19: Diving Into Truck Shows

12:11Jim:Proper treasure. Wow, Matt. I'm transfixed by this squeaky. I don't know about you. Yeah, I am.

12:18Mat Ireland:It's amazing, isn't it? I've got this list of itinerary in front of me, and I'm just sort of like, screwing it up as I'm sitting here thinking, sod it, we'll just sit down and sit down.

12:29Jim:I mean, the only thing I've come close to Matt's experience was last week when I played golf, when I was hitting me 7-9 into the woods, and I'm in the woods trying to look for golf balls. Similar. Not as dangerous, I presume. There was a prickly bush. Fair enough, yeah.

12:47Mat Ireland:Like Dora the Explorer.

12:55Jim:Honestly, but yeah. I docked my cap to you, Matt, man. That's an amazing thing to do, but...

13:01Squeaky:Well, as I've always said... if people wish to learn to dive so they can come and dive the Zenobia then all they've got to do is get in touch get trained up and come out here and go and have a little look and look at some old trucks simple as that

13:15Jim:I'll do that in the boat with a few beers in my hand you send the video that sounds amazing

13:20Squeaky:fair enough

13:21Jim:yeah me and Squeaky will be there he'll have to put something over his forehead I'll keep the seats warm when you come up Matt first we'll do is a nice cold you know when the weather's right when you've got condensation running down the side of your beer.

13:35Squeaky:Yeah.

13:35Jim:That'd be for you, son. Sounds good.

13:37Squeaky:Sounds very good. I can't wait. I can't wait. Yeah, fair enough. Yeah. Leave you two boys on the sundeck on the boat. Yeah. Yeah. I'll pop down and have a little look at that. It's not a problem.

13:48Squeaky:So when do you come home? How long have you got out there now? So we're recording on a Wednesday, I believe, aren't we? So I've got two more days of diving, fly home on the Saturday, and then back to the old Kingsland and Red Lodge on the Monday.

14:02Jim:so yeah perfect and then you're then you're retro are you um september yeah i'm no no the one in

14:10Squeaky:june so yes the cbrtc show in june yes which is the following weekend when i get home i'm there i've got a i've got a large model display in fact i'll tell you now because i think i'm not sure how long before this is out but i've got a large scale extra display that i'm taking up there so it should be good fun

14:28Jim:fabulous yeah

14:29Squeaky:and then the following weekend will be Kelso yeah and then I'll be off to Greece funnily enough with the dogs

14:36Jim:wow so on that on that the closest I've ever been to Greece is my mum's kitchen but

14:43Squeaky:fair enough

14:43Jim:well

14:47Mat Ireland:well yeah although talking about truck shows there is a good link obviously that the idea of this podcast today was to continue the discussion from previous about truck shows. One of them that was brought up that we never really spoke about on the previous podcast was Swedefest. I've never done Swedefest. I don't think you have, Jim, have you?

15:10Jim:No, I haven't, no. It always clashes with my politics in Spain playing golf. Sorry.

15:17Mat Ireland:It always clashes with you being Dora the Explorer.

15:24Mat Ireland:You've done it, Matt, right?

15:25Squeaky:Yeah, multiple times, yeah.

15:28Mat Ireland:So whereabouts is it? What's the price range compared to UK truck shows? You know, that sort of thing.

15:36Squeaky:Yeah, right. It's held at Stonham Barnes, which is just off the A140, just to the west of Ipswich. So quite a rural location in Suffolk. A little bit of history. It started out many years ago. There was a little local show called Crowfield Truck Rally. Rob Billman, who used to attend there, He sort of said to my good friend Simon Wasp, who I interviewed on the previous podcast, you know, it'd be nice to have like a Scania show. This is cutting it very, very simply. So Simon sort of said, well, you know, have a Scania show and sort of encouraged him. So Rob put on a show. It got very successful as like a Scania thing.

16:13Squeaky:Then there's a few changes. And then to basically be able to carry on, he incorporated Volvo into it. So it became Swedefest. And it's just, it has taken off. it is phenomenal entry fee is off the top of my head it's i think it's maybe just about double figures for for an adult in fact it might even be less than 10 pounds i i will i'm sure rob or michelle hopefully if they're listening which they should do and if they're not they should will correct me but but it is it's very reasonable priced and it is for traders as well which is something we touched on previously um i'm not gonna yeah yeah i'm not gonna quote any numbers because I don't have them to hand, but I remember chatting with Michelle about it and it's all exceptionally fairly priced.

16:59Squeaky:Now, having said that, I believe all the food stands there are provided by Ston and Barnes. So Ston and Barnes, if people haven't been, which probably a lot of haven't, it's kind of almost like a holiday camp with a showground and it's got like a little set of shops. There's like a falconry and there's various different bits and pieces. So the whole family have got stuff to do as well as having the show, held at the showground. So Ston and Barnes, I believe, put on all the food stands. So they're all the same price. It's all much the same. And although it's slightly expensive, it's not like 20 quid for a burger with chips.

