4: In The Driver's Seat with Lester Stevenson

10:21Lester Stevenson:A few years in, Roger decided to get rid of them. Well, not me, he didn't get rid of it. He went out and bought an ERF. The mainstay of his dad's business was the ERFs and Bulbos. Right. And Roger went out and bought a brand new ERFC series. Yeah. I loved ERFs. Yeah. So when he gave me this brand new ERFC series, I was in my C registration. Yeah. Oh, it's proper made up.

10:46Mat Ireland:So 86, would that be roughly?

10:48Lester Stevenson:So it was C760 SUT, and I think it was 85. Right, yeah. So I've got this brand new ER, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Six months in, seven months in, Roger then goes and buys a D-Rage. Right. A brand new Volvo F10. Yeah. He said, I want you to drive it.

11:08Mat Ireland:oh so i reluctantly gave the erfo and went on the volvo yeah six months late no four months later he buys a brand new fl10 right so i came off the f10 and went on to the fl10

11:24Lester Stevenson:and i don't even know why i left the erf i'm looking at the air about the corner of my eye thinking i shouldn't stay on it but of course i love volvos too i'm in love with volvo yeah

11:32Mat Ireland:I mean, the FL10 is a lovely truck to drive, but they're just not designed for all week out, are they?

11:40Lester Stevenson:Well, people said that. But people did it. Taylor Barnard. Yeah, yeah. You know, all your big boys.

11:47Mat Ireland:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And these drivers were away all week.

11:51Lester Stevenson:And it's right. You're dead right. I mean, realistically speaking, there wasn't a lot of space in there, but I'm not the tallest of blokes, and it suited me fine. And, of course, it was a little FL10 with the same engine as the bigger FL10.

12:04Mat Ireland:They played like a train.

12:05Lester Stevenson:Yeah. Anyway, meantime, Roger then got in touch with some foreign companies and he started doing a bit of traction. Right. Now, my mate that jumped on the F10 decided then, Roger decided, because it was long-winded ways, that Graham was then going to start doing a bit of European work. Right. So, of course, we're all eager to do a bit. just at that time Roger had just bought his first Foden yeah Rob had the first Foden it was an E-Reg with a 320 Cummins and then Roger bought his second Foden which he'd got a 350 cat in which I had and he said to me do you want to do some European yeah I'd love to the trouble is the Foden was a short wheelbase and we couldn't get it onto the trailer right so I had to take my friends, M-A-N, project truck, D-595 S-A-M, long wheelbase, 19361 M-A-N.

13:06Lester Stevenson:Yeah. And that was my first venture abroad with a truck. Where'd you go? And that was Breda. Breda, yeah. That was it. That's all the job was. Just go down to Breda, do a trailer swap with a Dutchman, come back to the UK. Yeah. This was for a company called Siegel Ferries. Siegel. Right. So I'm in of course dressed up as you do back then jeans white white trainers because that was that way t-shirt yeah all kitted out didn't have didn't have any clogs on never had a wallet on a chain wallet on a chain yeah so off I went in with the lads on the bow where are you going I'm going to

13:49Mat Ireland:a place called Grader oh I'm going to

13:50Lester Stevenson:jump in which meant

13:51Mat Ireland:nothing to me

13:52Lester Stevenson:yeah at the time it meant nothing yeah So did you go Dover Calais? Dover Calais, in with the big boys. In with the big boys, yeah. Off the boat, down the corridor, as I was told back then, because I didn't know it was called the corridor, but that's what it was.

14:08Mat Ireland:Yeah. Through Antwerp, down to the border,

14:12Lester Stevenson:trailer swap, managed to get back to Calais, where you could stop safely back then. Yes. And caught the boat the next day. That was my first trip.

14:21Mat Ireland:And you loved it, no doubt. I did, but then Mark got it.

14:24Lester Stevenson:Mark got a little bit like, because he hadn't got his passport at the time, but he wanted his truck back.

14:29Mat Ireland:Yeah.

14:29Lester Stevenson:So that was the first and the end of my European stint for a while. Right. And then Roger, then I think I did a couple of short Germans, and then he asked me if I was interested in doing Madrid. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Loved it. Yeah. So off I went again, only this time in my phone. Yeah. Down to Barcelona. Yeah. To Zona Frank. Zona Franca. In Zona Franca.

14:55Mat Ireland:Yep.

14:56Lester Stevenson:Across to, now then, what's the airport to Madrid? I can't remember. No, I can't. That's where I collected from.

15:03Mat Ireland:Yeah.

15:03Lester Stevenson:I can't remember it. But there was a lot of groupage companies around there. Yes. And I collected from there and came back up the other side through Large Aquarium. Not Large Aquarium. Irun. Irun, that's right. So we went down through Large Aquarium. Down, yeah. Back up through Irun. Up through Irun, yeah. And that was my first Spanish.

15:22Mat Ireland:yeah in the folding and she held well she did do well what kind of what time of year was that done do you remember so let me have a look at this piece of post so that would have been

15:35Lester Stevenson:around the end of 88 i'm guessing yeah because towards the end of 88 roger had kept pounding on to me about becoming an owner driver right would i be interested yeah and at the time i was thinking about it and i was looking at the commercial motor yeah and as much as i loved my erfs yeah the bargain of the day seemed to be a daft 2800 yeah they were coming up at the right price yeah the right wheelbase so i mentioned this to roger you know you don't want to do that buy the erf off me right okay you fell in love with it buy the erf go on i'll do your deal on yeah well go on so we literally just moved into his own house first time we've got a little bit on the mortgage yep and i put deposit down which is this is my downfall i put the deposit down on the short i was paying finance for right so and i borrowed the money to put the deposit down so there's two debts before you even start yeah that was the beginning i started for roger in uh let's and look at this.

