18: You Can't Beat a GDK

0:01Hello and welcome to Matt's Truck and Gret podcast. So tonight it's Matt with my mate Alex Broadley. Now Alex is a new member of the team as such. He's a familiar face to many people I dare say, but we're just going to introduce him and have a little natter anyway. So good evening Alex, how are you doing? Hi Matt, I'm doing okay, thank you. How are you? Yeah, I'm alright mate. I'm not too bad, not too shabby. Yeah, good. Yeah, so are you parked up for the night somewhere? I am. I'm parked at Birch Services tonight. You know, not the best of places, but it will do. It fills a gap, doesn't it? Needs must.

0:31Well, I've got a gap anyway. Yeah, needs must. It could be worse. I'm sure you could be at Cambridge Services. Yeah, yeah. Well, I quite like Cambridge Services, you know. I parked down on the coach bay there and it's all right. Yeah, you don't get any hassle being in the coach bay. No, no. You know where the old lorry parking used to be? Yeah. That's coaches now, isn't it, or summer? I don't. Yeah, yeah, but they've got that all new bit on the other side where you go in and it's always pretty full. Yeah. I just go straight down to the old bit and it's still parked down there. Oh, fair enough.

0:58Well, that'll do. But it's also got a GDK, German Donnerkebab shop now. So, that's the main reason you like going there. Yeah, yeah, German Donnerkebab, yeah. After a hard day's work, Donnerkebab. Yeah, there always used to be a kebab van just the other side of the main interchange at Cambridge where the Tesco's is and the name is Escapement. Bar Hill. Bar Hill, yeah. Bar Hill kebab van. Yeah, Bar Hill used to be a good stop, yeah. Yeah, but I don't think you can park down there anymore. I think they've stopped it, I believe. It's been years. I used to stop there years ago on my way to Dover on a Sunday.

1:34And I'd go into Tesco's, get a few bits and stuff, you know, before Cambridge Services was built, you know. There was a bit of a gap between Cambridge Services and Alkenbury shutting, weren't there, you know. Yeah. I always used to go down to Bar Hill. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, because we were talking about Alkenbury recently, weren't we? And that was a really good stop. I always used to enjoy going in there when it's a BP truck stop. Do you know what? For Leeds, it's a good halfway stage, do you know? Because when I first started at Longs of Leeds, first started driving, you know, we used to load out of Silvertown, TDG at Silvertown, flat-packed furniture for Argos.

2:11And we used to load out of Tilbury with reels, Felix those with reels. And all three places to Alcombeau was an hour and 45 minutes. Yeah. so you could meet be on the phone to your mates oh yeah i'm just leaving now like yeah i'll see it could be felixstowe you could be silvertown tilby whatever and you'd meet at the same time yeah perfect absolutely perfect it's a great halfway stop for leeds like yeah for the port and stuff brilliant yeah fantastic so to just sort of take us right back how did you get into into truck driving was it there's a there's a family connection there isn't there i believe yeah my dad my dad's always been my hero for driving trucks like you know i mean he's it was into European in the 70s and I went with him and it was just there was no doubt about anything that I was going to drive trucks fair enough and I really wanted to be a European truck driver like my dad you know and and I've done it I always turn around and say Matt you know like that uh I've got my t-shirts I've got more than some and less than others do you know what I mean yeah other people might have better quality t-shirts but I'm happy with what I've got so so what did you do when you left school obviously you couldn't go straight in the truck driving so what did you do when you left school um i did an apprenticeship in a steelworks as a plate of welder yeah did it for six years and that and then do you enjoy it yeah i did but just not what you want to do no not really i do not i would have stayed but they shut the factory down you know i honestly i would have stayed but um they shut the factory down in 94 95 95 they shut down all seven big engineering factories in south leeds all with big lights right so i ended up going down to Southampton working in the shipyards down there which I know that I did love loved working in the shipyards living in Southampton bought a flat down there and stuff that was that was really good yeah but again that's all gone now they shut all that down as well yeah yeah I worked in the dry dock in Southampton yeah yeah so what sort of age were you then sort of early to mid-20s yeah I were yeah yeah I left I left school in 88 no I moved up to Leeds in 88 So I left in 89.

4:17I worked at Clayton's and still worked until October 94. No, December 94. Then I went down to Southampton, middle of 95, came back in 99. Yeah, fair enough. Is that when you actually took the plunge and did your licence? It is, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I bought a flat down there, made a few quid on it, and I thought to myself, right, it's now or never. Yeah. And, yeah, I did it. I got through it all right, you know. I failed in class two once, second time. I did it in Wakefield. People know it. And the bloke there was really good. If you failed it the first time, the second time he took you out, he'd only test you on what he failed on last time.

5:03Oh, right. He wouldn't test you on everything else again because he knows you can do it. He wouldn't be too critical on that. So I got through the second time. The first time he actually took me around to school at three o 'clock at kicking out time. Brilliant. So, yeah, cars double parked, people all over the place. And, you know, it was one of those situations that he said I was too hesitant, but you were never going to win. No, you're not. No. You were never going to win. No. Yeah, just one of them, isn't it? On me, class one, I thought I'd failed it before I even got out of the test centre, got down the road, and I said to him, I said, look, can we just go back?

