Trucker’s quick thinking and resourcefulness called on after being stranded in Europe
When I started driving lorries in early February 1957, there were three types of drivers: night trunkers, day shunters and those that went tramping.
Those that went tramping usually were away from home for a week or so, sometimes more. When these chaps were making their way back to base, they would get to within shouting distance of the depot, park anywhere that was handy, and then hitchhike home, spend the evening and night with their family, then hitchhike back to the lorry next day to return to the yard. For some reason or other, which I will leave to the reader’s imagination, some of these nights at home were called “Dodgies”. As I was in digs at base, I didn’t ever bother with hitching lifts home, as one set of digs were as good as another.
Typical digs were ‘Durose’ at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Kempsey Café near Tewksbury, Mrs Carr’s at Manchester, The Sunset at Stafford, and Vera’s at Grimsby. The transport digs in Devon and Cornwall were like holiday bed and breakfasts, so it was no hardship to stay out.
Fast-forward to October 1969 and I was going quite a bit of continental work to northern France, Normandy, Brittany, Holland and Belgium. During this period, I had a weekly job taking fresh hanging beef and lambs from Scotland to Brussels’ wholesale meat market. If there was no load available to Scotland, I would run up there empty to load for Belgium on the Friday, for delivery in the early hours of Monday morning. Deliveries would usually take until midday, after which I would wash out the trailer and make my way back to Zeebrugge and park up.
Denne historien er fra January 2018-utgaven av Trucking.
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Denne historien er fra January 2018-utgaven av Trucking.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Economic Certainty
DAF’s HVO-sipping lightweight FTP chassis goes all-out for payload and fuel frugality.
Gold For J Mould
The life of the eight-wheeler can be harsh. Trucking went to hear how one Reading operator switched to Renault after a long and tough market-wide evaluation.
Step In The Right Direction
How switching to alternative liquid fuels can help operators put the brakes on HGV emissions.
Leading By Example
Flogas drives forward carbon reduction with new Bio-LNG powered truck duo.
Dearborn To Dagenham
Ford used to be a mainstay of the UK light/medium truck market – and in the 1930s offered three-tonners powered by the legendary Flathead V8.
Cost of traffic to UK business approaches £1bn
Cost of traffic to UK business approaches £1bn
Motward Marks Anniversary With Top-Spec Tribute Truck
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire based Motward has celebrated 40 years in business with the purchase of a new Volvo FH16-750 tractor unit, which has become a lasting tribute to the company’s much-loved boss, Jason Tolhurst.
The New Hotel Entrance
Slippery slope for this driver after his initiative is rewarded with a dose of the white stuff
Trucker Of The Year 2018
In association with Staveley Head, Trucking magazine needs your nominations as we look to crown the country’s best truck driver!
Cat-Astrophe!
Feline shenanigans with clandestine stowaway of the furry variety