16:42Lester Stevenson:Yeah, that would be about January 89th. Yeah. There I was, only driver. I'd rubbed all his name out. He looked scruffy. He looked an eyesore to look at. But off I went doing UK general order for Roger. Yeah. But his work started to dry up because at that time, January, February, March, it's very quiet in the UK. Yes. And our main source of work was Stanton Pipes of Stavlet. Yeah. And it just went quiet. Yeah. And Roger said, look, he said, works drop right off but i've sorted you out a trip across the water right i said i said but roger i've only got the uk operator's license i've not got an international are you studying i said well i'm doing an open study course from the international but i've not got it yet well run on mine really yeah yeah so you've got no writing on the trucks to all intents and purposes it's still a kinch orlidge yeah so run on mine okay i thought went yeah And this was for a firm I don't know whether you'd ever heard of it I've tried to Google it since But I've never found it It was for a company called Capini International From March

17:49Mat Ireland:No, that doesn't ring a bell for me But perhaps somebody who listens might remember them Well, off I went

17:55Lester Stevenson:Bobtail from Leicester to Industrial State in March Picked up this tilt As naive as the grass comes Yes All I was told was You're going down to Italy somewhere near Bologna. Right. I cussed myself now why I didn't look at the map. But I looked at Bologna, I thought, off we go. Off we went. Graeme was going out as well at the same time. So me and Graeme, off we set, gets down there, over the water, makes his way down towards Mont Blanc, which, again, not something I did in later life. But off we went. Through the Blanc, stopped at the top there, stopped at Cluj's on the way in, stopped at Aosta on the way out,

18:37Mat Ireland:Yeah.

18:38Lester Stevenson:It gets down towards Milan. Graeme's going left. He's going all the way across to Verona. Yeah. I'm on my map, right Bologna. I'm heading down towards Bologna. I've stopped and I've met up with a chap, funny enough, from Chesterfield. He's got a Volvo F12 globe shotter. Yeah. On the CB. Where are you going, lad? I said, Bologna. What's the address? Sissons, Sissons, Sissons, Sissons, Prato. Prato? Yeah. where are you going? Bologna. No, you're not. I said, yeah, it is. He said, I'm telling you now, Prato is nowhere near Bologna. You've got to pass Prato. You've got to pass Bologna. I said, I don't know.

19:17Lester Stevenson:He said, I'm going where you're going. Give me the address. Where are you clearing customs? He said, just outside a place called it's got Firenze here. That's Florence. Right. What wagon you got? It's at the ERF. Right. Okay. Big Cummins, isn't it? I'm thinking, I don't want to tell him. I said, not really. where are you? I said, I told him, he said, I think I can see the distance. He said, see me coming up? I said, well, what have you got? Is it F12? I'm thinking, this bloke's going to leave me standing on 385 F. I said, you don't want to run with me, mate. I said, listen, lad, he says, I'll keep in front, but just keep in touch on the CV.

19:57Lester Stevenson:Every time I lose you, I'll pull in the services or a lay-by that can catch up. But stick with me. It was a trip of a lifetime. Yeah. sailing past Bologna I'm looking in my mirror thinking I don't believe it it's still going down and you know yourself Matt the road veers and then you start climbing yeah as you go in towards it and it's a climb it makes the craziest climb look mine you look at the poor Lillia

20:23Mat Ireland:she was getting warm I'm thinking she's going to boil up he said keep it

20:27Lester Stevenson:going lad keep it going don't stop it's your boil just keep it going the fan kicked in and brought the temperature down again she's climbing over the top he goes and we start dropping down um sorry really yeah he says now then lad i take it you've never been before no i've not been do you want to go the scenic route or do you want to go around the motorway yeah i ain't gonna i said i'm gonna go the scenic route i i didn't know what he meant yeah so we came off at frenzy Nord. Yeah. Down through Florence. He says, look to you right now. I said, what's that? I said, well, some good looking girls here.

21:05Lester Stevenson:Yeah. So see them? Cracking looking girls. He said, now I'll tell you something now. He said, I bet you there's not one of those girls. I said, you're joking.

21:14Mat Ireland:You can never

21:15Lester Stevenson:talk. I thought, six beautiful looking women in Italy. That was my experience. Across the Prato, cleared customs the next day.

21:27Mat Ireland:Yeah. Yeah.

21:27Lester Stevenson:And that was, so that was the first trip in. And the reload back was groupage.

21:33Mat Ireland:Yeah. What, from back up in Milan or was it from around, do you remember? It was from,

21:39Lester Stevenson:I was picking up tiles on the way back. So I picked up from Reggio Emilia. Yeah. Reggio Emilia and also, there was something else. I think it was,

21:50Mat Ireland:yeah,

21:50Lester Stevenson:Modena was first and then Reggio Emilia.

21:53Mat Ireland:Yeah.

21:53Lester Stevenson:And then cleared customs at, it was Central Milan where you take customs.

21:58Mat Ireland:Right.

21:59Lester Stevenson:Yeah. And then obviously came back out. Yeah. Came back out through the Blanc. Yeah. And as I wrote it down now, because I can remember this well, once I got the other side of the Blanc, I'm really low on diesel. Yeah. So I'm on the CV chatting to survivors, and one of them is S &K from Wales. Yes. And I'm just chatting. He said, what's the problem, mate? I said, I'm low on diesel, mate. So what car do you got? I said, DKV. gaffers dkb well i'm the gaffer but obviously dkb well i says i don't think the first two garages tech dkb you'll bet the third one though i said where's that he said all the side of nantra just keep going like keep going i wanted to keep going the truck wanted to keep going but he don't run anywhere without diesel no i ran out of diesel oh no i can't believe i i i was run out of diesel i'm on the hard shoulder credit where credit's due back then as it happened you break down every brick that's come by stops and stop yes yeah but everyone that helps is in the mechanic and everyone that helps the intention's you're honorable but not necessarily the best thing yeah so we're trying to work out how we can get diesel to the truck and this lad's chaps keeps turning their over because we managed to get some diesel in it but all he was doing was flattening the battery yeah meantime fine the motorway french motorway please well they're not the ones are they yeah they're just like they came up they said no no no yeah we will get you started we'll come out with jump leads we'll tow you to the nearest garage yes it cost me a fortune i bet yeah because that's the that's

