New Games

......... at Shitehole Distribution.

 I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the job at Shepherds. It was just a shame that the transport manager was a dickhead and the MD was a complete twat.

The way the job worked there was that the motors were loaded overnight by 'Muscles' and his crew. By and large they did a pretty good job under difficult circumstances. The loads were made up of anything and everything destined for a particular area, and sometimes how they got it all on was a mystery to me. When we arrived in the morning we picked up our packet, an A4 size envelope with all our delivery and collection notes in. On the front was the usual guff, i.e the driver, vehicle, start time and any special instructions such as A.M or timed deliveries. Once loaded the loader would also draw a plan of the load on the back of the envelope. The driver knew beforehand how many days the run was planned for, whether it be a day run or a night out. When we went South West and occasionally South East, it would be two nights out.

It was on a Friday morning I arrived for an 06:00 start having been told the night before that I had Cheshire and Staffs. We used to do a daily collection out of a firm in Stoke on Trent and on Fridays this had to be made by 14:00. Knowing I had this collection to make I fully expected a half decent run, and I was pleased that on Friday I wasn't going to have to touch the M1 northbound, my route of choice home from Stoke always being via Leek and Buxton. It generally takes no longer than the A50/A38/M1 and is a damn sight more interesting.

Having signed in I took my packet out and, as always, checked the load plan first. I had seen a trailer as I walked in from the car and I instinctively knew that it was mine. My packet confirmed it was that trailer, and so the first thing I looked at on the plan was the back two thirds of the 40' trailer. This part of the load was made up of open ended pans about 18" wide and 3' long. In each pan were short lengths of steel of various diameters, all pans being loaded above the height of the pan (piled up). Not one of the pans was banded at all. In the words of the MD the next day the load was "A crock of shit". Checking the plan I saw that this part of the load was for a firm at Glossop. Looking further I saw I also had a delivery for Street Crane at Chapel en le Frith. Now neither Glossop or Chapel are in Cheshire or Staffs, both are actually in Derbyshire. The scene was now set. At this point I pulled my manifest out to check where else I was expected to go. The first thing I noticed was, and bear in mind this is Shepherds own manifest, printed off Shepherds own computer, the instruction for the Glossop job which read "Rigid lorry only!". I knew the firm and although I had been in with an artic before, I knew it was very difficult to get in, and once in even more difficult to get under the crane. The firm in question loaded everything by crane. Now I checked the rest of the manifest. After these two drops I also had drops , not necessarily in this order, in Stockport, Congleton, Middlewich and three drops in Stoke. Couple all this with the 14:00 collection in Stoke and another collection in Stoke and I knew that I had been well and truly stuffed.

I had only ever refused one load prior to this day and that load was blatantly unsafe. This was to be my second. I went in to the traffic office where the transport manager and one of the planners were working [!]. Staying calm I placed the packet on a desk and told them, "If you want that to go as it stands you'd better find another driver, and I'll spend the day at home looking for another job". With that I left the office and walked round the yard with a cig. Ten minutes later while talking to a mate the TM approached me and said "Are you taking that then Tim?". My reply was to the effect that as it stood I wouldn't be taking it anywhere. He then thought he could call my bluff and said "Well you might as well go home then". My reply was short and sweet, "OK". And so off I went.

I was home by 07:05, at 09:05 I made a phone call, and by 15:00 I was fairly confident that I had another job. This was a big step for me as I had only ever driven for Shepherds and I really had no idea how the rest of the transport business worked.

Next day I rang the office, as was normal on Saturday morning to find out what I was doing on Monday. This may seem strange, but it was a regular occurrence at Shepherds for drivers to throw their toys out of the pram, and then ring in for the next day like nothing had happened. However when the phone was answered and I said who it was I was told "Just a sec". I thought here we go and sure enough the next voice I heard was that of the MD. His first comment was "So you're off to Pawsons then?". The conversation went pretty much downhill from then on and he eventually said I might as well finish now and get off to my new job as soon as I could. Three times during the conversation I offered to work the requisite two weeks notice and three times he said no. I think I worked out later why that was. At the end of the conversation I jumped in the car and went off to the yard to empty my motor.

I suspect he wouldn't let me work my notice because he thought he had someone  to fill my boots. Shaun, who some of you will remember from the time, was a six-legger driver at Shepherds. He wasn't really a mate at the time, but having had a chat with him a few days earlier he had told me he was leaving and going to Pawsons. Shepherds put Shaun through his rigid test but he had later taken his class one at his own expense. Having got it he wanted to use it and as Shepherds didn't have an artic drive for him, he decided to leave. When Monday came round Shaun got a call to see the MD who said that he didn't need to leave after all as I had gone and he could have my motor. Shaun thought about it for a couple of seconds and replied "Nah I'm still going !". The MD thought he had a ready made replacement for me, but it backfired on him. 

On 31 May, 2005, I was to start a new job and Shaun who has since become a good mate was to start with me the very same day.