you know way back then.
So it was in the blood and had some good bad and indifferent times
i don,t know if i,d want to be out there now,but i still do travel when i can afford to weather and funds permitting,i like my caravaning,and i know what a lot of people think of them but i have the vehicle to do the job and i,d like to think i know what i,m doing. happy days regards Derek.
( PS my last lorry and one of my Dads)
 
Derek, its great to talk to someone who knows all about it. I have done more miles in reverese on London docks than some of todays supposed motorists have done in forward. Ha Ha.
 
hi stitch,Liverpool, middlesborough,hull,immingham,grimsby,felixstowe,folkstone,Southampton,and i think that's about it it was after the waiting about that then put the mockers on it,you could be there for a couple of days that,s when freight forwarding companies started to do the do,when you could go to container base and coleshill and on the edge of London the last company was a steel company we did nickle and alloy fixtures for under sea pipeline all over the world,plus sheet steel bar and you name it. Derek
 
Otherhalf, I don suppose you can remember which cafe you stopped at on Shap.
The first one was the jungle, next one was on the summit and was known by two names over the years, Redwings or The Eagles Nest. The third picture is a bad day at the Redwings. And last is a looking out across Shap Fell and over the M6 which goes through the valley instead of over the top
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top