23:37Mat Ireland:the law in france isn't if people don't know if you break down on the motorway you're not allowed or not supposed to try and sort it yourself and they come along tow you off and then you pay a lot of money so so i know a mate of mine had a blowout and and i just said just we'll just get off the next payage get through that payage and then we'll deal with it just just driving a hard shoulder flat don't stop here for god's sake really it really was an eye opener yeah i bet

24:04Lester Stevenson:so surprised to say one chap stuck with me he got a six it was it was the old v10 before they so it wasn't the 1625 or the 1628 it was the but it was an old V10 one and gladly my truck could keep up with him and even pass him which was very few and far between because the only other truck that I could do that to was the G290 Renault other than that the only way I could stay in front was Cummins is fast but the L290 wasn't very powerful but it was fast anyway there we were credit where credit's due this chap stuck with me all the way back we came over and off he went his merry way he was subbing for A1 Transport I think it was back then from Leeds he originally came from Newcastle way and a good few many of my friends somebody called Taffy Davis right now if you ask around that name will be synonymous with quite a few drivers he originally worked for a chap called Taffy Davis who lived up northwest somewhere.

25:12Lester Stevenson:Yes. Northeast, sorry. But he'd left him and gone to work, set up on his own, and he was pulling for A1 transport.

25:19Mat Ireland:Yeah.

25:19Lester Stevenson:And that was the beginning and end of my first trip.

25:22Mat Ireland:Yeah. Yeah. And it didn't put you off then? No. You just loved it? So,

25:29Lester Stevenson:after Roger got the DK bill bill and took, well, not only what I earned, but I ended up owing him. So I made no profit on that trip whatsoever. I spent my last few pennies and had the truck sprayed up and my name put on it right and that was it carried on back on the UK general knowledge Roger said I'm sorry but my work's dried up I'm going to have to provide you some other work

25:53Mat Ireland:yeah

25:53Lester Stevenson:and I started pulling for a company called GR Warehousing from Ipswich I know GMA from Ipswich but not well these well I think they've ceased trade there right okay yeah GR Warehousing from Ipswich yeah they put me i was pulling for them and they put me into a company at the time called mitchell fox from worsley manchester right and i was making a bomb i was really doing well i mean i used to chase on i'm sure lots of drivers did i'm nobody else most most driver yeah you had to yeah the the policy was if the wheels ain't turning the right you ain't earning similar as that yeah so there was no such thing as this um like like a lot of company men oh i'm weekend in here and we listen if i'm loaded i ain't we get anywhere this wagon's going and that's what i used to do down and i used to regularly go out down to um uh just the other side of pescara to tip pescara reload pescara for the same company back again yeah that in a week down back eventually the chap that owned Mitchell Fox said to me why are you doing this through GR Warehousing why don't you come on direct yeah I thought that's a good idea yeah so I said to GR Warehousing I'm finishing with you oh really what are you going to do I said I found a little bit of work for myself yeah okay finish with GR Warehousing obviously they soon cottoned on what I was doing yes I'm on for Mitchell Fox Mitchell Fox is doing great but Mitchell Fox is a company within a group of companies right okay and the mother company was struggling so it was drawing all its financial resources yeah companies that were making money yes the chap that ran the company said to me we're going under god he said don't invoice me for the next two trips I'll pay you in money money right that's what I did yeah eventually they stopped as Mitchell Fox, carried on as M &S, didn't work, ceased trading.

27:58Lester Stevenson:Yeah. But I managed to walk away with little debt, quite a bit, and made a bobber's hoop. Yes. I foolishly then went back to GL Warehouse.

28:09Mat Ireland:They happily have you back, or was it a bit?

28:11Lester Stevenson:Oh, yeah, but I didn't see the wood for the trees.

28:14Mat Ireland:Yeah. So I went back on for GL Warehouse and it cost me a lot of money.

28:20Lester Stevenson:Right. It cost me a hell of a lot, yeah. They gave me a diesel card, off I went doing the trips, and then they changed the payment terms from 30 days to 90 days. Oh, right. And I said, I can't survive. This is not a diesel card. I said, but funnily enough, the bank manager won't take the diesel card to pay the mortgage. Yes. So I struggled on for a couple of months, parked the truck up, went back as a company man driving for Roger Kinch while I was trying to still get my money from the GOA. Yeah. Got a little bit from them, left Roger, got my truck back, and then started pulling for a firm called LKW Walters.

29:00Mat Ireland:Yes, well-known, big Austrian company.

29:02Lester Stevenson:That's right. That's right. From Kofstein. Yes. So the idea was, because my ERF was a short wheelbase, I was struggling there to find trailers to match, but I'd got a contract, or a written verbal contract, sorry, with TIP, which was separate then. There was TIP and there was RENC, which was... TIP ended up opening them, but I ended up with... I think it was RENC and whatever LKW wanted I got. If they wanted a taut line, I got a taut line. If they wanted a tilt, I got a tilt. If they wanted a flat. But of course, every time I changed trailer, I got an invoice for it. Off I went, doing my bit for LKW Walters.

29:43Lester Stevenson:And I enjoyed it. Thor and Jordan. Got on great with the lads. The rates weren't the best. Yeah. But they were constant payers. Yeah. Money was always there.

29:53Mat Ireland:I've heard from other people who've worked for Walters over the years. They've always said, like, although their money wasn't the best, you knew you were getting it. The work was pretty steady and easy. And so it's kind of, you know, you take the rough to smooth a little bit sort of thing.

30:06Lester Stevenson:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like I say, their outgoing base was apported, but he was taking steel out. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, from Sheffield, one incident, I'd got a load of steel on, run out, down, my then given route, then once I got the taste of things, I always used to go Fraziers. Yeah. So literally ran the Nationals. So you're down to Cali, Cali down to Reims, Reims, Nationals all the way down through St. Dizia, all the way down to Chamont. so I jumped back on the motorway just for a couple of junctions came off at Shalom Nord Shalom Nord all the way down National Backroads ended up in a place called Jayat a lot of drivers will relate to that that was your eating hole this was all done from Leicester to Jayat yeah up next morning Jayat off we went up and over the Frasiers down the Frasiers and I got to the Steelworks and I was clearing in Turin Corsa Alamano if I remember right down to Corsa-Lamana, cleared customs, came back to the customer, pulled on site.