17:39Squeaky:It's fairly reasonably priced. Now, you can also bring your can of van as well and stay. You can stay in that. but it's the show itself sells out very very quickly because it's so popular it's phenomenal and and i'm sure i did mention before like you know that they line up chronologically so you walk in and you've got the earliest incarnations of the scanner and the volvo either side of the of the walkway you know and it just goes on like herring bones and they and they are literally parked to within an inch perfection of each other with photographers in mind so you can't leave tables chairs anything in front of these vehicles you know if you if you are going to have anything like that i think you could possibly have at the back if if that at all so it's it's clutter free um obviously you can't stop people getting in your way but in theory there's enough room for you to take a decent shot of that vehicle and it goes around the whole of the show yeah the whole of the show around and it just works from obviously they start with whichever the earliest possible vehicle ever booked in will be which they've had varvases you know zero series scanners you know early vulvas so you've got people like um i think it's tim roth from lincolnshire he i think he's now selling his big collection he would bring loads of his you've got john thomas with various a range of them the amount of dutch and irish to come over for it as well is incredible it really really is and you just work your way around and so you know you work in the 70s with the zero the one series and then onwards and then you get the 90s which is my favorite bit so you've got the two and the three series scan you've got the version one fhs and it's just it just works its way around and so you can just literally do like a historical loop and see the development of the scandinavian manufacturers as it goes around wow yeah

19:35Mat Ireland:my ocd's having an orgasm as you're saying that's just crazy yeah you you'd have to i think i think

19:41Squeaky:I think originally the concept upset a few people because obviously you turn to the truck show a few of your mates like well I want to park with him and them and you're like well you can't and so a few people take umbrage like well I'm not coming in and off they go it's like well it's your loss but then I think you know the next year's actually you know I've kind of missed out here you know it doesn't matter I'll park there yeah exactly yeah because also there's a really good big bar there that's where you'll spend a lot of your time catch up with all your friends over a few beers. So I've heard, of course, you know, I wasn't out of the bar on the Friday, Saturday night last year, definitely not.

20:22Mat Ireland:Is there any other show? Is there any other? I don't know of any other show that puts everything in order like that and has them rules. I don't think Drifter Style or Interlaken doesn't have that, or Asin, Jim, you've done Asin, have you?

20:37Jim:No, I've only seen Aston online really, mate. And it's a big thing I do want to go to in the next few years. But I've only ever seen once where I went to retro, we'll get on to retro in a minute, where Charles Russell lined them all up in chronological order, which he's still got the photograph of, which is absolutely fabulous to see. But going back to Swedefest, other guys that I talked to on the app from a different channel, they've got a guy who's there. I think they released the tickets at 12 o 'clock on Saturday. Something like that, yeah. He's there hitting refresh.

21:11Squeaky:Yeah.

21:11Jim:Because they're so desperate to go. Big Nathan and Fraser and all the other guys from GWEP, they're desperate to go because it's so well run. But I did watch a TikTok live last night by the guy that ran it. I forget his name now.

21:28Squeaky:Rob Dillman.

21:29Jim:So they're quite strict on when you leave. Yes. So if you're thinking about leaving before, half past Friday on a Sunday, don't even bother coming through the game. Because you will not leave until we say you leave after our part, which I think is great. And that's what they also do at Gaden as well. Sometimes, obviously, there are emergencies and stuff like that, genuine emergencies. You know, a lot of you squeak when you're sick as a dog on a Saturday. Retro. But, yeah. Cheers, mate. Under the bus you go. That's what you need. You need structure like that.

22:06Squeaky:You need structure. And it's just brilliant. I will also add as well, at the end of Swedefest, when you're leaving, Rob Billman himself will stand there and he will say thank you and shake every single person's hand who's leaving in a vehicle. That's his moment there to say thank you for coming along. Because he's busy trying to speak to them during the weekend. It's an absolute nightmare. But that's his moment. And he literally thanks every single person for turning up.

22:34Jim:that's just amazing isn't it

22:35Squeaky:that's a bit like the Paul Hollywood

22:38Mat Ireland:handshake on Bake Off

22:41Jim:that's something that you and I should think about next year Squeaky as well yeah absolutely

22:46Mat Ireland:definitely that sounds good I've never done Assen so what's the story with this

22:52Jim:I think it's I think it's Truck Fest plus aliens isn't it you know it's everything you see on the socials as well I mean it's right up my street not for everybody of course it's loud music there's lots of drinking fantastic trucks to see there's there's young guys putting their heads near their exhaust which i've never quite understood but it just looks like a massive great vibe and i wonder i would love to be part of it and you know they've just released um i've seen i follow a few guys on the socials a few guys that are going and a few guys that are not going because there's i think there's a call they call it the paddock area I know that my mate Lee Pryor who drives that one for Keedwell, that beautiful scanning for Keedwell, he's going, there's a guy from West Bonk Transfer he didn't make the grade, I mean that's what we're talking about, we're talking about super customised fabulous trucks that the drivers are devoted to yeah, it's really

