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THE WAR
When I came back to the depot I was sent out with a trained motor driver to complete my training on a provisional licence and, of course, L-plates. I was sent with a driver by the name of J R Davis. He was on the Cardiff railhead run from Cardiff to Treherbert, that particular valley, and I was with him for about a month. Then I was given a test by the railway examiner who was authorised by MOT to test drivers prior to them being able to get their full licence. In those days the licence only covered - I forget whether it was 3 ton or 2 ton 10 - up to 2 ton 10 unladen weight. If you had passed out on a heavy goods vehicle you had to obtain a separate licence, known as the HGV licence, which cost one shilling.
After I had passed out on the 2 ton Morris Commercial I was then sent out on a 3 ton Scammel to pass out on that particular vehicle. The driver who taught me was a very nice fellow by the name of Richards and he taught me quite a lot. I learnt how to manoeuvre the articulated 3 tonner and eventually I was sent with another driver to learn on a 6 ton articulated vehicle. I forget the name of the driver but he was quite a nice chap and he taught me again how to handle this particular type of vehicle.'
I then went out with the railway examiner, his name was Edyvean, and he was a very nice chap. He passed me out on the 6 ton articulated, and having passed out on the 6 ton articulated there was no need for me to pass out on the 3 ton articulated.
In those days a railway driver had to pass out on every type of vehicle before he was permitted to drive, so that whilst a driver might be passed out to drive a 3 ton articulated unless he had a test on the 6 ton articulated he would not be allowed to drive it. The test would be undertaken by the man in charge of the local garage which was just outside the yard - I forget his name just now.
Having passed out I was then able to drive up to 2 ton rigid, 3 ton articulated, and 6 ton articulated. I was then taught to drive an 8 ton four wheeled articulated vehicle with a trailer up to 22 feet in length. Funnily enough, those particular vehicles were far easier to reverse than the smaller vehicles.
Although I was driving at various times a four wheeled 8 ton articulated tractor and vehicle I hadn't actually passed out. At that particular time I had applied for a checker's post at Caerphilly - that was June 1940 - and as a checker in those days during the war the reservation age for a checker was forty but for a heavy goods vehicle driver was thirty-five. Well I had just passed my thirty-fifth birthday and I was instructed to re-register as an HGV driver which kept me in reserved occupation so that I was not called up to serve in the Forces.
It was when I was at Caerphilly I passed out on the four wheeled 8 ton articulated vehicle. On a particular day I was sent out on a special job; We kept what was known as the mobile canteen and the facilities on the canteen were fitted on this low-load vehicle; There was a demonstration in Cardiff I forget the actual demonstration, but I was instructed to take the mobile canteen which was stabled at Caerphilly to Cardiff on this particular Saturday for this event; Now I had not passed out on this type of vehicle but I drove it to Cardiff and when I got to Cardiff I had to go into the station to have the canteen stocked with refreshments by the catering department of the railway. I then took the canteen to what was known as the Sloper Road field where the event was being held, and on the way in I proceeded down the ramp into this field - the field was slightly lower than the road - and when I got into the field Mr Edyvean was there superintending the positioning of various vehicles, and he said to me "Reg, you haven't been passed out on that vehicle, have you?"; I said "No". "Well you have now" he said, "Give me your driving licence", and he inserted on the back of my driving licence that I was now allowed to drive an 8 ton articulated with a four wheel tractor;

(What sort of things were you doing at Caerphilly at this time?)
I was at Caerphilly as a checker in the station but, as you know, during the war the Ministry of Food was created and the Ministry of Food people were looking round places in the valley where they could stock foodstuffs to be away from the dock area which was likely to be bombed. The Ministry of Food were looking round the whole of the country, practically speaking, for areas where they could stock foodstuffs away from any danger of bombing, and we had several depots in Caerphilly which were commandeered by the Ministry of Food. In order to deal with it the first consignment was about three hundred and fifty tons of flour which had to be unloaded and transferred into the particular depot that had been selected; The result was after that the company decided that they would have to put an
additional vehicle at Caerphilly. At that time we only had an 8 ton rigid and a 2 ton rigid and they sent this 6 ton articulated vehicle to Caerphilly and I was the driver, although unappointed, but I was the driver of that particular vehicle and it kept me going .-
(What that meant is you took the flour back and forth?)