31:11Lester Stevenson:I got a tilt and I ate tilt. To this day, I ate tilt. Give me a flatbed any day.

31:16Mat Ireland:A lot of people, I think, have got rose-tinted glasses when they talk about tilt trainers because they were a pain in the backside, weren't they? They were hard work.

31:25Lester Stevenson:They were so universal. They were. Because they were a flatbed, they were a tautliner, they were a boxman. They were so, but they were just hard work. I mean, you look at the Europeans, they made them look easy. Ours were hard work. The curtains were stiff. You folded them up. They would never come back in shape. You had to drive and hope that they fell into place. So I stripped this tilt forward, pushed it forward with the woods. There they were, taking the load off. By this time, I'd learned a little bit of Italian, but I was never fluent. I managed to bring it out. Stop, stop me saying the new Italian.

31:59Lester Stevenson:Stop. A problem. So he said, what's the problem? What's the problem? you're delivering to the wrong place so I'm like no, gets a CMO and a Sony document it and the way I was delivering to was the invoice address right it should go to another delivery point to the other side of Turin so I'm trying to plead with him, please don't put this

32:27Mat Ireland:load back on, as the crane

32:29Lester Stevenson:started reloading me so I like to put the load back on chain it down again build the tilt up and make my way down to this next drop which I couldn't tip till the next day I tell you, not happy, wasn't it? no these things happen yes

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33:29Mat Ireland:So was Italy sort of your chosen, your favourite or preferable one, if you could do it?

33:34Lester Stevenson:There was a divide between drivers back then. Yeah, I know. Not so much only drivers, but you either loved Italy or you loved Spain. Yes. There was very few that loved them both.

33:43Mat Ireland:Absolutely. And I've discussed that before with a lot of people. And me personally, I'm for Spain and Portugal over Italy.

33:52Lester Stevenson:Well, I made quite a few good friends in route. Yeah. And one particular chap, rest his soul, he's passed away now. passed away a couple of years ago, a chap called Earl Jeffers. Yeah. Honestly, you talk anybody about him, they'll tell you. Loud. He was, honestly, really deep voice. And he was a big chap. He made me look small.

34:10Mat Ireland:Yeah.

34:11Lester Stevenson:And Earl used to do Spain. Yeah. But we used to meet up on the boat, have a chat away, down to Macon. He'd go his way, I'd go mine. But Earl was forever telling me, you make your money in Spain, lad. You're costing too much money going over that block and the phrases. You're losing all your money in payages. So I had a word with LKW Altus. Yeah. They said, well, you're with us on Italy. I said, do you not do Spain? Yeah, but we'll have to run you to another team. Okay, I'll do Spain. The race was probably about 300 or 400 pounds less. Right. So I'm asking them why when I'm doing the mileage. They said, because you've not got the tolls.

34:48Lester Stevenson:Right. So I never fell in love with Spain. Yeah. And there I am, down in Spain, tipping Spain, thinking to myself,

34:57Mat Ireland:well they sound very good

34:58Lester Stevenson:similar to the Italians yeah so I'm down at this delivery point and this chap's come up to me so I'm speaking to him in my best Italian he's looking at me like I said so where are you from? I said England why are you speaking Spanish? this is Spain why are you speaking I said I thought you'd understand me no speak English I understand you I mean my Italian was never the best study he must have thought what is this not doing anyway you know posse di giorno yeah in an English truck with the ERF yeah he was speaking Italian to a Spaniard anyway you live and learn you do yeah I managed to get tipped I got a

35:48Mat Ireland:return on I came back out the rate wasn't brilliant the work was a lot easier Spain's

35:54Lester Stevenson:love it i do like spain i love going spain yeah given the choice it's in his mind and that's where i was yeah and then um a friend of mine who used to run his own gary homes g and h homes he does g and tl homes gary and tracy homes and he used to run a immaculate fleet of scaniers yeah and he started pulling for dornack dornack international yes and he said to me would you be interested in doing some Greek work. I'm like, oh, yeah, go on. I'll give this a go. So off I went, loaded with JCBs, me and my friend Mark Charnock. He was an owner-driver as well by that time. We both worked at Kinch's together, another Leicester lad.

36:37Lester Stevenson:He got his... What did he have then? I can't remember if he had his... I think he had an IV code, an ex-John Russell IV code, because they were selling them off. Yeah. And I'd got me ERF. I'd been into Cummins at Weddingburn. that tweaked the engine. So it's gone from a 290 to a 305. Yeah. Wow. And off we set down to, we decided I had the choice of going over land and I wish I'd done it now. Yeah. But I didn't. So we went down to Brindisi, caught the boat from Brindisi, over into Greece. Yeah. Over then the, what's it then canal? I forget what it's called. Corinth. That's right. Corinthus Canal in Boston.

37:19Lester Stevenson:Yeah. Over there, which was beautiful to go over. yeah gets down to I've got my lad with my eldest son who's my eldest son yeah he's only a young lad then we're driving down of course someone had said to us just be careful when you're driving in Greece they've got that much marble in the country they like to put it in the roads and it gets really slippery when it's wet doesn't it just when you put your foot on the brakes and this thing's still going forward yeah

37:45Mat Ireland:I tell you it's an arse tweaker it's an arse tweaker for the better yes I tell you

37:50Lester Stevenson:yeah So he gets down to clear customs, about to spend two days in the customs compound, eventually gets cleared, into the other side of Athens, hit these JCBs, we decide then to come back. I've already took the LKW Walters to get the reload. Ah, Leicester, you're loading back from Greece. No, no, no, no, no. I've arranged with you, I'm loading back from Italy. Yeah. No, no, he says. Gary's already been in touch with us and said that he wasn't loading back, can I give him your load? Oh, cheers. 16 days. 16 days trip. Flipping egg.

38:31Mat Ireland:He was human.

38:32Lester Stevenson:Mark ran out of money. I had to lend him some money. He was no one diesel. He was drawing money from the customer, which was making it worse because he hadn't got, he'd never really done any work for LKW Walters. So he was trying to draw a running money before they'd even done a job.

