THE SMELL OF DIESEL: A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF THE WORKING LIFE OF A LORRY DRIVER FROM THE 1960S ONWARDS

A personal account of my working life from when I left school at aged 15 in 1961. My interest whilst still at school were lorries, ships and farming. It was therefore on a dairy farm that I started my 50 years of work.After the farm I became a drivers mate and when I passed my driving test I began to drive small lorries. The driving progressed and on reaching 21 I became a dock shunter for Ulster Ferry Transport on the docks in Preston, this led to becoming a lorry driver for Northern Ireland Trailers also in Preston. After the narrative of the docks the account tells of life as a long distance lorry driver from around 1970. A good portion of the story tells of my employment at the Scottish company WH Malcolm at the Preston depot. The story touches briefly on my personal life, the injuries I sustained at work and the couple of smaller driving jobs before my retirement in 2011.