23:52Squeaky:because you have to submit a picture of your truck

23:54Jim:absolutely yeah, Josh Herman's going and apply to go Josh has been giving the nod as well I saw her today which is brilliant

24:03Squeaky:also a quick shout out to Kirlina and Helena Wright who very kindly supplied me with a load of footage from the Super Dick Festival in the Netherlands

24:12Jim:wow that was good

24:14Squeaky:wasn't it? yeah and I've got so much more to go through and I do apologise girls but I've just not had the time to put anything else together but they have had their truck accepted in so they will be off to Assen and that's fabulous They have offered to do some coverage for us on behalf of the podcast. Wow, nice. That's brilliant.

24:32Jim:Because the only super stuff I've watched is obviously through Trucker Tim.

24:37Squeaky:Yeah.

24:37Jim:And he was just saying about when they're measuring the trucks out as a yardstick, if you like. They measure the trucks out in distance and stuff. It just will really well run.

24:45Squeaky:And that's another show that you have to apply to as well, isn't it? And you can't just turn up. You get invited, basically. Same as Asim. and i can i can i just say on as a bit of aside with regards to asin i mentioned this on social media a little while back uh with regards to truck star do a photo yearbook and i'm hoping to recreate a uk version of the photo yearbook which is kind of possibly in the works at the moment so if people can give me any feedback on that via the socials that'd be much appreciated I'll give to the publishers. I've submitted it. I think they're up for it. So there's possibly going to be a book that you can have your own photo of your truck in a book.

25:27Jim:Ah, that is cool. Just a side.

25:29Squeaky:I do apologize for the slight interruption and tangent. No, that's all right.

25:33Mat Ireland:I just wanted to pick up slightly where you said about the girls that are going to Aspen. And they're going to get some footage and bits and bobs. Yeah. Can we get them sent over some posters and stickers? I'm sure we can figure something out, yeah.

25:50Squeaky:Yeah, they're fair local to me.

25:52Mat Ireland:I've got some spare posters if you need some more. Yeah. We'll do this off the pod. We'll sort that out. We'll get them sent some posters and bits and bobs.

26:02Squeaky:They have already asked me about stickers, so, yeah, we'll arrange that. Cool.

26:09Mat Ireland:We'll get that sorted. We'll talk off the pod and we'll get that sorted. Yeah, sure.

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26:42Mat Ireland:Retro show, Gaden, obviously that is, for me, that's the pinnacle that is my pinnacle show i like that for me it's the vibe it's just so relaxed it's not boom boom boom it's not who's the biggest tiktoker or who's the biggest youtuber it is just like-minded people that are there for the love of the industry the trucks you know that we're all out there doing the same job pounding the tarmac doing what you know and i just feel like you can bump into somebody at the bar down there at retro and and oh sorry mate oh no bother do you want a pint yeah you never met the bloke before next thing you said you sat having a beer with him you know it's so good what are your your thoughts jim well i'll tell you my first ever

27:28Jim:first time i met you matt wasn't it about five six years ago where it was yeah yeah and i went hunting for him because i see him on the socials oh he's a tiktok he's a he's on youtube i'm gonna

27:39Squeaky:We're not going to that, but harking back to what we said previously about TruckNet, we were both on TruckNet.

27:45Jim:Yeah, we were both on TruckNet. Yes. Euromat, of course.

27:48Squeaky:Of course.

27:49Jim:And I was still Jimboy124, by the way. Yeah, wasn't I, yeah? People thought I was doing the Scania I drove at the time. It wasn't. Anyway, sorry, I was good. I will try and calm my shipper mood because I'm about to talk about retro. Yeah, I remember the first time I went, and I went with guys from the CB, the CB app, CB Talk common finds on GBR truck I went with my mate Bill, my best mate Colin, I went with Dazzle and I went with a guy called Wheelie, Colin who's a micro-solver bloke now he's just the fantastic funniest bloke and I remember arriving there and I'm talking about it now and my hairs are standing up because I see you know, everyone knows I was a big lover of the F10 Volvo and an F86 for my dad and that.

28:37Jim:And Bill had to literally just, he couldn't keep holding me. Because Bill, I'm like, walking on, it's an FL10. I want to hear the chime of an FL10. You know, it's just ridiculous. And like, you can open the cab doors, you can get in, you can chat to the boys, you can tell them, you know, can I sit in it? Yeah, of course you can. Can I just start it? Just brilliant. And Joe and Lee Herbert and Josh and I forget the name of the daughter, I do apologise. they are so really accommodating whatever we wanted, we needed they've always done for us you know last few years we've looked over the pond and looked down alright, I'm in a particular modern Sainsbury's spec truck if you like, you know, but I still felt part of the show it doesn't matter does it, that's the thing you were there that night Matt with Bert DeMoy and his lovely dad I know you old god and we've been shell drake and all that you know it's you singing in dutch basically but it's moments like that where i've got particularly for me i've got people in my hand where i can communicate with them in their own language make them laugh it's a great icebreaker and it you know it's great because it would look around i've got seven people look all looking at me i know it sounds a bit sycophantic but it's it's what i love i love i love being a show-off blah blah blah you know another thing you know when i think nipper was down one year and i got on his content nipper the resto man you know it's stuff like that and also um this year freddie