38:49Mat Ireland:Yeah.

38:50Lester Stevenson:And I reloaded back from, oh, I could tell you, I could take you to it, but I can't remember. It's something Illuni or something like that. It's Southern Italy anyway. Yeah. And Mark didn't get a load back right up until the top side of it. And then Navarro. Right. So, yeah, it was a long trip. Yeah. But again, an experience. Yeah. Needless to say, when I seen Gary, we did speak the best of terms. Yeah, I can imagine.

39:14Mat Ireland:Yeah, yeah. I mean, Greece is probably my favourite country in Europe to go to. I absolutely love Greece. I do a trip every year in a van down a Ruffina port just north of Athens, and I just look forward to it every time. I mean, I have been the overland route, but it is so much easier, obviously, just going through Italy. And I go down to Brindisi, get the overnight or the day boat from there to Iguinitza and then, yeah, drop down.

39:45Lester Stevenson:And it's just, I just love it. it was it was it was a tripping off it the the problem being an as an owner of certainly me yeah um and i love that erf don't get me wrong when they are i'm a big die hard erf fan yeah and when uh but as soon as that wagon came off english soil on the thrones all my arse twitch please and you know credit where credit's due with the exception of one time i was going to um port of nomine which was uh across towards the east yeah as you as you come down through the frasiers or blanc and just go through milan through bergamot through verona just keep going east and eventually you come to a place called port of nomine yeah and that was my reload point and delivery point and i picked up the front as i'm on the way back and i'm just looking at my dashboard and i could see the battery light glimmering red right i'm thinking i know alternator yeah yeah and it's getting brighter and brighter i think so i've stopped of course there was no mobile phones yes well there was but it was just a uk mobile phone right only good for yes a cell net if you can remember a company called cell net yeah bt bought cell net out that's right that's right yeah 0860 530 540 that is that that's my phone so i pulled over content gone to the phone box and put my jitoni's in yeah and phoned lkw alters i have a problem it was the problem i said

41:09Mat Ireland:my alternators oh um wait where are you going i said i told him right you must go find this

41:15Lester Stevenson:write this a dime so a bloke called rocket r-o-c-h-i-i-i he's in the front okay off her goes finds this place pulled up she went stopped outside walked in really school looking back street garage best italian excuse me and i look for the rocket okay so the problem yes i said possible new I said, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. 100 % mechanical. He's telling me. 100 % mechanical. This bloke's telling me. Camion? I said, yeah, that one there. If? If? I said, E-R-F. Que cosa, E-R-F? I said, it's English camion, engine, cummings. Oh, cummings? Ah, yeah. 100 % no problem. Off he goes. Have a. Strips his alternator off.

42:15Lester Stevenson:gets another alternator from God knows where and makes, I mean, this is mechanic, this is none of your fitters of today. Yeah. Breaks these two alternators down, makes a new alternator, puts it back on. I said, good. Oh, cento per cento. I thought, you lose this cento per cento. But that was the only bit that I understood that he said. Nope. Charge me, which was a reasonable price, I've got to say, and that alternator never missed a beat.

42:42Mat Ireland:Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. Yeah. Yeah. It got me out of the trouble.

42:45Lester Stevenson:Yeah. And that was the only time that ERF really let me down.

42:48Mat Ireland:Excellent. So how long did you have ERF in total then? So I started in the beginning of 89 and finished in 94.

42:56Lester Stevenson:Yeah. That was more so to do personal reasons. Her indoors decided that she wanted the money, she wanted the life, but she didn't want to be my wife. Yeah. So, yeah, she met someone else and on a trip back, I came back and it was all over. I tried to save my marriage by saying I've quit the business. Yeah. I gave my truck up to my mechanic, Paul Anderson, who's still going to this day. Good bloke. Very nice bloke. Yeah. I gave him the truck and trailer and to try and clear my debts. So I never went bankrupt to just cease trading. Yeah. Suffice to say, the marriage didn't work. Yeah. Now, there is one thing I've got to add to this.

43:36Lester Stevenson:And if I'm waffling, stop me. No, no, you're fine. on one of the chips out i delivered to somewhere i think it was over there the other side of rona yeah and the reload was rona yeah and it was for a company then called

43:54Mat Ireland:knights of old yes long long gone now sadly that's right yeah that's right well over a hundred they were well over a hundred years old when they packed when they that's not a pop that yeah Lovely firm. Lovely firm.

44:05Lester Stevenson:Yeah. So it was a groupage company, which the nights of old was in there. Yeah. And when I picked up, I think it was Thursday, I was in there picking the groupage up, and they said, you must ring this number to make an arrangement for delivery on Monday morning. I rang the number, and their transport manager name was a young lad called Paul Abbott. And I said, hello, hello, my name's Lester, yeah. I've got this load I want to deliver Saturday morning. you want to deliver it when i said saturday morning he says you're not be clearing you wouldn't be out of your own it's on Thursday night at best yeah i said yeah but i'll be i'll be with you saturday morning he said listen uh we'll come in sunday i said no i need to be empty saturday i said saturday morning to have sunday off to reload monday to ship back out yeah i don't believe you i said well i'm telling you i'll tell you what i'll do he said i'll give you take that number give you this number have you got a phone so they've got an english phone ring me off that number when you're in england yeah if you're back in england so that's that morning i'll purposely come in and tip you myself yeah i loaded ran back up and over as you did yeah put a nose bag up and over met up with a couple of mates um chatting on the cb i i it's amazing the amount of friends that you'll know yourself.

45:28Lester Stevenson:I say friends. Work colleagues. You're speaking you meet en route. Yeah, yeah. And of course, the CB back then, it was...

45:35Mat Ireland:Oh, it was everywhere, wasn't it? And it was brilliant.

