Sparky
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Post by Sparky on May 3, 2021 7:21:26 GMT
According to Fred Foreman in his book these scammels used to be used to transport Cash and High Value packages from Railway Stations to various places in London - and were a good and easy target to be blagged. In many cases they would just nick the scammel and all the contents.
This was before someone had the idea to actually stop a train in the middle of nowhere of course...!
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on May 3, 2021 8:32:30 GMT
According to Fred Foreman in his book these scammels used to be used to transport Cash and High Value packages from Railway Stations to various places in London - and were a good and easy target to be blagged. In many cases they would just nick the scammel and all the contents.
This was before someone had the idea to actually stop a train in the middle of nowhere of course...!
Yes, the whole transporting of cash problem is much less than in the 70's, the golden time for armed blags. When I started proper work in Sept 77 I was paid weekly in cash and there must have been 250 people on site. I dare say the toffs weren't paid in cash but a lot were which was a lot cash swilling around and that must have replicated everywhere. Think it changed to direct to your bank within a year or two at the most though.
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Nightfly
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Post by Nightfly on May 3, 2021 12:05:29 GMT
I don't use motorways much these days so correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen one of these signs for years. Do they now assume that motorways have been around long enough now for us to know we shouldn't cycle on them ? Also, I don't seem to see many filling stations close to motorways with huge Last Petrol Before M6 etc signs anymore.
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Nightfly
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Post by Nightfly on May 3, 2021 14:04:00 GMT
When I started proper work in Sept 77 I was paid weekly in cash and there must have been 250 people on site. I dare say the toffs weren't paid in cash but a lot were which was a lot cash swilling around and that must have replicated everywhere. Think it changed to direct to your bank within a year or two at the most though. My first job in the late 70s was as a wages clerk at a foundry. One Friday morning there was a problem with the cash delivery van which meant there would have been a long wait for delivery, so the boss and his assistant went to the bank and loaded the entire week's payroll into waste paper bins and brought it back in the boss' estate car. I assume they balanced the risks and the thought of a hundred foundry workers hammering on the boss' door was worse than being intercepted by armed raiders.
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on May 3, 2021 14:42:20 GMT
I don't use motorways much these days so correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen one of these signs for years. Do they now assume that motorways have been around long enough now for us to know we shouldn't cycle on them ? Also, I don't seem to see many filling stations close to motorways with huge Last Petrol Before M6 etc signs anymore. I must admit, I have never seen a sign like this before.
I have seen people cycling on the Hardshoulder (they'll be a a thing of the past soon), people walking their dogs on the grass verges at the side and plenty of very slow vehicals!
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on May 3, 2021 14:49:16 GMT
When I started proper work in Sept 77 I was paid weekly in cash and there must have been 250 people on site. I dare say the toffs weren't paid in cash but a lot were which was a lot cash swilling around and that must have replicated everywhere. Think it changed to direct to your bank within a year or two at the most though. My first job in the late 70s was as a wages clerk at a foundry. One Friday morning there was a problem with the cash delivery van which meant there would have been a long wait for delivery, so the boss and his assistant went to the bank and loaded the entire week's payroll into waste paper bins and brought it back in the boss' estate car. I assume they balanced the risks and the thought of a hundred foundry workers hammering on the boss' door was worse than being intercepted by armed raiders. A mate works for a Burglar Alarm company - not sure who they are called these days, but when he started it was AFA-Minerva; quite a large national company - then owned by EMI.
He told me that he used to service alarm systems on Payroll Banks at large factories - obviously before the days of Banks transfers - but the days you collected your wages each Friday in a small envelope from a window on site. He arrived to change some batteries on an alarm on a Thursday just after a cash delivery - and was just allowed to wander into the cash office - no questions asked, and cash was literally everywhere, in stacks being counted into wage packets.
On one occasion he was left alone for 10minutes, unsupervised. No one considered checking his toolbox on the way out. (Not that he had taken anything).
Aparently this was common across a lot of factories - they seemed to assume that the man on the front gate was all that was needed for security. Thing is - back then, Alarms were connected directly to local police stations and they would actually respond in a matter of minutes - so if you did blag the place, you'd need to get out of the factory sharpish.
The Sweeney tale "Bait" with George Sewell & Ed Peel shows this relaxed attitude very well. In fact "Countryboy" shows the alarm monitoring as was at Police Stations.
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Vienna
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Post by Vienna on May 3, 2021 14:51:41 GMT
I don't use motorways much these days so correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen one of these signs for years. Do they now assume that motorways have been around long enough now for us to know we shouldn't cycle on them ? Also, I don't seem to see many filling stations close to motorways with huge Last Petrol Before M6 etc signs anymore. I must admit, I have never seen a sign like this before.
I have seen people cycling on the Hardshoulder (they'll be a a thing of the past soon), people walking their dogs on the grass verges at the side and plenty of very slow vehicals!
It seems to be a motorway sign you will probably see in the Republic of Ireland. Notice the km/h on it, although it does seem similar to ones you could find in the UK. Vi
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on May 3, 2021 15:40:02 GMT
When I started proper work in Sept 77 I was paid weekly in cash and there must have been 250 people on site. I dare say the toffs weren't paid in cash but a lot were which was a lot cash swilling around and that must have replicated everywhere. Think it changed to direct to your bank within a year or two at the most though. My first job in the late 70s was as a wages clerk at a foundry. One Friday morning there was a problem with the cash delivery van which meant there would have been a long wait for delivery, so the boss and his assistant went to the bank and loaded the entire week's payroll into waste paper bins and brought it back in the boss' estate car. I assume they balanced the risks and the thought of a hundred foundry workers hammering on the boss' door was worse than being intercepted by armed raiders. My dad told me a similar story when he worked in a bank just after the war (the rematch against the Germans), walking around the town with silly amounts.
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on May 3, 2021 15:43:19 GMT
I don't use motorways much these days so correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen one of these signs for years. Do they now assume that motorways have been around long enough now for us to know we shouldn't cycle on them ? Also, I don't seem to see many filling stations close to motorways with huge Last Petrol Before M6 etc signs anymore. I remember seeing the UK version of these. showmeasign.online/2018/12/21/the-evolution-of-motorway-signs-part-one/
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Nightfly
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Post by Nightfly on May 3, 2021 16:36:46 GMT
Motorway service areas have never had a brilliant reputation, but I can't help thinking the era when they were owned by groups like Trust House Forte and Granada, with half decent eateries and facilities, rather than the inevitable Burger King/KFC's shoved under the roof were better days.
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