Page 66 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

NO LICENCE
We were finally all set to begin the SWEL foods contract on time, only one obstacle was
left for me to overcome, I had no driving licence for a lorry over 7.5 tons capacity, FJK 140
was HGV country!

This was very early days in the transport venture Ruth and I had started and I was still the
only driver as well as the manager. Michael had yet to gain his HGV, in fact he was still too
young as age 21 years was the minimum requirement. I decided that we had to press on
and I would get the licence at the earliest possible chance.

So chance it became and another risk to add to the financial risk which was with us every
day. Consequently, that first route to Stockport had to be chosen with care and I decided
to keep to ‘quieter’ roads and no motorways as I would be using a provisional licence and
was supposed to have a ‘qualified’ driver at my side the entire time!

FJK 140 and I went by Newark, Mansfield and Chesterfield, then over the Pennine Hills to
Chapel en le Frith and Whaley Bridge. Once here, I was almost ‘home and dry’ as
Stockport was virtually just around the corner.

Picture of the Peak District National Park ..my route!

The first load of potato powder was unloaded and this time I was going home empty as the
packaging would take a day or so on the specialized machinery and had been ‘booked in’
to take its turn after they had finished packing the tea. Tea into tiny bags, this was a first
and I was intrigued.
Perhaps it had been going on for a year or two, perhaps not, but this was the first I had
seen and not being a serious tea drinker (Ruth preferred coffee), it was all very new.

The factory manager was amused at my interest watching tiny portions of tea arriving
dropping into what seemed to be sections of muslin with largish holes, and the bag was a
strange triangular shape.

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