45:37Lester Stevenson:Yeah, you can just talk to anybody. Yeah. It's not the same as it is now. You see a brick going down the road now,

45:43Mat Ireland:they're looking for now. Whereas over there,

45:44Lester Stevenson:lights flashed, arms out the window. Absolutely. Where are you going? So off we went, met up with a couple of chaps, probably had two or three hours off, over the boat, Saturday morning, I'm in England. Yeah. I rang Paul Abbott. Hello? That's Leicester, mate. We're here. I said, just north of Dober, mate. Just come up Jubilee Way. You're kidding me. I said, no. What time are you going to be with me? I'll be with you by about 10 o 'clock, mate. Suffice to say, I went in, delivered. When the shit hit the pan, Paul said to me, come and drive for me. Yeah. I said, I'm trying to save your marriage.

46:21Lester Stevenson:He said, but come and drive for me. Have you still got your lorry? I said no I'll let it go I've lost something no more so I've gone yeah well come on come on so I did I went to work for an ice old as a driver right okay didn't go over the water just UK right I was trying to save my marriage yes suffice to say they'd employed somebody else at the same time as they employed me but he wasn't working out too well yeah but they couldn't get rid of him unless they got rid of me because we both started at the same time but they didn't tell me this right so i come as i finished in the october come uh christmas time yeah one of the uh gaffers there uh mr john kemp i think he came up to me and said that lester i'm gonna have to let you go oh you're joking he says i'm sorry mate he said work's gone quiet he said yeah just just go he says and give us a ring in february i said i can't do that i'll go well you know yeah So I left and went to work for a company who I worked for for many years called P &M Rook, a local firm in Ellis Town, Leicester.

47:22Meantime, phone call from

47:24Lester Stevenson:the nights of old in January when are you coming back?

47:28Mat Ireland:I said, I didn't know I was coming back.

47:31Lester Stevenson:Yeah, yeah.

47:31Mat Ireland:We just needed to get rid of a driver but we couldn't get rid of him without getting rid of you. We couldn't tell you in case you told him.

47:36Lester Stevenson:Yeah. Sorry, unfortunately I didn't work that way. And I stayed with P &M Rook for many years. Again, doing UK and European work. Yeah. So, yeah, that was good. Started on tipping. Yeah. And then Paul got in with a company called BJ Waters. Yes. They're still going to this day. They are, yeah. Yeah. Done a bit of full tipping work abroad for them.

48:01Mat Ireland:Yeah. And then he then decided to...

48:05Lester Stevenson:Another firm that's still going today, was literally just down the road, was MTS. Right. which was Mark Milner Mark Milner Transport Services yeah I'd sub for him as an only driver yeah my Spannerman was his Spannerman right that's how it's a small world yes Paul was in with MTS and they used to do similar work and that's when we used to do a bit of European reels of paper out yeah reels of paper from Zadigosa back yes and then he got in got in with an axle company Ruby Owen Rockwell Slade yeah near Wrexham. Yeah. So we were taking all these axles out to various different destinations, France, Spain, Germany, and reloading back other reels of paper or I don't think what else is.

48:54Lester Stevenson:Mostly reels of paper, to be fair. And yeah, and that's what it did for many years. Yeah.

49:00Mat Ireland:Fair enough. And then was there any Italy with that as well or not really? Well, there was.

49:07Lester Stevenson:Now, the thing was, with this firm Rubio and Rockwell, they'd started delivering, obviously, because the Rockwell back axle was a good axle.

49:16Mat Ireland:Yeah.

49:17Lester Stevenson:And it started going into Italy. Yeah. And Paul had said to me, would you be interested in going out to Italy? I said, you know what, Paul? Yeah. Why wouldn't I? Because he knew that's what it did. Because he always frowned that I always used to have an ERF. I could never understand, because his yard was my operating center. Right. Eventually, yeah, I'd moved to Port Rookshard, and that was my operating centre with my ERF. So I'd come back after a trip, part of the ERF, Paul would be walking around the yard with his brother Mick. I can't believe you were with the water in that bloody thing.

49:46Mat Ireland:I said, well, what's up? Bloody ERF with the water. If you break down, it'll cost you a fortune. I said, Paul, you're right.

49:52Lester Stevenson:But if anything breaks down on it, it's got to be ERF, i.e. the cab. I said, because the engine comes in all over the world. Yes, true. and trust me, it would be damn so cheaper replacing bits for that Cummings engine than it would go in in one of your Volvo's. Yeah, don't believe you. Don't believe you. Anyway, here I am now working for Paul. Paul then goes out and says, I'm buying your new truck. I'm buying seven of them. What do you have? ERFs. I said, I can't believe that.

50:18Mat Ireland:Well, well, he said, I've got a good deal.

50:22Lester Stevenson:So there I am with a brand spanking new EC10. Yeah.

50:28Mat Ireland:What was he? 350?

50:29Lester Stevenson:I think there were 350 Cummins. Yeah. But they hadn't, it was like a synchromace box. It was, I don't know, it was similar to a ZF-16 speed, but I don't know if it was a ZF.

50:39Mat Ireland:It was a synchromace,

50:40Lester Stevenson:but it wasn't the Eak Twin Split, which I was hoping he was going to get. Yeah. Roger says, Paul then says, I'm going to send you a telegram. So I did a couple of trips on my own

50:51Mat Ireland:in the only ERF.

50:52Lester Stevenson:Down to Verona. Yeah. Cleared Verona, reloaded the Vara, and back again. Yeah. This one time, he decides he sends me and a mate of mine in his Iveco Eurotech. Yeah. Because Paul's logic is Iveco, Italy, Congerone.

51:12Mat Ireland:Yeah.

51:13Lester Stevenson:And it was urgent. It slowly got to go. So me and Martin, after we go, we double-man it, gets down there. We get down to Navarra. Cleared us and the truck rode out. So Martin said, what do we do now? Well, funnily enough, from my ex-only driving days, we used to clear in Navarra a company called Drutto Walters.

51:33Mat Ireland:Yeah.

51:34Lester Stevenson:So we ran to Drutto Walters, my best Italian again, and the women did speak English, but got to introduce yourself in Italian. Yeah. I said, I have a problem. Okay. Can you possibly help? No problem. Told me about where to go.

51:47Mat Ireland:Mechanic in Navarra, who then sourced all the bits and bobs, got the truck up and running, came back.

