nobby dentrassangle
 

HI TO YOU ALL ,QUESTION who or which was the first general haulage company to be part run then taken over byNorbet dentrassangle in the uk.

sheddicks from newport suoth wales i think

Or, was it Aston Clinton Haulage. (Often refered to as Aids Clap & Herpes.)

For those that don't know, Aston Clinton was the village in which they were based.

i forgot about that firm ACH they were from aston clinton in bucks were they not

ach,denrassangle
 

Hi Rovbertdavy6, yes you are correct it was A.C.H. they had moved from the village to AYLESBURY when theywere taken over forget the year i worked for them at the time, i left and restated 4 times over my driving years working for them.best paid ,hardest job you could wish for ,,David FOWLER ,THE BOSS that was the family name,absoulty *******,,nearly all ITALY, GREECE, GERMANY, SWISS,
allways good kit ,spot on. first to have Magnams i never had one not a company man...scania ,volvos all top range.run as bent as you could they would pay the fines,,3 shifts calais to brindeis,barra,providing the blanc was ok.
good or bad old days. the new age drivers now have no idea what driving was about. probly a good thing..i am now retired.but you dont forget...
some of the old hands were ex middle east men,so the runs were set..we all got done inMarch1994 mega fines ach./nobby paid lost loads of licences etc .18 t0 20 hours tachos.good old days.r/grds deckboypeggy...alias

Wonderful stories, deckboypeggy.

Keep them coming!

I knew some of the ACH drivers by sight, from running to Italy myself. As usual didn't know any names. Just, maybe, sometimes you would learn a C.B. "handle".

We weren't allowed to run bent. We were always legal(ish). One time, cleaing customs at Congorezzo the driver (not ACH) was out of hours at the same time as me but, I parked up and he didn't. He tipped his groupage, in Milan, that night. He then drove to his 1st "on wheels" delivery.
The next time I saw him, he had been back to their yard, in the North-West of England (tipped & reloaded) and was on his way back south. We waved at each other, somewhere between Calais and Paris. I was still heading home from my trip and he was on his 2nd.
I later heard that he'd come to greif on the Blanc. Went straight on, when he should've followed the curve of the road. Tis a long way to the bottom.

I've a few more tales from those days. Possibly, the best days of my working life.

Hi robertdavy6 wereyou on AI FROM LEEDS OR Bowkers,FUNNY ifinished my driving on BOWKERS,now they were a good out fit,how i wished i had lived up north then they would only employ blackburn.preston local lads,, we moved to blackpool in1990 but i still worked in the south,ACH,ROKOLD, PULLEYNS,SOLSTOR.ALL GOOD FIRMS 3to 4 weeks away then 3 days home then at last got on to BOWKERS ,THAT WOULD DO FOR ME.i am thinking of writing a book about my road haulage but no one would belive 90percent of it.

WHO remembers the old roads to ITALY, chasing round the paris parifaphiqie [ring road]doging the police at payagies if you spotted them first.to anyone who didnt know the first bung was at the customs Calais when you was all done[papers stamped,permits/or a EECbook if you were lucky, you drove up to the exit the gate and a customs man would get on the door step to look at your fuel guge ,it was allways full and you would slip him 20francs and off you go. i had a mate who would wind all the new blokes up,you would spot them a mile off in dover,and hear them.most blokes kept quite,and listened thatwas the way you learned,anyway he would tell them that they had to do a food delcaration form from "Cluses" for the italians in Aosta and that you needed a crash hat for the blanc.,as well as "snow chains in the winter which you were suppossed to have" we would have great fun ,sadly at their exspence. THE BAKE HOUSE .THE MONKEY HOUSE .THE WHITE HOUSE.CLUSES all good eating houses.

Don't forget the Sisters, at Arluno or, was it Carissio? I never went but I heard about it. If I remember correctly, there were two sisters. Born in England but living in Italy and a brother. He was born in Italy but lived in England.

There was also a good place at St Pietro in Gu. Part of the old station buildings. There was a lyby on the opposite side of the road. I spent one night in there. There was a Dutch driver, Italian staff, drivers from (at least France & Germany. Plus myself. Of course, the Dutchman was translating for every one else.

I worked for Bibby Distribution. Though, I think on my first trip (setting off on 19th November 1981) the unit was still in TWF's colours.
We worked for Nedlloyd or Merzario to Italy.

Great stories Guys, keep them coming.
I've just shouted myself for Xmas, a couple of books, and a DVD about Middle East trucking, all from Amazon. (Free post to NZ, saved 24 quid)
Can't wait to get them.