30:15Mat Ireland:parker i hope you're listening mate please let it be this year mate you promised me that 142 you

30:21Jim:promised me last year i didn't take it up i need to drive that 142 you sat in it didn't you i sat in it, I drove it, and Squeaky's got a video of me touching it and holding it, and I'm welling up. What about the truck? Yeah. I'm holding on to the ball bar of this one. She's just sitting there, the heat from the engine,

30:40Mat Ireland:just touching it, and I'm going,

30:42Jim:I smell everything. It's just so fabulous. The guys from Keedwell, you know, Lee from Keedwell, I sat in the N12 that I got, the F86. It was the first time I sat in the F10, which Dan's got now. Dan McNulty Dan McNulty I keep forgetting his surname I sat in that and started it up it's just it's just so great and also free entry to the museum which is brilliant and the Jaguar thing yeah and you know everyone's got a beer there's no it's just they just run it so well it's just no air horns well you know and no trophies as well no trophies no prize money which is massive isn't it you know just really well run and you know try to leave early when Joe's on the gate it's just, where do you think you're all bloody going?

31:29Jim:Yeah, sorry, Squid, go on.

31:30Mat Ireland:No, you're all right. What's your favourite part about retro truck show, Matt?

31:35Squeaky:Oh, it's, there is too many. It's just catching up with friends, not having to think about there's trophies, judging, all that kind of caper. It's just, you know, just turn up, chill out, catch up, see what's coming in that's new on the scene. and again, obviously I'm not the biggest fan of truck cleaning, so seeing stuff that's been found in a barn and turning up.

32:01Mat Ireland:Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I'm not having that. I know it's hard to believe. You are a trophy winner.

32:07Squeaky:I know. I don't want to go on about it.

32:13Squeaky:That's why I didn't mention it, third prize, you know. What did you turn up in last year? Was it that dull red one, four, three? Italian import 143 yeah

32:25Jim:143 450 with the square streamline yeah he was sweet and then has Ben turning up this year in his little eight 14 that's what we need to know or is it gone

32:36Squeaky:as far as I know it's not gone so as far as I know and subject to change of course he will presumably be turning up in it

32:43Jim:I can't wait to embarrass him again I love Ben

32:46Squeaky:it's very easy to do with you Jim isn't it but yeah the reason I chose that Scania was it brings back so many memories from when I first worked for NC Camac and son back in the late 90s they had admittedly it was a 113 but so not 143 left hand drive in red it was a snatch back from a company called Dartrans which was a Polish company but they had a British arm they went bust Camacs end up buying this 113 left hand drive 4x2 Scania a streamlined top line and a mercedes euro cab which they were pretty unusual left out yeah yeah yeah yeah so they like it yeah and as soon as i saw this other this red left hand drive scan it's like my god i'm like that's 20 years ago and when my friend said you know any of these you want to take to a show i was just like oh can i take that he's like of course you can so i was like

33:36Jim:i'll take it the steering wheels and then mercedes as well yeah i remember coming in coming and

33:41Mat Ireland:seeing you there where you I remember picturing it now where you was packed and all that and climbing in it I think Jim you you may well have been sat in the hot seat at the time and and I I'm sort of like having a a scooby round and all the rest of it and if I remember rightly the you to get in your bunk your bunk was sort of you've got to climb in and down down yeah yeah yeah yeah that's that's why that's why that's why I've not taken it anywhere else since

34:09Squeaky:because an F-Series Volvo is much more comfortable than living. And that's what people with these rose-tinted glasses, you know, oh, I'd change my brand-new S-Series Scania for that 143 and a heartbeat. You wouldn't. You would not. No, you wouldn't. Honestly, as enjoyable as it is for that weekend, you wouldn't want it as a weekly workhorse all the time, especially for living. No way. Oh, my God, no.

34:35Mat Ireland:Hard work. I'm just going to give myself a little pat on the back there because I saw that opening with the whole talking about the interior and the bunk of having to get down. And the next subject, as you two both know, is interiors of trucks. So I'm just going to pat myself on the back because that was smooth. Very smooth.

34:54Jim:Was that as good as my one when I said about truck shows right at the beginning of this one? Or almost. Yeah, maybe.

35:01Mat Ireland:Maybe.

35:03Jim:You sound like Gary Davis now. Segway. We're all we are.