5:41And there was a woman at the examiner this time. She said, well, what do you want to go back for? I says, listen, I've now failed. It's really hit me confidence, you know, and I just want to go back, to be honest. She goes, right, listen to me. She says, get your head back in gear. She says, you haven't failed. I've marked you down. Yeah. Right? But you haven't failed, and so far you're doing okay. Right. Get your head back in the right place. Yeah. And let's carry on and see how you do. And then I passed it first time. Oh, nice one. Yeah. I think usually, like, if you think you've failed your test, you kind of relax a bit and into it and it makes it a bit easier and then when you've if you part i've spoken to several people who've had that um i've i've had it myself as well i thought i'd failed and um you know just sort of oh never mind we'll just carry on driving might as well enjoy it whilst i'm here you know so yeah yeah exactly get most of it yeah yeah exactly because when i did my that was with my bus test i actually went up a curb just coming to a junk coming and i was driver trainer at the time although i'd only driven the bus for about a day and a half if that i think so just coming to a junction i've done dozens and dozens of times in the truck because the bus you're sitting in front of that axle it turns slightly differently as i went around the curb from up up it went i just thought oh god no no no so anyway i just thought so you know so anyway we carried on i didn't even get a minor he when we when we finished he said well i think you know you've passed i was thinking well i don't he said yeah you just you just went in that in that junction a bit quick didn't you so it's like well yeah and that was it yeah pass so that was 50 quid well spent wasn't it well i wish it was 50 quid yeah yeah throw an envelope so anyway we digress so once you once you passed your test where did you do you find work straight away or was it a bit of a job uh no i went to longs and leaves yeah i thought to myself do you I've always had this attitude when I've been looking for jobs and stuff.

7:35Just go and see them. Go and see them. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I went up there, and I can remember I went up there, and I said to a lady, I said, look, I'm looking for a job. I've passed me tests, whatever. And she says, all right, okay. She says, can you fill a form out? I says, yeah, if you don't mind, I'll sit here and do it. So anyway, I filled this form out, and this guy came out. He was walking past. He went, yeah, all right. I went, yeah, good, thank you. Are you? Just being polite. and he went yeah not bad thanks anyway went in to his office whatever to the offices and i was halfway home and the phone rang and it was actually chris long who i'd seen yeah and he says ah do you want to come back for an interview and that i says yeah yeah he says why do you want to work here i says well it's the most well-known uh fleet firm in in yorkshire like you know i says might as well start at the top and work down i know so like um yeah he gave me the job yeah it was a bit uh do you know what right um it was a great learning curve was long as the leads but i was never fully into it it wouldn't put me in the arctics because i'm gonna i'm gonna hold my hands up right that i can't drive ridges i keep crashing them into things right things get in the way you know reversing yeah that's it they do it's a pain i can't drive ridges even like people say drivers i said no that's not for me that sit me in an arctic i'm absolutely fine rigid i'm absolutely no good but then he wouldn't put me on the arctics because i kept bumping the rigid do you know what i mean yeah yeah yeah so i left i went to work for my mate did a bit of work for him for about two or three months and then i went back to longs and he put me and put me in the arctics and it was great it was brilliant loved it i had a super space cab p reg one the old the old leyland daf super space yeah they were quite unusual quite unusual at the time there wasn't that many companies running super spaces on the on the with the Leyland Daft one 95 was there really yeah no they weren't no yeah I think he had about three or four of them he had an NREG one which was the first in the country I think it was N133 I don't even know why I know that mine was P142 PWT great chuck it was absolutely brilliant I think Philly Curtains in me CB in it Breaker Breaker 19 yeah yeah yeah loved it you know a hell of a cab though other country oh mate do you know I remember I sat in Perry Bridge with my mate Martin once and I says bloody airlines on this truck everything's the wrong way round do you know like at the back you know they keep crossing over and getting tangled up and he pointed to this FL10 he says he does nights out in that he's away all week in that and you're in a super space cab I went oh yeah I am actually yeah can handle a few cross airlines yeah yeah but do you know what mate people say oh I'd have that truck in an heartbeat and all that I actually would have that truck back in an heartbeat It used to go like hell Yeah Right Comfortable Spacious Yeah And do you know what right mate It didn't have all this electronic rubbish in it No no 16 speed ZF box was it Yeah Oh yeah Brilliant I loved it My favourite ever gearbox ZF Me too 4 over 4 for split Just wonderful I can still remember the gear changes now Yeah Starting off in like Second high I would always start second low normally Second low Second low to fourth low Yeah Then I'd probably jump up to fifth high Or fifth low Yeah Depending on the weight Fifth low six high and then I'd use all the gears after that.

10:54Do you know? Yeah. And just that iconic sound, that changing gears. Oh, just absolutely lovely. Yeah, I know. I loved that gearbox. Do you know? I absolutely loved it. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I think Longs have now been sold, haven't they? I think someone owns them. The thing is with the Longs family is they're all lovely people. Do you know? They're all nice people. But they've all featured in age. Do you know what I mean? and nobody was there to take it over. No, it was all handed down. Chris Long's granddad decided it all, handed it down to him. He had a lot of brothers. They all worked there.

11:28They've all got to an age now and they want to retire and they've got nobody to hand it over to. So it had to go, basically. Yeah, it's only to expect distribution. Right, yeah, which is a shame, but that's just – it happens with so many different companies, you know, all over the place, you know. Yeah, people don't want it, do they? People don't want the asshole and stuff, you know. I can't say I blame him most of the time, to be fair. I mean, X-Bects are saying that, from what I gather, that they're going to keep the name and all that sort of stuff. They'll only do it for so long. It's like Kalina with Stobarts, wasn't it?