I read the book "Juggernaut" a few years ago about Middle East trucking, Great read, I couldn't put it down.

So, as I said, keep the stories coming.

stories
 

Hi Hilifta, i had the fortune to work with a cople of ex middle east drivers [not the cola cowboys] pioneers of road haulage a speciel breed at the right place at the right time.i called euro haulage ."the merchant navy on wheels" good and bad men able to think on their feet ,at boarders etc not scared of much,good boozers another important requisit not piss heads but good social drinkers..not the done think now,however we all had our weekend watering holes,whereever in europe you were,custom compounds.you would allways find brits,dutch ,danes ,germans .french, no east euros then.poles,etc.ps i was in Auckland 1962/3 on the ships..and usual ports,did miss one in lyttleton, put on the wellington ferry [wari---- something] 2 days later .rejioned ship.whoops.girls again.plus beer,

arluno or carissio
 

the sisters ithink was arluno i allways weekended at carriso,good showers last there in about2002 .safe parking that was the issue in the /my later years... .i never used the restarunt as much i was a bit of a cab cooker,i used a preesure cooker the reason was i was a fridge man,,double unsocial hours day and night,allways deadlines allways late,the problms where never ending if only i knew what a easier life i would have had if i had gone stright on to tilts but hey ho,
etc.i was known for feeding the lads,when not in a proper parking area that came later,,, It was 1980 when i did my first trips abroad,well locals really,holand ,belguim, crept into france a lttle bit only with the permitsas you know you never went anywhere unless you had the right permit.issued from newcastle.there were not a lot of companys doing euro then lots of owner drivers.. ,i was gently being led into the unknown in driving,and learning the paperwork,you never ever new it all.some distant frontier allways threw a crippler,and then you had to start looking and watching .what coloured bits of paper other drivers had got , who speaks english ,where do you get ,do you need one do you need a agent.it was endless somtimes.sorrry waffling

In the 1960s we used to take vehicles (in a boxvan) to Germany for testing.
We also carried all spares (including tyres) and had to return the used/broken pieces to England.
The customs at Aachen used to cause aggro as they were convinced we were importing new vehicles that we were going to sell in Germany.

Later, in the 1980s, I used to drive the test car down to Nardò (way down south in Italy) carrying spares as well.
The worst customs were the Austrians as they knew we were just passing through but always made life difficult, insisting on checking every piece listed on the carnet.

Then there were the trips to Italy (in the 1970s) loaded with concrete blocks as ballast. The Italians were puzzled as to why we were importing 'marble' into Italy.

When south of Rome we used to contact the local Cosa Nostra and pay them to guard the vehicles when parked overnight (otherwise our spare wheels and supplies of diesel would have disappeared). It was usually a young 'boy' in a Fiat 500 (sometimes toting a shotgun) that spent the night on duty.

testing cars/customs
 

Well capt.you were one of the first ,what a exciting job you had.did you use the brenner or the blanc.what cars were they not british leyland i bet.Aachen kept up there resistance to us brits untill the boarders opened,with a carnet-de-passage i bet they were swines.
if you were going east you had a T2L for your fuel ,all sealed up, all-so a load carnet god forbid you got the wrong boarders.i used to imagine what it must have been like for the british army in ITALYdriving butt clenching i bet..i remember seeing removel vans in aosta getting the works done to them when they should have had a clear passage..
i worked for a company whos boss and friend made loads of dosh taking racing tyres as hand lugggage on planes world wide as they would bend up[the tryes] no paper work..1970s. the swiss didnt need any lessons as being **** ---- they were classic. i once went the wrong road to como in the car lane at night from italy ,to transit swiss.world war 3erupted ,my fault i was empty, to load in france yes i knew the 10pm swiss ban but iwanted to first haha. hourslater iwas let through

i also transited swiss weighing 44tons legal from italy to denmark , if you used the train from 10ks outside como to mullhouse.its called the humpack..
driving a powder tanker for vos.

With that "handle" I thought you were an ex seafarer.
All the bush pigs have now gone with all the crazy security that we have nowadays. Haven't seen one for years.
Miss the antics the bushies used to get up to though, from falling down gangways and into the sea when pissed, to in one case, doing a complete strip on the dock as the ship was sailing at 11pm in the middle of winter. And to cap that one off, the old man had his Missus with him and she was looking over over the bridgewing. Great bit of NZ culture!.
Great laughs.