35:08Mat Ireland:segue that was um yeah so moving on to to interiors that i i obviously i've only been driving this is my 15th year i think that i've been driving so it's not an awfully long time in comparison to some people but i remember obviously i have vivid memories of being away with my dad as a driver my dad was a driver being away with him as a kid and things like that and so i still feel that excitement and i still feel that nostalgia you know of being in trucks and things. And I think back to the old Seddon Atkinsons. I've got pictures that I could put online and show you, show the listener. And then Iveco's and the, no, it wasn't the Stralis.

35:53Mat Ireland:What did they call them? The Euro something, Euro. Iveco, Euro Star or Euro Tech.

35:57Squeaky:Euro Star. There's Euro Tech and Euro Star.

36:01Mat Ireland:The smaller one was the Tech, wasn't it? That's it. And the larger one was the Star.

36:04Squeaky:Huge cab of its time, yeah.

36:07Mat Ireland:And I remember my dad having the smaller IV co, you know, in and out of steel mills with him in there and stuff like that. It was just unbelievable. And I loved every second of it. You know, I can still see that it almost looked like braille in each corner of this big square red button that you would push to put the hazards on. And I remember being sat in the passenger seat as a kid, and we'd be driving along, and every time we overtook another truck, I'd go, can I do it, Dad? Can I do it? I love it. And he'd go, I'll tell you when. i'll tell you when and as the geezer that we've overtook flashed him in i would lean over and push this button beep beep beep to say thank you for yeah yeah you know and then as we as we got older and i realized that actually the hazard light isn't how truckers do it that is you know i would can i do it dad can i do it dad and he'd have a look in his mirror and he'd check that there's no bobbies about and he'd go, go on then.

37:04Mat Ireland:And I'd put my seatbelt off and I'd lean across to the indicator stalk.

37:08Jim:Seatbelt.

37:09Mat Ireland:It was a thick square.

37:11Jim:Yeah, remember it.

37:12Mat Ireland:Big, thick square arm and the horn was on the end of it and it would be

37:17Squeaky:beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep

37:19Mat Ireland:as you clicked it up and down to say thank you. Wario didn't work with him Braille.

37:23Squeaky:Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But you remembered it though, right? The description was good.

37:29Jim:Yeah, it was. Yeah, perfect. our friend Trevor T-Dog he went to Walsingham last week and he was he was looking I FaceTimed him and he took me around an F86 which is lovely but then he climbed in an FL10 yeah and my dad had an FL10 but the greatest registration was D40ERF and the bloke was standing next to him I said I'm not really I know what they look like inside it's fine I want to hear the chime so we need to start out

37:59Mat Ireland:ding ding

38:00Jim:ding ding my dad had that rip right out in brand new like yeah like that could go but you know like i used to sit on my dad's knee and stuff when i was going yeah yeah i did mad just like i remember one day my dad actually broke his finger broke his finger and he's funny enough the same finger as my manky one and he dropped a curb stone on it and he couldn't change gear and we was down in guildford somewhere and uh he was in so much pain he was what the pain he could and I actually changed gear for him. Like, sat in the middle, in the F10, changed gear for him. All the way home. Brilliant. All the way home.

38:38Jim:Imagine that these days. Yeah.

38:40Mat Ireland:Yeah. You wouldn't get away with it. I put a picture on my social media ad yesterday, I think it was yesterday, and it was my son, Oliver, who's nine, and I take him to the yard with me and work of giving him a little proper branded Harrison Solway T-shirt and a high-bears and stuff. And I take him with me to clean the truck on a weekend or whatever, get the tires shine, get the jet wash out. He absolutely loves it. And it absolutely pains me and kills me that he's not experiencing it the way that I did. I can't take him with me now and chuck him on the top bunk and wake him up at 4 o 'clock in the morning by the engine running and spraying it into the air, you know?

39:27Jim:Or taking him into a place and hiding behind the curtain. Yeah. Behind the curtain. Yeah, yeah. We all had to hide, didn't we?

39:35Mat Ireland:Opening the top locker and your dad's dirty magazine's falling out. Oh, yeah.

39:42Jim:And the smell of black coffee squeaked. Black coffee. The smell of black coffee out of a flask.

39:48Mat Ireland:But it's got to be out of a flask.

39:51Jim:Absolutely, mate. Where it's a bit grey. Yeah. Yeah.

39:55Mat Ireland:Happy days. That was just unbelievable.

39:58Jim:I bet there are so many people listening now that went out with their dads. I mean, like you had Chris Bradford on. You know, I was transfixed by that geezer. And if everyone's a fella over this way, give me a bill.

40:15Squeaky:And he also usually comes over to Sweetfest if he can as well.

40:19Jim:Yeah, I'm definitely going to change the golf. So cancel your golf and holidays? No, I'm not cancelling that. No chance. My whack, I'm not going to say the other word, but yeah. I'm not doing that. Hit dash. But the way he was, I know we're going on something else now. We're not talking about Chuck Interiors, but he made it really important there saying, well, you've done your work. I'll give you a week's work. You've done it by Thursday. You have the day off and pay you.

40:42Mat Ireland:I mean, who does that these days?