12:00Oh, yeah, yeah, we'll keep the Stobart name. No, you won't. No, you won't. Let's just be honest. That's it. That'll soon be gone. Evi Cargo, Dalton's all the same, isn't they? That's it, mate. That's it. So it's just, I love the phrase, it's the mosaic of transport and how it evolves and adapts. So that's just, yeah, it's sadly the way it goes. So what happened after Long's then? Obviously, you know, you must have... Oh, God, it was awful. Yeah. You know what, mate? So one minute, right? I'm in this super space cab, right? Everybody else is in FL10s and PCAB Scaniers. I'm king of the road, isn't I?

12:33You know, I've got my frilly curtains. It's all going on, isn't it? You know, it's all going on. Yeah. All right. And then I get married, all right? So I get married in the end of September. Coming up to November, she says to me, she says i'm not working at this is it that's what do you mean you know like you being away all the time and i did marry somebody to be working away all the time i thought well i was working away when you met me you know i mean i was working at longs end you know yeah yeah so my dad was at freightliner in in sturton and a container base and they were actually on it was on more money than what i was being at home on a night right right yeah yeah in more regular hours and everything like that than what i was getting so that was it i was sort of press ganged out of out of longs of leads into freightliner and it was just uh mate yeah i lost my super space cab to a flat top fm12 i mean i suppose if you're doing day work it doesn't really matter as such but even still yeah i know but i just wanted to be king of the road still do you know i mean i just made it in my life you know i've always wanted to be a lorry driver long-distance lorry driver and i was like yeah this is it now this is what this is me you know and then suddenly bang no you're not that's it that was that gone yeah so what was the what was the fm was that 12 speed manual was that yeah yeah yeah yeah but then i went from being all over up to scotland down to london to just doing containers around leeds and bradford and it was just you know like six to four and i was just like all right yeah it's just like a factory job essentially isn't it yeah well yeah but the bonus of it was literally two minutes from me house as well you know so it just i managed it for about 18 months tried something else went back tried something else went back because it was always just i went back to it because it was just a good job do you know what i mean yeah but when i was there you know i was only in my early 30s at this point and people said oh you've got a job for life here do you know it's because in them days as well freightliner was just coming out of that part of british rail system so you had all the pensions yeah all the the bonuses and you've got this you've got that you know and this is when you retire you'll get all this i said bloody i'm 33 you know i mean 32 something like that ain't bloody do you know what i'm 65 yeah too right you know paul rowlands had exactly the same thing when he he was working for the government in the tax office i think it was in ipswich yeah but he always wanted to be so i always wanted to you know drive the trucks and what and when he when he finally sort of hand is noticing there was some old boy who's about 64 or something rather said to him you know look at look at what you're you know you've got a job for life and a pension and blah blah and paul sat there thinking looking at this guy thinking why would i listen to you and sit in this office for the rest of my life just to have a nice pension you know yeah i know exactly that yeah exactly yeah so after that what did i do then let's see uh uh god knows i did after of that, Matt, you know?

15:27Did you finally get some European work? Well, my dad finished on European, and he went to Freightliner. So he got me in there eventually. But I used to go with him when he was at Divany's, TW Divany's in Leeds. Yeah. So I was self-employed at the time, right? You know, when I was all on that one with the flatmate VAT scheme and all this sort of stuff going on. And I was looking for a bit of work, and I thought, do you know how I'll get my own customers looking for a bit of work? And I thought, I was in cross-screen, so I thought, I'll go down and see Steve and John. Straight away, they remembered who I was.

15:58They were thinking, yeah, come on in. Do you know what I mean? Come work here. I was like, all right. It would be the rate in that. Everything was good. Good rate. I was happy with it, you know? And I started there. And I was there on and off for four years. It was a really good job. I really enjoyed working for Steve and John. You know, I really did. And I think I'd been there a couple of weeks or something like that. And he gave me a... they used to do a job out of Muscron down on the Belgian French border down in Lille. Yeah. Right. And it was AdBlue. So, you know, when you go to the garage and you get your 10 litre AdBlue thing, they used to load it out of there and take it to Brentags around the country.

16:38Yeah. So, it gave me a job down to Giel in Belgium. It was all it was was one IBC. So, I took that down to Muscron, loaded the AdBlue, came back in, then I'd run back out empty, collect another load of AdBlue, bring that back in again, and then I'd go home. So that was my first job going out to Belgium for them. Good little job, that. Good little job. And then I went on to doing France, and eventually I went on to the Swiss run, the Switzerland stuff, which I love Switzerland. Loved doing that. Loved it. French stuff was good. I liked the French stuff. I liked, they used to do a run over to West France, and basically you'd ship out of Portsmouth.

17:23I hated that boat, Brittany Ferries. I hated it. Yeah, sharing a cabin all the time. Oh, mate, yeah. Food's crap, yeah. In the end, I'll be honest, I should stay in the truck. Yeah. I didn't bother going up. Yeah. I actually worked it out that if you get on early enough, you can get up to your cabin, have a shower, and back down into your truck before everybody else gets in. Do you know what I mean? So I used to do that. I used to stay in the truck. I couldn't be bothered. Yeah. sharing a cabin and all that you know yeah so um so we'd go out on a sunday they earn portsmouth or was it plymouth sometimes down to roscoff or portsmouth to khan then um work your way around western france and that ended up at les herbiers down in france zieglers reload out of there and then they wanted you to go back up to khan for wednesday's night boat but sometimes you know like i used to run back up to calais yeah right and they used to get right up with that they didn't want to pay the mileage and stuff like that but i just didn't want to share a cabin either so there we go yeah but then they'd send me into into portsmouth and then getting off the boat in portsmouth anybody will know it's an absolute nightmare it takes you hours to get out forever yeah but then they'd run you around to maidstone to do your first delivery i ain't doing that do you know i'm just going up to calais instead that makes much more sense really doesn't it yeah yeah but working like for steve and john was brilliant because I used to get back about Friday lunchtime and you just leave your truck outside.

