"Driver Training" in BAOR

Does anyone remember the crossroads in Detmold where in 51 the traffic control was round discs hung in the centre of the intersection, half green and half red with a clock hand going around constantly,and you could cross while the hands were in the green. I wasn't a driver at that time,but as a passenger it used to brighten up those endless convoy journeys at 15 mph,waiting for the crash,but it never happened. Not so much traffic in those days,now it would be like Russian Roulette.

With no need for a trained radar op in a lt. ack ack unit, and much against my will, I was shoved in the office as a filing clerk. Eventually it all came good before I went over the wire. The BC caught me with the petrol tank & rocker cover of a Matchless bike in bits whilst trying to get a stranded DR back on the road, which I managed without disturbing Bluebells' rest day. After getting a bit stroppy the BC decided I could do other things & had me slotted in an instructor's course at Bordon.  There, the first thing they did was test the candidates' knowledge with a test paper. No sweat, the mechanical stuff  was easy, drawing the ignition circuit when it was a distributor & a coil was a piece of cake, but the questions on documentation floored me. I'd come across a 406 book, was familiar with an FMT3.   I should have identified the line of letters & numbers as a Brit Army work ticket,  but the BAOR work ticket, the one I'd seen only briefly before, was different. For some  reason BAOR had their own docs in 1955, even the MT School hadn't come across this before.  The  innocent query raised by the only NS squaddy in the group when the test was finished caused scornful laughter.

Armoured vehs had a brown book, drivers were supposed to record everything in it, (mileage, static running, POL). From the records therein the MT NCO was able to calculate, among other things, the waggon's fuel consumption. Total fantasy, of course.
Hands up the bloke who can remember the number of the aforesaid book ! (I'm buggered if I can).

'A' Vehs - AB 413, 'B' Vehs - AB 562, got a B Grade on my MT Sgts Course, 1976, don'tcha know...........sniff!

I had a feeling you'd be the one to pick that up.
The 413, that was it ! 

Can't keep an old MT wallah down!

As far as I am aware, cartav, TWTs were the same for both UK and BAOR vehicles, we used the same ones when the Regiment moved from Colchester to Gutersloh in '81.  About that time the TWT was replaced by the TOR (Transport Operations Record) which allowed the RCT at LE (A) to collect "Statistics".

Shelldrake wrote:

As far as I am aware, cartav, TWTs were the same for both UK and BAOR vehicles

Thanks for that Brian........ Just (only just !) possible I was wrong but I certainly remember the scorn from the Regs when the DS went through the answers to the written questions and my knowledge of MT docs was somewhat limited then. But I had the last laugh......... Only got a "C" rating the end of one of the best two weeks in khaki, three of my betters failed totally.

[quote="Shelldrake"]'A' Vehs - AB 413, 'B' Vehs - AB 562, got a B Grade on my MT Sgts Course, 1976, don'tcha know...........sniff![/quote

You must have been on your MT Sgt's course at the same time as I was Shelldrake.Bordon to be precise.

rucjock21 wrote:

Shelldrake wrote:

'A' Vehs - AB 413, 'B' Vehs - AB 562, got a B Grade on my MT Sgts Course, 1976, don'tcha know...........sniff![/quote

You must have been on your MT Sgt's course at the same time as I was Shelldrake.Bordon to be precise.

Software on my memory requires updating, Tam - it was '78 in Leconsfield!! (Byraway did you get a "B"?)

Shelldrake I got the 'B' and when I was interviewed by the CO at Bordon, he asked me if I would like to return as an instructor.My own unit would not let me go as they said that I could benefit the battalion first before anyone else.I was disappointed naturally as I loved doing the course.

They didn't ask me to come back!!

Must have built a big mess bill with all that boozing.

Cash transactions only, Tam. No flies on that lot!!

Shelldrake wrote:

Cash transactions only, Tam.   No flies on that lot!!

REME Mess? If so then yes LOL.

Eric England wrote:

Shelldrake wrote:

Cash transactions only, Tam.   No flies on that lot!!

REME Mess? If so then yes LOL.

No, RCT mate - Army School of Mechanical Transport.

Royal Corps of Transport= an old transport unit from bygone ages for those who were in the Logistics Corps.No they did not have horses in our days.I can remember the instructors new their jobs well.

rucjock21 wrote:

Royal Corps of Transport= an old transport unit from bygone ages .....................

Young upstarts !   Must have changed their names more frequently than some changed their socks.   Used to be  RASC,  (Royal Army Service Corps) and before that  just  plain  ASC  ( Ally Sloper''s Cavalry in WW1).   Somebody must have been making a pile churning out new cap badges & buttons !

I did my driver training at AAC Carlisle in the sixties. Imagine my delight in being given an Austin Champ to learn in. Then imagine my horror at being presented with an Austin 1 tonner with crash box to take my test in. The examiner told me to drive him round Carlisle without waking him up!
On leaving the army from BAOR I took my HGV class 2 as my pre release course. This consisted of attending a course at a certain REME workshops in Minden where a good friend of mine was in charge. He promptly sent me on leave for a fortnight and my test consisted of taking the examiner to the NAAFI to purchase his duty frees before going on leave. Ironically I tore a muscle in my back driving the bloody AEC 10 tonner with no power steering, pushing the gear lever and the wheel in opposite directions!
The only test I ever really took was my HGV 1 which I gained in Bristol. My track license was "awarded" to me in BAOR as was my motor cycle one.