40:44Jim:No. They don't do that. They go, right, you've done early. Right, he's been held up or he's hiding in the labour. You can go and do his stuff.

40:51Mat Ireland:but the trouble is now a lot of these companies are also part of some sort of pallet network and so your tramper drivers and your pallet network day drivers uh that it crosses over so if your trampers have got a spare couple of hours because you've done your job really well yeah and you know your customers and you've managed to get in and get tips exactly mike you know you've done the things that you need to do as a driver through all the experience that you've got, you've saved yourself that couple of hours thinking, I'll be able to pack up a little bit earlier tonight and I might be able to record a podcast.

41:26Mat Ireland:No, the office don't have that in mind. The office go, oh, hang on a minute. Let's use this tramper driver to do a day man's couple of jobs.

41:36Jim:It happened yesterday. I went to Bartrams and I got a friendly relationship with a guy called Darren up there. And by the way, he says, quite a lot. He's a smashing bloke, right? and he said did he grab the daff no he don't no he's a foot lift driver and he said I know where you he said I thought you were retired he said someone said you were playing golf last week I said no I'm not retiring mate I've got to try and earn a few quid he said you're a bit early Jim he said you're about three hours he said I'll sort that out for you anyway there's two guys waiting to load in under the canopy

42:07Mat Ireland:I'm there I've made the relationship bang my pallets and I'm gone

42:10Jim:and I'm too oh you've done

42:12Mat Ireland:you've done well getting loading out there Jim can you do X Y and Z when you get back I'm like hang on I got back, but it's not saying like that.

42:19Jim:I get that. But the way Chris done it, it was just like, there's your week's work, Gemma. Get on with it. And then he gives, is it Ivan or his other driver we're talking about? That's what you need. You get people to work for you, like them two people, throughout a fleet of drivers. What a company it would be, wouldn't it? Yeah, yeah. What company?

42:39Mat Ireland:It does depend on the size of the company, doesn't it? The operations, the things that are going on. you know you got people phoning in you know that the day driving team may well have 20 drivers but three of them are phoned in sick that day yeah and so they've got to find that we've got to cover that work if they don't cover that work we don't get paid you know yeah exactly yeah i do get it

43:01Squeaky:i do get it and chris's work is is quite challenging as well flatbeds you know yeah strapping and sorting all that so it's not just it's in the case of pull the curtains back and tip and load sort of thing. So, yeah, you've also got to be prepared to do that in the middle of winter when it's chucking down with rain or snow, getting out there.

43:19Mat Ireland:Yeah, and you're trying to roll straps up that are frozen.

43:23Jim:Yeah.

43:24Mat Ireland:Yeah, that's... I use their Bluetooth.

43:26Jim:Their Bluetooth ones are really good. Have you seen them on Teemu?

43:29Mat Ireland:Yeah. I've seen glider... You can strap down them glider engines. I had a load of striped paint on the other day. I'll tell you what, mate.

43:37Jim:It did move an inch. 30 ,000 litres of pigeon's milk

43:43Squeaky:no problem funny enough this evening on the way to eating some grub there was a Renault Premium low loader went past with a 360 well quite a large 360 loader on and it clearly had magnetic tracks

43:56Jim:because there wasn't a hope

43:58Squeaky:of even a piece of rope holding that thing on

44:00Jim:you know them electric Susies if you put in number 7 pin it activates them on the green one They've switched it over from the camera. It's magnet grips.

44:12Squeaky:The Italians are big fans of the old magnetic loading decks, aren't they? They love it.

44:18Mat Ireland:Talking of the Renault Premium there, talking of the Renault Premium. Going back to interiors.

44:24Squeaky:Going back to interiors.

44:26Mat Ireland:There was my little segue again. Talking of the Renault Premium, I came across a driver. That sounds wrong. I didn't come across a driver today. I met a driver today he was loading out the same place as I was that's only just clicked for you two, hasn't it?

44:45Squeaky:No, it's just it was just Jim just Jim and his childish little mind he's gone

44:53Mat Ireland:his glasses have come off his hands are in his face

44:56Squeaky:he's gone

44:57Mat Ireland:I was

44:58Squeaky:being a sensible and mature adult that I am I wasn't affected by that double entendre

45:05Jim:oh my god he's taking his slip one in now and then not to a driver oh dear so yeah i i um i met this driver today

45:20Mat Ireland:we he had a volvo uh not the aero it was a 74 plate same version as yours jim and um he'd got out and said hello and he'd gone just out and buckling his curtains and everything else and he went to go get back in his cabin. It locked, but his key fob, because obviously the keyless, it's just this push to start button thing. He couldn't get back in. Both doors had locked. The cabin locked itself. The keys were inside. Couldn't understand what was going on. Absolute nightmare.

45:50Jim:That happened with a 4 Series scanner a lot, didn't it?

45:52Mat Ireland:Do you remember? And the Renault Premium. And Volvo. The Premium.