18:50You go in and see them, there's my paperwork. They'd bring it in later on. They'd tip it. They'd load it. They'd strap it. So when you come in Sunday, all you do is jump in the truck and off you went. Off you went. Oh, bloody hell. It's not often you get officers like that, is it? No, no, no. John himself used to bring it in and tip it and all that sort of stuff, get it all tipped, get it all loaded again, ready for you to go out the following week. Brilliant job. Brilliant job. I loved working for them yeah because that's another name that's gone now isn't it Devanis yeah same again mate same again Steve and John got to that age and had enough wanted to retire no one no family wanted it no and that was that no they'd give it to and they inherited it off their dad when he passed away and stuff they always worked with their dad and when he passed away Terry and that then they took it on and they got to an age 60 I suppose something like that and just wanted to cut their losses and retire yeah did they just just sell the lot they didn't sell the business they just finished it shut it down shut it down yeah that's it yeah they had a bit of landing cross screen as well they used to rent out and that and i think they just got rid of all of it and that and just yeah off into the sunset yeah i mean don't get me wrong right the trailers just all they would have done was take them out to emr and dropped them off there yeah all right old scrappers but trucks all right and that you know yeah it was a great job was up volvos weren't they Yeah, Volvo's, yeah.

20:12Yeah, super job. So what happened after Devaney's then? Back to Freightliner? No, no. No? To be honest, I can't quite remember. Was it about that time I was trained to be an electrician? I think it might have been, actually. Yeah, yeah. I've been trained to be an electrician. I did that for about four or five years. Did you enjoy that? No. No? Keep constantly getting electric shocks. Do you know what, mate? I don't know if I can say this really, to be honest. We'll just say it without swearing. No, no, no, it's not. It was working in council houses, social housing. Yeah. And these people, right, they didn't go to work, right?

20:49And they were getting new kitchens, new bathrooms, new roofs, new windows, the whole house rewiring, the whole new plumbing, you know, radiators, boilers. And here's me having to go after and go to work. And I remember once, right, this woman having a go at me about something. I said, hold on a minute. Who are you to tell me? right i'm working here to pay for a new kitchen myself you're sat on your ass here getting it all for free yeah all right oh that was it i got in trouble for that right then another guy we had um they were so bloody they said ah they're so cheeky it's like had an extension so he says oh i've got this extension i've wired the sockets myself and all this i said all right yeah okay yeah i said listen mate we're not allowed to do your extension all right but what we'll do is we'll check it all over right and we'll wire it back in for you do you know what i mean and just we won't say anything to anyone do you know what i mean you just carry on having your extension and we'll we'll do what we've got to do but you know like it'll be fine we'll make sure it's all up and running before we leave oh great thanks well did any others back um i'm not happy with this socket here i'm gonna i want it moving all right okay so we've moved the socket from come back here you got to go to that bloke go back again oh well um you know this in the end i pulled him i said listen mate we've wired your extension up for you haven't we he says yeah yeah i said right i'm going to disconnect it because you're taking the piss yeah all right i said i'm going to disconnect your extension now i've had it out but you've pulled us back here three times so no everyone price work yeah right so we're going back for nothing yeah right and you know i said i've had enough of this mate you know i says i says you're taking the mick and that you you know, oh, no, no, no, don't worry about it, everything's okay, don't worry, everything's okay, I thought it would be, there we go, that's that sorted, yeah, but it was just moaning, you know, moaning, oh, I've just put this carpet down, you're not going to lift it up, are you?

22:37Well, yeah, I am, yeah, I'm going to lift it, I need to go and do your floorboards, yeah, oh, oh, I've just had this carpet, well, I'll pull it back down again, yeah, oh, mate, it was a nightmare, I hated it, and because we're on price work as well, we just got run into the ground yeah there was two of us and in the end the thing is with a councillor i know a trucking thing but they're all the same on the estate right they're all the same design right so once you view the first couple you know exactly where the joists are where to lift the where to flip the floorboard yeah where to chuck it in where you're gonna so you can get your time frame down the first one's going to take you two days by the time you're onto your fifth one you're going to knock them out in a day yeah right but you are running and we were topped up on pro plus on energy drinks anything else we even tried estrogen at one point we were on fire that day but everything just to keep going and just burnt out in the end just burnt out so is that actually less stress driving the truck then yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that was it i just went back driving trucks and that i went back to i go to then i went to wasn't it wasn't higgins um at that point was it?

23:43No, I worked at Panties at CLB when he only had eight trucks. I was on the glass, doing the glass work. That was about five months worth of work. What was that like then, doing that glass? Did you have one of them elephant trainers? Yeah, I did, yeah. It was alright, you know, it was pretty good. It was a bit dubious at first, I was thinking oh, how's this working, you've got to do this, you've got to do that. But yeah, it was okay, I got into it and I enjoyed it you know it was it was yeah it's do a lot of newton aborts and scotland bit of ireland stuff like that it was all right yeah but it just came to an end purely because of christmas you know and you know like nobody wants new windows at christmas and conservatories do they yeah so they don't they don't need all the glass so that was the end of that this episode of matt's truck and great podcast is proudly sponsored by creasy drainage if you're dealing with block drains flooding or drainage problems creasy drainage is a team to call they provide professional drainage services for homes and businesses including drain unblocking repairs septic tank emptying and cctv drainage surveys they're known for fast response times honest advice and getting the job done right the first time for reliable drainage services you can trust check out creasy drainage the details will be in the show notes Oh dear, I ended up working for our mate Shuttle Spanker, didn't I?