Mike

Hello to all

This is my first posting here so please be gentle.

I actually found this site through simply searching for a David Fowler..I was in a reminiscent mood and wanted to know what my previous bosses were upto.

I had the good fortune to have worked for him and found him a boss to look upto..he was fair and certainly didn't suffer fools and I can tell you, there were certainly many came his way during my time at Gatehouse Way.

ACH were indeed a family company..many of his long serving loyal drivers had indeed been there 20 odd years and upwards...surely that spoke volumes...many a transport manager could of learnt much from these people.

I could wax on about what good turns he, and his father did for there brood but, I will spare you the details. Needless to say, they were the tops in my eyes.

Welcome, Frankie - pull up a floorboard and join in.

Let us read your stories and maybe see some of your pictures.

ach
 

HI are you FRANKIE THE POLE.

Nah, im afraid not.....in those days, the only time you'd get a driver with a 'ski' on the end is if his father was an ex world war 2 prisoner of war.

Its a bit different now.....cant say I blame them..Id do just the same if I could improve my lot.

Cheers
Mark

Hi Mark,the only MARK I knew worked in the yard then the office, iwas threre 4times alltogether at the old yard in the village ,,over1970s through to 1990s David Fowler was no ones roll model if you worked for him you would know what a absoultBas---d he was..
his dad was ok. not him.dennis was as bad.1994 was the start of his downfall quote= say nothing,,plead guiltly,we will pay the fines...best fleet in europe at the time,but we all run as bent as could be.dare not say no.even all the old hands..on the avon job.etc

I neither worked in the yard or an office boy :)....There was a Mark who along with Eric ran ND Fridge...now, that Mark was indeed a little s##t. He was one of the reasons I left. At least ACH paid you what you worked, unlike the said Mark...anyway to cut a long story short, I knew what he was doing so, I kept copies of all my tachos then when the time came good ol Mark never let me down, he did me short big time

I got on to ND head office..sent file thus, I was paid in full, no qualms. That was in 97. I'd heard not long after that he got the heave ho.

Most of the regular drivers didn't fancy going straight on at Macon, the truth beknown..alot were happy doing the predictable Kodak run, knowing full well that would take them 5 days although, one or two would get two kodak runs same week...goodness knows how they managed that legally :)

Like what been pointed out, most of these drivers weren't spring chickens and didn't fancy being weekended in 'God forsaken Spain'....all thanks to the ND amalgamation :)

Most didn't like the change and who could blame them, they were in there twilight years and wanted to be home with the good lady.

My story as follows....I actually worked for Gilles Letard at first then being farmed out to The Norbert Dentressangle depot at St Loubes 33...Jean and Eric were the main men there...great guys to work for...I enjoyed working there...mainly Southern European work with the odd foray upto northern France to get me 'home'..which didn't happen often. :)

Unfortunately like most good things, it came to an end...Mr Letard got me posted to there Metz depot..same work but not so nice countries..my suntan certainly faded..it was run by 2 women who also knew there stuff....strange as it was, they always insisted I used the National roads to save money as opposed to ACH instructing you always to use the auto routes....obviously margins were thin at Metz...even so, a throughly good outfit to work for.

Then again something changed at ND Aylesbury..the British drivers were being pulled out of the French depots...Mr Letard got .me a interview with Mr Fowler..I was offered a job starting the following week..I turnt up as planned but, was assigned to ND Fridge instead..obviously people had come and gone during my rest period so I was, in my eyes, handed the short straw.

.Again, as with the other 2 French depots I worked for, it was most enjoyable. With Fridge you rarely got home...I knew a guy called Craig who hadn't been home in 3 months..anyway, as I explained in a previous post, it didn't work out.

I then went onto work for the supermarket chains..ill tell you, I had more social life being up the road than ive ever had working for these. :(

HI Frankie alot comes back to me,as iwas there when the takeover came about ,no one belived it..nobby wanted his KODAK and AVON WORK..
Iwill say you had to be good at driving,and custom paper work.. they were the only company that had PERIOD PERMITS FOR SWISS FRANCE,GERMANY and ITALY. but all the runs had been done a hundred times,they never did SPAIN or DDR,fridges only in the summer for the KODAK AcH were a well known haulage company run by a tw-t.
as you mention the french depots we all thought it was great able to diesel up at nobbys depots,at the start,main ones BEAUNE,CHAMBRY,it is all water under the bridge.
well you sound like me you have the t shirt so all the best ..