45:58Squeaky:I've never come across it with Volvo before. MDF Transport and Great Yarmouth had a NH12 Volvo, six before bonneted thing. And that had a habit of locking itself. And I managed to lock the keys twice in one day, which really made me uncomfortable.

46:15Jim:I bet Mark loved you for that, didn't he?

46:19Mat Ireland:Did you get a medal or trophy for that as well?

46:24Squeaky:Well, there's a photo that I can send to you boys, but we can't put on social media from dear old Julian, who's very sadly no longer with us. But he put a post-it note on my forehead that read something that you can probably guess roughly along the lines of what it said, but I'm not going to put it on here.

46:39Jim:Richard.

46:40Squeaky:No, it was worse than Richard. Oh, no, he didn't see you on Tuesday, did he? He might well have done.

46:49Squeaky:Yeah, the Renault Premiums had a habit of locking themselves. And again, a company I worked for had spare keys tucked away under the bonnet. so if you locked yourself out you could open the bonnet find the key imagine the insurance company finding that out mate I live in Suffolk and work in North Suffolk and Norfolk I know of companies that genuinely leave keys in the ignition at night

47:15Jim:we talked about it

47:21Mat Ireland:the premium where the door handle was on the premium they used to wear so it was sort of like almost part of the armrest of the door frame if that makes sense it was flat on it it was flat yeah and to lock the door you push that down

47:37Jim:and to get out you lifted it up same as the 4-2 Scania yeah

47:42Mat Ireland:oh yeah so when you got out and slammed the door the handle the flap would drop down when you slammed the door exactly yeah

47:51Squeaky:and it would lock you out yeah I also did it And a 106 DAF. Did a week's work, casual, finished my week. And if you're not aware, the 106 DAF, you can only open the grill if you've got the door open because the handle is in the step. So anyway, I finished my week's work.

48:11Jim:And you have to pull it twice.

48:13Squeaky:Yes, yeah, which is a real pain, naturally. Good old DAF, yeah. So anyway, typically I've finished early. Brilliant, lovely job. Got my stuff out of the truck. done all that shut shut the door shut the door and it was locked i think the key was in it i can't remember exactly what and now that's it i put the keys under the grill shut the grill and it's like oh you can't get the keys out now can he anyway oh never mind he needs to spare keys anyway i drove i drove off home and i messaged the guys work before so i'll just let you know put the keys on the head of tank but i've shut the grill so you just need the spare key to to get the keys on the Monday morning and I got this irate message.

48:52Squeaky:It's like, how on earth am I going to do that? That's a lease motor. The spare keys are in Kent. It's going to be a call out. It's just like... And I was like, right, don't panic. I know how to get into them because at Trans Am, we'd had this a few times and with the older dafts, if you've got a coat hanger and I don't want to give too much away, but coat hanger and a door rubber and a bit of a ladder, you can pop that lock and open that door.

49:18Jim:I remember working for a guy I'd done a few trips to Spain with him and he had a 95 or whatever it was and he had this third party lock that you could put on the outside

49:31Squeaky:over the door hands

49:35Jim:something like that and he showed me how it worked and then shut the door and the keys were in the trunk and he was there literally like pulling the door and they got a forklift to pull the door out and he popped it popped up but yeah

49:51Mat Ireland:I remember as a kid my dad's yard was not that far away from where we live where I lived and as kids you go out with your mates don't you just that's you just pot around don't you hang out and my go-to place was always the yard on an evening knowing that it was quiet and there was no one there and not you know all that sort of stuff they were all iv codes of different sorts and then eventually they started introducing man's but there's a different story remember i'll tell you about nman excalibur but anyway the iv codes the number plates at the front used to drop down and that's where the tone um yeah the tone i think was yeah yeah yeah of course

50:35Squeaky:yeah and and that's where everybody all drivers left the keys yeah in there yeah and uh so me and my mate,

50:44Mat Ireland:Lewis, who was called, that's what we'd do. We'd go to the yard on an evening and we'd pull the keys out of one of the, front of the, normally my dad's, but if my dad was away down the road, it'd be someone else's and yeah, we'd get in it and just sort of bomb around the yard for half an hour

50:59Squeaky:in a truck, you know. You'd come in and the board's like, there's three kilometres on this truck that I didn't do last night. What's going on?

51:07Mat Ireland:Where, yeah, hang on a minute, I had a quarter of a tank of diesel there's now, we used to do I remember, I vividly remember going, trying to show off as a kid. I mean, I must have been maybe 12 or 13, but you've got to remember times were different. And my dad, from a very young age, had me in that driver's putting torque liners over a pit and getting underneath them and washing them and jet washing them. And, you know, he would have me with a jammy bar lifting wheels on and off and tires on and off and all sorts of different stuff. But I remember being there, this showing off in front of my friend Lewis this one particular time, talking about the pressure of air brakes and building up the air and showing him the bar pressure and this, that and the other and waiting for the beep, beep, beep, beep, to go off until we were ready.