25:08Oh yeah, RMC Yeah, RMC, but most of us did not shop connect, didn't we? Most of us ended up there at some point Yeah, we're not talking about ready-mixed concrete either with RMC No, no, exactly, yeah Yeah, Rob Colliver, yeah Yeah, I saw him a while back, didn't speak to him but he was working for that firm down Stafford area they do tippers with Mercedes and that with the red stripes on and that Clarks yeah NS Clarks yeah NS Clarks I saw him come out of the scrap metal works yeah I've not seen or heard from him for well over a decade now I'd say been a long time no no I haven't I haven't no I haven't but I worked with Lug remember Lug don't we yeah Lawrence Bulldog Bulldog not Bulldog just in case people misheard yeah I do message dear old Lug now and again Yeah Yeah He's on a fridge down in Kent for Gotham's Oh is he?

26:10Yeah And then Disaster Darren Traps Still friends with him on Facebook And he's a good bloke We used to have a laugh meeting When we were in Canton Stuff like Because that's what we were doing With boxes out of Felix And that was a really good job Yeah Really good job We always used to wangle it So we started like midnight on a Friday morning so we could get back to the yard for about 10-ish and go home, you know, beat the traffic and that, you know, because basically the yard was in Milton Keynes, I was living in Leeds, not Milton Keynes, it was at Leicester, wasn't it, that was it, Leicester, I was living in Leeds and it used to drive spanky mad, it used to go ballistic, you know, you're not getting back too early, you know what I mean, so we've done those hours, we've done what we've been asked to do, you know what I mean?

26:49Yeah. We had our feet well under the table at Wincantons, it was a really good job that doing boxes out of Felix doing that you know they get like two Alconvisa doing a day or something like that you know it was great yeah especially if it was on a day rate as well all the bosses laughing aren't they so yeah yeah yeah definitely I mean perhaps at this point we should we should just put on as a bit of a tangent because we've mentioned Truppnet there a couple of times that's actually how we met isn't it yeah many moons ago I was thinking that you know it goes back to about 2006 you know 20 years yeah yeah it's crazy isn't it You don't think so, do you?

27:262006 was the year that I started the Trans Am. Was it? Yeah, so 20 years ago. And that was pretty much my first ever post on TruckNet, which is now long gone because it was part of Truck & Driver and that whole world. It wasn't originally, but, yeah, it just evolved over time. And there was some fantastic knowledge and people on there. There were some idiots as well, but you get that on every internet forum. but there's some absolutely brilliant, lovely people. And we even used to have a Christmas meet-up, didn't we? Yeah, we did. That's how we met, wasn't it? That's it. We first actually met face-to-face.

28:01It was at Trucker's Rest, wasn't it? A canic. Yeah, something down there. One of those pubs, wasn't it? Not Toby Carvey. Premier Inn. Premier Inn. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Longford Arms. Longford Arms, I think it was. Was it really? I can't remember. Yeah, yeah. I can't remember. Yeah, the Longford Arms, I think it was or something. Yeah. Yeah. Because it was Barry Tozer was the man behind it all, wasn't he? No. Barry Tozer. Ricky Checker. Ricky Checker. Yeah, Ricky and Lucy. Where did I get Barry from? Truckers World. Right, okay. Yeah. He's dead now. He's passed away, yeah. Yes, yeah. So, yeah, Lucy Radley and Ricky Checker were behind it.

28:38And, yeah. It was a great forum, that. You know, like Diesel Dave. He knew everything about ADR, didn't he? Yeah, yeah. Very, very knowledgeable person. Yeah. There was loads of the old European stuff, things like that. Loads of great, great content. And again, loads of really good people. Like Lug, he was on there. Our mutual friend, Carl Curtinsides, he was on there. And just countless others. I think it's sadly mistruck now, I would say. Maybe looking through rose-tinted glasses. It got killed by Facebook, didn't it? Facebook came along and just killed all social media stuff like that. Yeah, forums.

29:16Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I guess so. It just got killed by that. But it was good. So, yeah, so we digressed to your world of transport. We're just trying to – I can't remember where we're up to now. I'll tell you what. I went to – ended up at Anthony Yggins. Yeah. Right. Now, that was a good job when it first started, when I first started there. I was doing the work at Olympack at Featherstone, and he said to me one day, he said, do you want to go to Scotland? And I said, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was it. All I did was Scotland for about six months. Lovely. Three trips a week, whatever, you know, up to Scotland with takeaway cartons.