Funny how life turns out...back in those days, it was known you had to be 40 years plus to be taken on by ACH.....I was in my early 30' s at the time..we'd call them the old pensioners..hahaha..as they say, 'what goes around, comes around' ..thats if your lucky :)

Apparently this thread got started by a member wanting to know the whereabouts of Mr Fowler..id heard he went hand in hand with another outfit in Leighton Buzzard..that was many years ago. Whether he's still in the trade, ive no idea.....I still got a soft spot for both ND and ACH ....I regularly deliver to the 2 superstore in Aylesbury and in Leighton Buzzard...they were great days for me....driving was a joy back then.

fowler
 

Hi FRANKIE pleased somone is still pushing them old trucks around,well they are still lorries as far as im concerned,i remember swindon well i used to go to the old BRSdepot.before them silly roundabouts, are they still there ?
a pub called the moonraker springs to mind,,do not know where it was in swindon area...the PHILLIPINES FLAG has got me thinking..being nosy, it must be a-partner,i was there in the 60s not the safest places but the most adventerious. The polce were all dreesed like the yanks-you no mess with them. dod you remmeber DENNIS, FOWLERS right hand man/wan--r .in the office.another nice Tw-t.

Hi Deck boy.

Yes, I remember Dennis..he was the portly one with the thick rimmed eye glasses and greasy black hair....I cant speak ill against Dennis as he did me no harm but, you're right , he was David's right hand man and like most clerks, they try to emulate there superiors in whatever guise they are ..unfortunately for some, David was what he was.

The Philippines flag is to do with my wife my and family...strangely enough it was to do with my first wife the reason I stopped this type of driving..I was hardly home..the kids were becoming teenagers and my then wife was finding it hard to cope with them so, that spelt the end of my trucking adventures...the said marriage didn't last anyway..I'd spent too long up the road and the wife was also used to her own independence...I was just encroaching in her manor.

I remarried and never been happier....I actually intend taking up Philippines residency in the near future then coming back here 4 to 6 months of the year to work..thats the plan.

R oundabouts still here unlike the brs depot..thats now a retail park.

The Moonrakers is in the Penhill area of Swindon..its not a rough pub like it was back in the 70's and 80's but, its not a place the God fearing hang out :)

The trucks I drive now are somewhat different to the ones I drove back then although, Ralph Davis for one was using the technology at the time..the dreaded iso track systems and fleetboard card..you cant break wind without they knowing about it in the office..honestly, its a different ballgame now. The upside, they pay us good ..no complaints there which is after all, all what matters.

Hi Deck boy.

Yes, I remember Dennis..he was the portly one with the thick rimmed eye glasses and greasy black hair....I cant speak ill against Dennis as he did me no harm but, you're right , he was David's right hand man and like most clerks, they try to emulate there superiors in whatever guise they are ..unfortunately for some, David was what he was.

The Philippines flag is to do with my wife my and family...strangely enough it was to do with my first wife the reasohin I stopped this type of driving..I was hardly home..the kids were becoming teenagers and my then wife was finding it hard to cope with them so, that spelt the end of my trucking adventures...the said marriage didn't last anyway..I'd spent too long up the road and the wife was also used to her own independence...I was just encroaching in her manor.

I remarried and never been happier....I actually intend taking up Philippines residency in the near future then coming back here 4 to 6 months of the year to work..thats the plan.
Yes, a lot of gun touting guards and police and for good reason..alot of extremes of wealth and poverty there but, its not like that everywhere there...the Americanism is thanks to the Jap invaders...its a shame, in my opinion that the then Goverment of the day didn't take up American offer to become an additional state of the Americas.

R oundabouts still here unlike the brs depot..thats now a retail park.

The Moonrakers is in the Penhill area of Swindon..its not a rough pub like it was back in the 70's and 80's but, its not a place the God fearing hang out :)

The trucks I drive now are somewhat different to the ones I drove back then although, Ralph Davis for one was using the technology at the time..the dreaded iso track systems and fleetboard card..you cant break wind without they knowing about it in the office..honestly, its a different ballgame now. The upside, they pay us good ..no complaints there which is after all, all what matters.

Hi Frankie. I been out here in the Phils 12 years and loving it. Best thing i ever did. we are down south on Mindanao.

Good for you Billyboy...we looking for a house at the moment in Paranaque, Manila..next to my wife's sister.

They will be moving out there next summer full time while I'll be flitting back and forth from uk...not ideal situated but, needs must.