51:53Lester Stevenson:Yeah. And so it just goes to show, you know, never slam doors behind you and always be polite because you never know when you might need that favour. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, we got back off that. So I did a couple of Italy's, three probably Italy's for P &M Rock, and then they troubled it financially, and they were going down, and Paul had sold his soul to another company. Yeah. I don't know why he did it. I suppose it was finance reasons. You don't know a company's finances. No, that's it. And I suppose it was trying to keep the company afloat, but they only wanted him for, not necessarily all his work, but he got a couple of good jobs and they wanted the jobs.

52:36Lester Stevenson:They didn't want him, they didn't want his drugs.

52:38Mat Ireland:Yeah.

52:39Lester Stevenson:And suffice to say, that went by the wayside. Yeah. And I thought, I don't want to be a part of this. So I jumped ship and went to work for Eddie Stobar. Right, okay. So is that, what, doing European or just back on UK work? No, no. I didn't know this at the time. Again, me and Mark Charnock, who remained mates, we both went for the interview down at Junction 18. Because we were both on for Rooker. Mark was on for Rooks and I was on for Rooks. And we went for the interview at Junction 18. But it was an open day. It was a Stobart open day. So we were just looking down and seeing what there is and all these rumours about Stobarts and crap and all this.

53:13Lester Stevenson:But it didn't seem a bad outfit. The worst thing I thought at the time was having to wear a tie. Yeah. They offered me a job, offered Mark a job. I said yes. Mark went to work for a company called City Transport. Yeah, from Milton Keynes. That's right. That's right.

53:28Mat Ireland:I said, I can't believe you're not coming. No, no, I'll be working for these. He's driving a bloody reno.

53:32Lester Stevenson:Go ahead, guys. You could play me with stolen money as you drive me. Didn't really matter. Off Mark went. I went on for Stobart. Stayed there for 18 and a half years.

53:42Mat Ireland:I mean, that says a lot about the company, doesn't it? It says a lot. I'm a very loyal company guy. If the job works for me, I ain't.

53:49Lester Stevenson:Yeah. Mark lasted four months City Transport they went shit bus stop Mark then joined me he joined me on Stobart along at the same time another good friend of mine Geordie Jeff he came to join Mark and Geordie Jeff then went on to the international side right I met my second wife now

54:11Mat Ireland:Marcy

54:11Lester Stevenson:and the agreement was that I would do Monday to Friday away a week no weekend yeah so I thought well I've got to respect yeah so that's what i did so i couldn't i didn't offer them that i'd do uh european but so what's agreements were to get the right calibre of driver you've got to be prepared to be away for at home for 43 weeks right well that's not good it never it very rarely happened

54:39Mat Ireland:yeah but that's what they wanted they didn't want driving bellyaching after a week oh i've had one

54:43Lester Stevenson:weekend away i want to come back yes so that was the policy so i never took it fair enough so so stayed with them for 18 and a half years. Yeah. Right towards the end of that, the last three years, William Stobart, because Roger, sorry, Edward had died and before he died, he'd sold the business to his brother, William, and his brother's brother-in-law. Yes. And they decided to put it on the market, which is something Edward wanted to keep it funny. He didn't want it to. It was a limited company, but they went PLC.

55:16Mat Ireland:Yeah.

55:16Lester Stevenson:And William started to lose control of things a little bit, I think, and set up WS. Yeah. And on WS, they've got a tanker division, which was also running on the Eddie Stobart side.

55:29Mat Ireland:Right, okay. For reasons of his own, William decided to knock

55:32Lester Stevenson:the tanker division on the end. Yeah. And I thought, oh, I quite like this. I don't want to go back to generalogy with the curtain side. Yeah. So I jumped ship from Eddie Stobart to WS. Right. And on Valentine's Day of this year, I would have been here six years. Wow. Just on bulk tankers? On tankers. Yeah. And lo and behold, there I am, giving me CV in, as you do, told them my terms and conditions when I started. A lovely bloke the manager is, a bloke that owns it, owns the company. I mean, Williams, Williams part owner, Mark Biggham's the main man, Mark Biggham, Williams, and there's another chap as well.

56:13Lester Stevenson:Yeah. But those three run WS tanker. Tanker Logistics is it's called now. Yeah. And I said when I started, look, these are the things. No weekends, no bank holidays. If we can work with that.

56:25Mat Ireland:Yeah, yeah, no worries. You'll never be planned to work a weekend.

56:29Lester Stevenson:Lovely. Here I am driving around. Leicester. We've got a trip coming up to Germany. Interesting.

56:35Mat Ireland:I don't know. After 18 and a half years.

56:38Lester Stevenson:Yeah. Yeah. Go on. I'll give it a go. Why not? Why not? Yeah. And it's been on and off over the last, literally, two weeks ago just come back from switzerland yeah and that was my first swiss since i used to

56:53Mat Ireland:transit it years ago yeah i'll bet in that 18 years when you first went back out for william that must have seemed so different to how it used to

57:05Lester Stevenson:matt let me tell you it's a pleasure driving in a 500 brake horsepower automatic sky don't get me wrong i'm i'm on truck drivers reminiscing old school truck drivers oh yes yeah we all love it yeah i said sorry but when i ain't driving that's what you call a proper truck that i do when i put pictures of me or if that's what you call a proper truck yeah better than the crap

57:31Mat Ireland:today i wouldn't swap it tell you yeah anybody who says i'll i'll take that erf over my brand new scanner in a heartbeat? Never. No, you wouldn't. You'd get to the end of the road and you'd turn around and say, you've changed my mind.

57:46Lester Stevenson:I'm telling you. I was young. I was a young lad then. I was in my late 20s, early 30s, jumping off loads, which I look at now with wanting eyes. I couldn't even climb up on that own jump off.

57:58Mat Ireland:Yeah.