29:53Yeah. And it's amazing how many takeaway cartons they get through in Glasgow, right? I can imagine. Oh, my God, man. Do you know what I mean? I was taking a couple of loads a week to Glasgow, one to Edinburgh, you know, and I was thinking, they get through all these bloody takeaway cartons. You know what I mean? The deep-fried bars. It's absolutely mental. Deep-fried bars, bars and pizzas. Yeah, every week. It weren't just like once every couple of weeks they were getting a delivery. they'll get them twice a week yeah but um yeah yes i did that and he said to me one day he says look because i used to do the truck shows yeah uh it's top line scania do truck shows and that and he said to me i said i'm getting my first brand new truck and i'm gonna give it to you and i went all right bloody hell he said what do you want do you want a volvo a mercedes or a daf i said i like the volvo do you know i like the volvo for definite and he bought me a version 4 globe truck of XL 540 all the alloys on it and everything like it was mint really good and I did the chock shot I did a bit of work to it myself getting painted you weren't tempted by the daff after your long to Leeds experience I love daffs mate I do I love daffs I did but I just think I don't know I don't know with daffs I just think da-ding da-ding da-ding it drives you nuts in the end doesn't it but at that time they weren't that bad for it were they no but do you know what I loved Volvo's after me Volvo's at Devaney's my version 2 at divanys right just never let me down it just used to power on do you know just power on it used it just used to keep going and going and going right and it was a brilliant truck and i just love volvos and i've just like i've always said now i love i love volvos right but i just feel like they've let themselves down i feel like they've let themselves go a bit you know oh really yeah i really do the version 3 was an amazing truck and i think it deserves to go down as a legend of a truck like scanning 111 things like that do you know i just think of its time the version 3 was miles ahead of everything else just reliability reliability the eye shift everything you know it was just a great truck yeah right and then the version 4 came along it was just plasticky crap i don't like it at all i just i just did i've just done a few weeks in a volvo and i'm just so disappointed by i just thought it's living space in it it's cramped do you know everything's still plasticky they haven't learned do you know i mean we're going to do a podcast aren't we on truck interior so i don't want to give too much away of one of me rants but i just don't think they've moved with the time i think everybody's caught up yeah possibly i mean i've the one thing i've always found with volvo is the bunk seems to be really narrow compared with yes especially with the with the daff i mean not i don't know about now i think they've sort of got a bit better um but certainly before that but you were getting the much bigger bunk in the daft but you were getting a lot less front impact protection yeah the volvo was a much safer truck um i don't drive like i'm going to crash though matt you know i mean i like to have a nice bit of space do you know i mean i if i have to if i do crash and i'm going to rely on that bit at the front i'm going to think oh by the time i'm realizing that it's going to be too late anyway possibly but also also with the volvo it whether it's like a version two or version three and even when you look at the version ones and whatnot stuff was all just in the same place you just knew you knew where you were you knew it would work and yeah yeah that's it with the version ones two and threes you knew it was going to work yeah right you knew the truck you were getting you knew what you were buying you know you were buying reliability you was buying the ice the i've shift was way ahead of its time yeah right and you're buying a good all-round truck a solid piece of kit right i just don't feel like that with the version fours and fives i just think they're flimsy and it just not for me yeah i mean i've not i've driven an awful lot of version fours one i've never really spent a monumental amount of time in them to really judge them but i do enjoy yeah i do enjoy driving them i still think that the version one fh is probably my favorite of the fh range i've done a lot of miles in them and they're just just a lovely lovely truck and maybe it's a bit of the old rose tinted glasses possibly but they just i've never i don't think so i don't think so even the manual volvo even the manual volvo right was a blinding bit of kit but the i shift was another level yeah the time that came out yeah it's brilliant you know don't get me i've got an x-gen now an x-gen scania with obviously auto brilliant gearbox absolutely fantastic but volvo volvo were in there 15 20 years ago with a really good automatic and no one else was anywhere near because again no they couldn't touch it no going back to 2006 that was the first time I ever drove an auto truck because when I first started the Trans Am my very first truck was a Mercedes Axel which was manual I'd three three weeks away you know then we went home for 10 days and then when I went back out I was actually given a DAF XF space cab six by two and it was auto and this auto was just oh it's just the the lag as a lot of people yeah oh god yeah they're just just woeful whereas with the volvo yeah it was like you put your foot down and stuff happened you know and it's yeah that's it and it and i think we're we're of the generation of people who are sort of older than us of the generation that when when autos first came out they unless we were in a volvo they were generally terrible they were just they were just not really fit for purpose obviously now they are and they're all much of the same really um except i think the mercedes i mean don't get me wrong the mercedes had the eps box didn't they in the 80s yeah right and so they're well versed with with automatics and it wasn't too bad on the old mp3s and stuff like that but like you say volvo's the as tronic that's what they had the as tronic as chronic it should have been called yeah it was yeah you get to a roundabout i think i was a gap on the roundabout time the truck decided what it was doing that gap had gone like you still sat there it was just it was awful it was absolutely awful it was but i had them with um baitliner with uh o4 rich over for it a way of for hfd and uh try putting a 20 ton box 29 ton box in the middle of the trailer light and then try and see how you're going to go with it it was just a nightmare but when i actually had to demonstrate of the freightliner before they got all that's when they had the volvos and they said we want you to take the demonstrator out for a colorway so yeah all right yeah so i took it out and then when i went back and that and they're waiting for it you know daff and that representative this is how do you find it yeah yeah brilliant i says but they says you know we've took it all over europe all right it's been up spain been everywhere that truck you know like with i said what trailer did it have on this side this fridge trailer so closely coupled and all that yeah yeah all the airflow was yeah what was it like with a 29 ton box in the middle of a skelly trying to slide it in the mud and wet uh i didn't try that did we have it no no i don't think you did what's your economy on what's your fuel economy on on a box stuck in the middle of the trailer yeah i think working that one out yeah we won't put that in the press report no no no we won't probably that yeah so so just going back to your so it's a version four Anthony Higgins bought for you or was it version three version four yeah so all the bells and whistles yeah yeah did a few shows yeah used to do shows with it and stuff on a bit with it and it was all right yeah it was beautiful truck like you know yeah really good truck but um yeah after that I ended up going somewhere else I'm not going to mention that place you don't deserve a mention fair enough it's one of those places you know you're never going back there and I did my back in I had a slipped disc so I was in that beginning with it yeah I came and visited you didn't I you did yeah when you had a slipped disc yeah yeah that was quite a few years ago wasn't it yeah yeah yeah and then I had a few months off with that and then I went back went to Shipley's Shipley Charles well that was alright not a bad firm working for Blair you know it's a bunch of ragged once it's money's worth out of you but obviously I was self-employed with that again and that was good I enjoyed it there yeah and then after that is when I started back on European again I went back onto Lehmann's with Gavin McPearson and you know they got me in there yeah so see me at the show and Mick did see if you ever want to get in give us a bell and so I did and I went to Lehmann's yeah and in Germany every week which was great yeah do you know what I liked the best out of it mostly the ferry on a Sunday night coming back it was just like meeting your mates yeah yeah it was it was like going down to the pub and seeing your pals do you know what I mean it literally was you said who's going to be on this week you go down to your cabin get on and have a shower have a shave after shave one like you know what I mean little nice clothes and you go down have dinner everybody sit around the table have dinner together then you go down to the bar and watch the nightclub bit you know what I mean brilliant yeah brilliant I remember once we got on the boat and I wasn't having a drink you know I said I'm not having a drink tonight mate.

