SNOW JOKE ! It was a friday afternoon mid 1980s and winter time i have no idea of the date as every day blended in to another in that job - Me and my truck had been out all week hauling 25 tonnes loads of steel around Scotland out of Ravenscraig steel works just outside of Glasgow , it had been a bad week we were paid on the amount of money the vehicle took , the sums were -- £126 basic , 10% of the first £1000 and 20% of the second or up to the second so to get a good wage packet ( excellent in those days ) we all tried to get £2000 worth of work , my plan as always was get a £500 load up to Scotland and then work out of the Craig all week doing their work , usually it was good well paid work but this week i had mainly gone back and forth to the docks hauling a 20 tonnes slabs of steel for £45 a run - boring ! On this friday the boss of the works called me in told me there was a good load home for £450 if i could get it to Stourbridge by Monday morning - no worry's i loaded up the 25 tonnes coil and headed south down the A74 at about 3pm . It had been snowing on and off all morning but i thought nothing of it i had seen so much snow in that job i hardly gave it a second thought , by 4 pm it was coming down quite steadily and the road was beginning to turn white , dusk came and went and the Snow heavy snow lit up the way , but this was serous stuff by 5 pm the road was a white out , cars were slowing and the drivers seemed disorientated . As the night drew on these cars began to slow to halt the abandoned forms of white cars became a constant obstacle as they loomed into view and i took evasive action to miss them and sometimes their occupants who had stupidly parked on the carriageway then got out and stood about their vehicle waiting for some imaginary rescue party - no way were the services venturing out in this , nope we were on our own , no mobiles in those days just the old roadside phone box if you could find one , i ploughed on in the vain hope i could push through the storm and on into better conditions , what i did not know was - there were no better conditions it was nation wide . Eventually somewhere near Beattock summit about 3 mile's from the transport cafe where i intended to refuel my nearly empty tank i came upon a unpassable scene , three or four cars had been abandoned across the width of the road and it was impossible to get by i stopped the truck and inspected the path through but to no avail and that was that - i was stuck , the snow was about two feet deep and drifting , i had very little fuel , no night heater , no food and no companions , for some reason no traffic was behind me ( i later found out the road was blocked further back too ) anyway i settled in and waited for the snow plough's to sort out the mess . By midnight there was no sign of the snow stopping or any snow plough's so i gave it neck for the night and turned in , my bunk was warm and i did have a kettle and enough supply's for a cuppa and a snack but it was friday and i normally had very little left by then , this friday was no different i had indeed run out of food after that snack , anyhow while i was drifting off to sleep i resolved to walk up to the cafe first thing if the road had not been cleared because my blankets were wet , i was wet and my cab was cold . The next morning i woke to find the road was even more snowbound than the night before and the place i had stopped at was even more isolated than it looked in the dark - not a single house could i see , i wrapped myself up and ventured out into the road , the snow was at least three feet deep and very fresh i walked for about a hour struggling to stay upright in the deep soft snow while the wind tried its best to knock me down after a quarter of a mile, i gave up and returned to th sanctity of my lorry turned on the engine and warmed up , i couldn't do this for long or i would literally run out of fuel - jesus it was cold and bleak . Tea time Saturday and the radio which i had been listening to all day announced they had a emergency situation on the A74 and a few other places in Scotland , basically the country was cut off by road from the south , they said helicopters were out looking for people sleeping in their vehicle's , i waited but saw or heard no more until early Sunday morning , by now i had run out of food and supply's , my teeth were chattering in the cold and my lorry would no longer start , i had used up what little gas i had in my cooker canister and caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror , i looked like Scott of the antarctic . My decision was to walk to the cafe regardless of effort and seek some food and warmth , i wrapped myself up against the cold with my thickest clothing and a blanket , i popped a bottle of scotch in my pocket that i was taking home for my dad and set off slowly towards the cafe which i guessed was about three mile's away . I trod carefully and steadily through the snow pacing myself for the trek ahead , i had gone about 500 yards when i heard the steady drone of a helicopter coming towards me , it was one of those big twin bladed things and it was sweeping low looking for people , i waved the blanket about like a mad thing to catch their attention but they had seen me and swooped over low , the guys in the back shouted over the ramp thing at the back and made hand signals that i never understood they then flew off in the same direction they were heading and left me colder from the down draught and confused , were they going to come back or send help , what was i to do carry on or go back to my cab >, i looked back down the road and couldn't see my lorry - god this was confusing and i was scared , for some strange reason the faint hope of help and then seeing them go had brought on a sort of despair and i cried , i couldn't help it , i felt so hopeless and confused , i pulled myself together and resolved to walk on to the cafe , i was about a mile further on and very despairing when i heard the beat of a helicopter again but this time it was a smaller jobby with one blade and he was coming straight down toward me , the downdraught was freezing but within minutes i was sitting on the step of a rescue teams helicopter drinking a cup of tomato soup and laughing with a very friendly raf chap . They took me to Beattock cafe where a few dozen other folk had sheltered and learned the road was being cleared , the first thing i did was ring my gaffer and tell him i they were clearing the road and i should be able to get my load tipped by the morning if he could get a service truck to start my lorry and bring fuel , i then rang Lou and told her i was ok just stuck in the yard at Glasgow , i never wanted to worry her . By 9pm on the sunday i was back on the road , my truck had been fueled by the local breakdown company the snowplough's had cut a road through the previous days carnage and i was heading back to England as if nothing had happened , but i had been through a personel hell , so too had a lot of other motorists and their passengers , i had spoken to a few at the cafe and listened as they related the same story as me , running low on fuel , no food , no contact and miles from home , some people had died that weekend and a lot were scared for their life - me , i just got my load tipped and headed back the next day , money you see i was driven by money but the thought of being stuck again scares the hell out of me .
And yes I did read it all, well I skimmed down to the bit where you got stuck in the snow and enjoyed from there onwards.
I'm trying to get home now, though ironically stranded due to lack of helicopters. When I finally get on terra firmer and there are no trains or planes you have taught me not to thumb a lift with a trucker!
Yes never tell the misses porkies or him up their might dump his lot on you. Its suprising what having the fear of christ can do to you. Your number wasnt up though malc
I read it all the way through. I think I know the cafe you were heading for. You were a lucky boy ^-^
I was but a boy sir ! I should think you would know the cafe/truckstop Don on the old road, i bet you knew Ravenscraig and the docks off the London rd with big cranes and stevedors?
These are pictures of the vacinity of where i was stranded ,i took them yesterday from my truck - the road has been totally rebuilt , it did used to lie lower and an snow seemed to drift onto the carriageway , the new road is far better - you can see part of the old road in the second picture . There was nothing to worry about on this run back down the A74 but it only takes a few hours for it to turn into a living hell .
