With a Dad as a lorry driver, Bob Rust's memories of haulage go back to the 1930s. He became an apprentice motor mechanic when he left school in 1949 and by 1952 was driving for REME during national service. After the army Bob was doing general haulage for BG Transport: 'these were the days of the 100-hour week, two or three log sheets and a time sheet for the guv'nor.' Then for WT Noble & Son he drove an extended Chevrolet on removals and warehousing. British Road Services gave Bob a test in an AEC Mammoth Major III and set him to work in their Hampstead branch for GBP12 9s 2d per week. Moving on, Bob stayed with BRS as a checker loader with BRS Parcels, but soon was night trunking AEC Mercury artics. It was 1969 when Bob was sacked by BRS but landed on his feet collecting and delivering urgent Ford tractor parts for Neale's of Dagenham. Then there was agency work followed by driving for the paper haulier Parker Morris - but back to agency work when the paper job folded. In 1997 Bob finally had to pack it in on doctor's orders after forty-two years working in the road haulage industry. His varied career offered a lot of incident that he retells with liveliness and humour.
He says that his tale is like 'the after-dinner conversation that used to take place in digs, with off at a tangentA" as a route often pursued.' Publishers Gingerfold included a warning about bad language and also a suggestion that the book was not suitable for juveniles under the age of eighteen. The chapter on Ladies of the Road is not for readers who are easily offended. The book includes a glossary.
- ISBN10 1902356209
- ISBN13 9781902356204
- Publish Date 2 March 2007
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 4 March 2016
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Fox Chapel Publishers International
- Imprint Old Pond Publishing Ltd
- Format Paperback
- Pages 176
- Language English