38:56I mean, mate from Neil and Brown, Dennis, Dennis still in to his own and he said, you're having a drink? I said, no, no, I'm not having a drink, Dennis, no. Anyway, the captain came on and says, due to weather conditions tonight, it's going to be really bad. We're not going to get, you normally get into Rotterdam at 8 in the morning, your report, it's going to be, it's going to be half 11. You know, we're going to have to take it really steady, you know, try and get this storm out of the way, whatever he come out with, all that sort of stuff. So I looked at Dennis and said, better have a drink then, haven't we?

39:27You know? Three o 'clock in the morning I went to bed. Three o 'clock in the morning. We all stayed up. We're all wrecked. You know what I mean? Six o 'clock next morning. Ding dong. This is your captain speaking. You'll be pleased to know we've made good time and we'll be docking at usual time at half past eight. Damn. Yeah. But do you know what, mate? I thought to myself, I'm sat looking at my coffee. I'm not having no breakfast. I'm getting off this boat and I'm going straight into the airport. straight into the Pioneer down at the airport park up there and go back to bed for a bit you know I got off the boat right and I cracked a four and a half hour shift out no problems at all straight down into Germany I don't know how I did it I don't know how I did it but I just I don't know if I was just like in a hypnosis type of thing or you know I was just like just driving straight ahead and not focusing or whatever but four hours something like four hours 28 minutes that's more like it did you enjoy going to Germany because it's i love germany i've always loved germany yes but the the track the traffic that and anyone who does regular germany that word stahl which yeah which for those who don't speak german means q is just synonymous with germany isn't it it's just so it is busy it's unbelievable it's it's it's the crashes they have over there don't they don't you know like these queues when you You see them on Facebook.

40:49They just obliterated trucks after truck after truck. Yeah. And they have a big thing in Germany, don't they, about driving too close. Yeah. And I was once coming down into Germany through the border at Holland, and the police were there. And I was too close to the truck in front, and I knew I was. And he watched me as I went past, and I saw him. And he went past in his car. And this is what they do a lot. He went past in his car a few miles down the road. There he was again parked at the side of the road. And I backed right off. yeah do you know what i mean yeah and as i went past he gave me a little thumbs up like because he's parked there watching me to wait short to make sure i backed off like yeah i mean yeah because the crashes that are over there are just massive they're not like little bumps they're actually people killed destroyed trucks coming into each other i think a lot of it comes from because there's an awful lot of no overtaken zones in germany so you you're not allowed you're not allowed to get out whatsoever and i think you just end up getting in a bit of a trance just sat behind the same pair of trailer doors it just i think that's genuinely what it is you just you just switch off because you can't yeah you can't you can't you don't mean to you just can't help it and so all of a sudden when when a car decides to come out the slip road in front of you just because they want to um because they know there's going to be a gap or lack of a gap you know the truck in front breaks and you're just you're just not paying attention because you've switched off and you're bang you're straight in and then the one behind just doing the same thing and it's just the concertina effect it's i love doing germany though i must be honest you know all the countries i've done in europe i do really enjoy going to germany that southern germany i like that bavaria yeah yeah yeah right you still a lot of munich around that area nuremberg yeah and i used to love going down there we used to load down michael mike toberdorf or something right on the austrian border you know get the cook-a-clock type houses and all that sort of stuff yeah it's fantastic i loved it down there really good really good food as well really friendly people yeah the auto office and that you know yeah yeah fantastic facilities yeah yeah yeah yeah it's yeah i loved it i mean it's it's they they have the same parking issues as what we do with a lack of space even though it's a much bigger country but it's such a because you've got everything from the east coming through to the west through you know it's a corollary country isn't it it's a transit country isn't it exactly yeah that's all it is it's transit they've got coming up from austria which is italy you've got the czech you've got hungary Romania, everywhere around the outside.

43:15Poland. So all the Baltics come through Poland into Germany. Yeah. It's like when, before, obviously, the Russian-Ukraine thing, the Russians used to come across. You get round to Berlin, it was like a bloody race track with them Russians. They used to try like maniacs. Oh, yes. You know, but it was, yeah, I loved doing Germany. I'd love to go back to doing Germany, but it's just, again, there's nothing left for it now, is there? Not really, sadly, no. As I said earlier, that mosaic has changed once again, hasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And then, as we know, and I'm sure most people will know, sadly, the Lehman thing changed as well.