58:00Lester Stevenson:I can remember loading mills of paper in Perfleet and I was with a lot of BFI drivers, called BFI

58:06Mat Ireland:that used to come from Manchester I can't think where they were from I know who you mean

58:15Lester Stevenson:Castle Donington

58:16Mat Ireland:is where the depot was

58:17Lester Stevenson:yeah and the BFI and there was a big dad there and he I jumped off the top of these wheels oh he says you'll regret doing that I says no do you want to see me jump back up but he's right because he's in that kid now

58:33Mat Ireland:yes but these are all the silly things you did back then that's it And again, the truck, the ERF, that was of the time. They were just a common truck, weren't they? There was no, again, no... Yeah, exactly.

58:47Lester Stevenson:There was such a, I mean, your mainstay trucks. I mean, people call them. And they're right to. But you're comparing them to the likes of Volvos. When you're looking at a working class, working truck, your ERFs, your Foden's, your Leyland's, they were all gaffers trucks. They were working class trucks. And they've made many a company. Yeah. You look at the companies around you now, a lot of them started with ERFs, Fodens, because that was the main thing.

59:14Mat Ireland:Volvo's and Scania's, they were just too expensive.

59:17Lester Stevenson:Yes.

59:17Mat Ireland:Yeah.

59:18Lester Stevenson:You know, people, I think, I can remember, Taylor Barnard, I think they had the first Merck's when the first used to come in.

59:24Mat Ireland:Right.

59:24Lester Stevenson:John Dee, I think he used to run Magadish Toys.

59:27Mat Ireland:Yeah.

59:28Lester Stevenson:All these firms had a few foreign trucks. Yeah. But, you know, most of them, that's how this started on the British made trucks.

59:37Mat Ireland:Yeah, absolutely.

59:39Lester Stevenson:I'm not saying I'm an advocate. I will say ERFs are, I love ERFs. Yeah. My favorite truck, I'm a Volvo. Yeah. Unfortunately, William, William Stofar, he's a big Scania man. I think there's a couple of Mercedes floating around, but that's purely and simply because that's at customer's request. Fair enough. But I've not drove a Volvo for, oh, crikey. 66 plate I had a Scania at the Volvo before that yeah that was a 16 plate but yeah

1:00:10Mat Ireland:but then the next gen Scania they are they are a really nice especially if they're spec 12 they are a really nice truck to drive and I'm a Volvo man as well over Scania I have to say well in that case then

1:00:23Lester Stevenson:have a quiet word with Glenn Eskin educating him because he is well I'll try yeah you can try but yeah so this next gen Scania that I've got this is my second next gen Scania this one I've just got now so here I am driving and Snoopsy the one I told you about phones me up and says Lester where are you now? I've talked Snoopsy into putting a CV in so we are the only two tanker drivers with CVs in right so he says to me when you stop next just shout out hey Scania turn the radio on I'm thinking what's he on about sure enough i did and it works that's its next generator it's the latest ones yeah that's yeah but the trouble is if it goes wrong yeah it's all on that one screen yeah all the ptos on that screen everything if that screen goes down you're going no you've got it you've got nothing oh flipping heck yeah and that's the frightening side yes how this industry's

1:01:23Mat Ireland:progressed and our trucks have progressed with it yes yeah it always worries me i think there's just so much and too much technology in them really yes um again yeah especially like pto you just need a switch that's all you need it doesn't need to be on a touch screen does it no no that's

1:01:38Lester Stevenson:unnecessary in my opinion and you know yourself i mean i'm not trying to categorize truck drivers as being stupid daft or anything like that but the mainstay of truck drivers they just want a truck to drive to get from point a to b everything else they can do themselves they don't need technology telling you how to get there, how to drive, you're driving standards, you're braking too hard. Honestly, it's amazing how that's changed. Just to say, when I started with Stobart, Stobart's have got this policy, whatever you touch, you've got to be taught. And I don't get it.

1:02:16Mat Ireland:I don't get it at all.

1:02:19Lester Stevenson:Going back to the old firms I've worked for, there's your keys, there's your truck, off your crack. Yeah. Don't want to hear from you either until you're empty or unless you break down.

1:02:29Mat Ireland:Yeah. Yeah. Just go and get on with it. And you're going out

1:02:32Lester Stevenson:in 12-speed Foden boxes. Yeah. Dave Brown's six-speed box. Nine-speed Fullers. Yes. 10-speed Spices. All this stuff. Whereas the minute you get an automatic, have you been taught how to drive that? Yeah. Excuse me. Have you been shown how to drive that automatic?

1:02:48Mat Ireland:Yeah.

1:02:49Lester Stevenson:Is this something... Is there a fourth pedal you've not told me without it? it's amazing it is yeah you know we are dinosaurs but they're trying to educate us to become something we know the industry A we don't know it all every day's a school day absolutely yeah but we're from the breed that will look learn and do you know what we'll survive yeah because we can

1:03:13Mat Ireland:because we can yes

1:03:15Lester Stevenson:um headlight's all gone not so much in this new one it's LED but headlight's all gone I've changed the board yeah I've seen drivers in our depot sat there from 4 o 'clock till 6 o 'clock to wait for the mechanic to come in because they're not prepared to change the headlight.

1:03:30Mat Ireland:Yeah, I know of several firms that will not allow a driver to change a headlight bulb. It mystifies me. It's just like, what? You know.

1:03:39Lester Stevenson:What's happening in the industry, man?

1:03:41Mat Ireland:Yeah, they'd rather pay Volvo£300 to come out and put a bulb in. It just... And you're right. I was talking

1:03:48Lester Stevenson:to our transport manager and he said that is the minimum call-out thing. Yeah, it's nuts, isn't it? That's before they even do anything.

1:03:55Mat Ireland:That's just the call-out thing. Yeah. It's ridiculous. It's mind-boggling. It really, really is. So, well, I think we'd better wrap this up, Les, because we've been a blooming good chat just over an hour. It's just flown past, hasn't it? It has.

1:04:09Lester Stevenson:It's been a pleasure, Matt. It really has.

1:04:11Mat Ireland:I've really enjoyed it, mate. Thank you. Hopefully everyone else will enjoy it too. Okay, my friend. Lovely job. You drive safe, mate, and I'll speak soon. Thank you. Bye-bye. Cheers.

1:04:26Thank you.

1:04:53Thank you.