51:55Mat Ireland:And I remember rolling forward and we were doing no more than, I don't know, three or four mile an hour, literally just rolling forward. And I went, watch the pressure of these brakes. And I reached for the handbrake and pushed it down and put it on.

52:12Jim:everything came flying forward. Everything came on. Including him. Everything came,

52:17Mat Ireland:everything, everything just came flying off. And in pure panic, I just went,

52:23Squeaky:leg it. We just jumped out of this truck and left it. So this, this poor driver's turned up

52:32Mat Ireland:the next morning, opened his door, well, gone for his keys, they're not there, they're still in the ignition, opened his door and gone, what the hell's going on in here?

52:40Jim:brilliant when we were kids I'd do something with dad he'd park the pot and the F10 around the corner and I'd be flashing my uncle coming the other way and his little mini and when he comes to the Monday morning the battery would be flat

52:55Mat Ireland:he's just like

52:57Jim:man I'd spend hours just sitting in that I'd spend hours sitting in that truck my lads would put my mates playing football whatever they were doing you know and I'd be in there just pretending for gear sequences and listening to the range change and stuff.

53:14Squeaky:It's just mad. Can you remember what gearbox that I've got your dad had, Squeaky? ZF? Was it a knock-across?

53:23Mat Ireland:His original Euro Trek would have been the Euro Star, I'm pretty sure, or his second Euro Star, because he had just a plain white one and then they got him a newer model and it had the top square window. Do you remember that? Yes.

53:42Squeaky:Yes. Yes. That's the Eurostar, definitely. They did have the option of a twin spear, didn't they?

53:49Jim:Them Eurostars. I only drove one with four on the left, four on the right through the gate.

53:54Squeaky:Knock across.

53:56Jim:Yeah. The cursor, we had a cursor at a minute when I worked for Skiricore. Yeah. We had the cursor. They were a bit of a half a Marsport, a bit like the EPS on the Merc.

54:07Squeaky:Yeah. were they called cursor for a reason because you cursed

54:11Jim:they were awful things yeah yeah but then they got Axor and what do you do with an Axor or a cursor oh god

54:20Mat Ireland:I'm pretty sure one of them I'm pretty sure the newer model was an automatic or it's like a semi-automatic-y type

54:25Squeaky:yeah

54:26Mat Ireland:set up but I might have been too young to really sort of at that stage take that in yeah yeah yeah

54:33Jim:cool

54:33Mat Ireland:so I think we're going to wrap this up a little bit There was a few more items that we wanted to discuss on interiors, but we can come back and visit that, can't we, at a later date? Yeah, exactly.

54:43Squeaky:We'll get to it eventually, won't we?

54:44Mat Ireland:So I'll hand over to you, Matt, to do your...

54:48Squeaky:My outro. Your outro? You look like you're melting there, mate. It's pretty warm, yeah, because you have to pay€10 a day for the air con because the electricity is really expensive in Cyprus, so just to stop people blasting it all day and costing people a fortune. so I might just pop and get a cooling beverage before I go to sleep. I think that could be an idea, couldn't it? But, yeah, thank you very much, gents, for your time.

55:12Mat Ireland:On that note, sorry, Matt, on that note, just whilst you're talking about the cost of electric and everything else, I think that's a good time for us to say, with the podcast, obviously it costs an awful lot of money for us to run it. Me, Matt, Jim, Alex as well when he's on and all the other guests, none of us take any money out of the podcast. None of us take any form of wage or anything like that. All of the money that's donated towards the podcast goes back into creating more podcasts, whether that be to pay the editor, whether that be to have posters printed or stickers printed or anything else.

55:47Mat Ireland:And so we would be really, really, really grateful if anybody can donate anything, whether it be a pound, 50p, five pound, whatever you've got. If you can head over to buymeacoffee.com slash Matt Island. It'd be very, very much appreciated.

56:05Squeaky:Yeah, that's very true. Thank you, Squeaky. I was just about to say the same thing. Or if not, patreon.com forward slash Matt's Trucking Red podcast. Again, even if you can just spare a quid, it all really does help just to try and get the word out there to keep us making the content and keep it going on a weekly basis. So thank you very much for that, Squeaky. And if you're a company or know a company that would like to sponsor an individual episode as well, please also get in touch. But I think that's kind of all we need to say, isn't it, I believe, gents? I think so. It's been a pleasure. It's been a fabulous one.

56:39Squeaky:It has been very enjoyable. Yeah, it really has.

56:41Jim:Thank God we didn't do truck interiors.

56:45Squeaky:Well, I also know that Alex really wants to do truck interiors because he's got a lot to say about them. Great stuff. And he's now about to go off on holiday or we'll be back by the time we next speak to him. We shall let you chaps go off to your bunks and I shall go and get some cool fresh air it's been an absolute pleasure really enjoyed this one gents thank you very much and we shall speak to you all soon cheers guys cheers guys see you later

57:29Thank you.