43:53Yeah. Well, because it was Maru's and then Lehman's bought Maru. Yeah. And that's kind of all ended now, hasn't it? Do you know what? It's very sad, Matt, because they've got nothing left of Maru. Nothing left. They've got one bloke who works in the warehouse. that's all they've got left of maroon they've got no work no drivers no office staff no nothing it's just all gone all gone yeah that is a shame they blew the lot like you know yeah and i'll be honest i'll tell you what happened we had a lad that worked in the office which is richard sogdon soggy right and he started after school in maroon yeah right and he loved maroon you know like it was his thing and he used to go out getting work and doing the office and all that and he wanted making up into a manager at Lehman's.

44:39He was promised it. Yeah. And they wouldn't do it. In the end, they engaged on the deal, right? And he went to MyLogistics, and he literally took all the work with him. He had it all in his head, all in his head. And he just, he went around all the customers, right, I'm at MyLogistics now, and took the whole lot. Yeah, he's one of them sort of, I don't know if you use the term old school as such, but he's just one of them guys who know, he'll be personal with the customers. and they even if he's more expensive they know him and they know that he'll get the job done he's just one of them guys he was a brilliant bloke to work for you know I had a great working relationship with Soggy absolutely great working relationship I loved it you know and it was brilliant and obviously they shafted him up so he shafted them up yeah fair enough isn't it that's business isn't it yeah yeah that's it yeah yeah so and then I ended up at Yardley's didn't I end up at Yardley's I just didn't know that was a brilliant job I loved that that was a good job doing general haulage for your days yeah yeah I didn't do the event stuff and I just did the general stuff you know which general cargo which I've always done groupage you know I've always done groupage you know multi-drop so I really enjoyed it yeah I loved it but obviously Covid that killed that off didn't it yeah yeah as it did with a lot of people yeah yeah literally well yeah literally as well yeah yeah and then it's just potted about since then.

46:06Back at Mark Lee's. I've been at Mark Lee's now two years. Yeah. Back on Lehman's. I was going to say, yeah, I rank you pulling Lehman trailers. Yeah, yeah, I'm subby to Lehman's. It's a brilliant job. It's an absolutely fantastic job. I've got a good planner there. I've got my feet so far under the table at Mark Lee's. Never mind my feet, I've got my knees under the table and all. Do you know? Yeah, it's a good job. On Lehman's, everywhere. I've been up to Scrabster Harbour. yeah i'm going monday i'm off down to lost whistle and cornwall red roof london go everywhere like you know yeah is it is it nice just is it nice just doing uk tramping now it's it's a bit like european work to be honest because everything's because it's all dock work yeah it's as close to european work without going abroad because it's all trailers off eminem docks it's coming from scandinavia and denmark yeah so you still do groupage and then you're still loading traveling to pick up stuff to go to scandinavia and that you know so then you're dropping the trailer back on him and dock then you're getting another one to go somewhere else so it's it's really good you know it's all right yeah lots of variety yeah it is it is it is good yeah and i won't be leaving here now mate this is going to be me now i've got about eight years of working left in me and that's it yeah so i want to retire or go part-time when i'm about 62 ish yeah right uh go part-time and maybe have a couple of months off, have holidays abroad, and come back to maybe two or three months.

47:35Yeah, just earn enough to go on holiday, basically. Yeah, that's it. Because I've got a fiancée now. She loves her holidays. And that's what she wants to do. She wants to buy a place abroad, which I'm not right keen on, do you know, but obviously it's going to be her money, so she'll do what she likes, won't she? Fair enough. Where would that be then? Spain or something like that? I don't know. She wants to go to Cyprus. She's never been to Cyprus. Fair enough. I'm off there in a fortnight. Oh, yeah. I can send me some pictures and I can show her. But she's got her own hair salon. So one of the women that used to come in, she bought a place in Cyprus and told Paula how great it is.

48:10And now suddenly she decides she wants to go to Cyprus as well. Fair enough. Yeah, exactly. It is a great island. It's really nice. Yeah, I've never been. I guess your next holiday will probably be Cyprus then. Turkey. Oh, Turkey. I love Turkey. I went first time last year to Ismaila. What a place. honestly it's beautiful absolutely beautiful I've never been somewhere I thought wow this is it like you know yeah amazing just don't mention Turkey and Cyprus that's the key thing no no I won't mention that then as they've invaded and occupied the north yeah yeah yeah so but that's a that's a whole other political argument that I'm not going to get involved with no well Alex I think I've taken up enough of your time because you're on a night out up at Birch Services so it's been great to catch up with you and sort of introduce or reintroduce yourself to the listeners especially if there's any new listeners out there so um i'll try to do a little bit of publicity on my socials for the yeah the podcast team and stuff like that i'm putting some posters up and some stickers where i can if you go into the dock to the riverside and you use the thing you'll probably see one of matt's stickers on there there's somebody's drawn a hitler moustache on it or took it off i am i am waiting for the first photos to come through of a graffiti poster with me with four black teeth, a black eye, and some proper old-school filters like we used to do at school.

49:34I've got the LED screen thing, you know, at the dock where you book in. Yeah. I've done one, three, and four. I just need to get them to number two tomorrow morning. Fair enough. I've got a sticker on there as well. Yeah, well, I was sent a photo by Phil Barton of the sticker on one of the terminals. Oh, right, yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's right, yeah. So it is getting noticed, thankfully. so yeah and if you're going to trap two at ulcerby shock stop right there's one of matt there's going to be matt staring at you while you're on the toilet i uh i don't know if i approve of that yeah yeah of course you do you do really don't you there's no such thing as bad publicity let's put it like that oh that's it exactly yeah fantastic anyway alex it's been an absolute pleasure mate and um we shall catch up with you jim and squeaky in the near future hopefully all right mate yep good fantastic speak to you soon this lovely job cheers mate see you mate bye