Yes, from the depot we unloaded the wagons of flour and it went to the particular place where to be stored; Then, when it was to be distributed, we had to go to the store and collect it and bring it back to the station;
(And you called the store the buffer?)
The buffer department, yes; Then a little later the MOF had a huge warehouse built especially for this sort of traffic and I suppose it must have held at least four or five thousand tons of various sorts of merchandise such as dried fruit, flour, sugar, dried eggs, and all that sort of foodstuff for storing. As a result we had a second 6 ton articulated vehicle sent to the station and another young porter in the station was taught to drive it; So at that time we had two rigids, the 2 ton, the 8 ton, and two Scammel articulateds, and we two articulated drivers used to work always on the buffer. Then they took the big 8 ton rigid away from us to remove some special, very, very, valuable paintings from London into the various safe havens in mid Wales and north Wales, into the quarries where they would be safe. They replaced the 8 ton rigid with a four wheeled 8 ton articulated, a Thorneycroft incidentally, and this was the particular vehicle that I drove to Cardiff - as I have already said - with a mobile canteen; Also a mobile canteen was kept at Caerphilly and on several occasions the canteen was used after some bombing and the two drivers from Caerphilly had to take this canteen to wherever it was required and then when they had finished with it (overnight), bring it back the next day;
(How were you getting to work every day?)
I was going by train;
(So you cycled to the station?)
I used to cycle to Heath Halt and catch the train at Heath Halt up to Caerphilly, and then walk down to the station which was about a mile;
(What sort of turns did you work?)
All day work;
(What sort of starting times?)
I used to start at 7.-30 and work to 5, all day work;
(Were you doing voluntary air raid duty?)
Yes, we were compelled to; After a while, when the air raids became a bit persistent, we had to do fire watching at the station; I hadn't joined the ARP or anything locally, or the LDV as it was known then - the Local Defence Volunteers - otherwise known as Dad's Army, and we were compelled to do fire watching which invariably was on a Saturday night from 10 o'clock or 10:30, if I remember rightly, until 6 o'clock the next morning. Providing you didn't work more than 60 hours a week you had to do your fire watching, but if you worked more than 60 hours you were exempt, but of course we never worked more than 60 hours so we had to do it pretty well every week.
(You didn't have to do any fire watching at home?)
Oh no, I didn't have to do it compulsorily. I joined the fire watching team at home but it wasn't compulsory.
(But you used to go out at home, fire watching?)
Yes, I used to go out at home;
(Were most of the bombing raids at night time at this time?) Pretty well at night time. We had one particular raid which started about Easter - I forget when it actually started.
Getting dark - it was a fire raid, and we were fire-bombed, and the bombs started … We were living at that time alongside
what we called the Flower Park in the recreation area of Roath Park and the first incendiaries fell just on the edge of our street. As we looked down the street, up towards what was known as Cyncoed area, we could see where the incendiaries were dropping and setting alight. It was almost fantastic, like a fairy garden lit with lights. Fortunately, only one dropped in our street, next door but one to where we lived, and it was extinguished very quickly.
(When you were working from Caerphilly did you ever have any daylight raids while you were out working?)
No, no, but I did in Cardiff.
(So you never had to take cover from your lorry at this time)
No, we never had to take cover;
(So we are talking about late 1940 now, are we?)
That's right, 1940, 1941.

As a result of the war continuing and the food situation becoming desperate, buffer depots - as they were known - were introduced to many parts of the country. We had a special buffer depot built which would hold about 7,000 tons of various commodities and because of the amount of buffer traffic the fleet was increased from two vehicles to four; Originally Caerphilly had two rigids, a 2 ton Thorneycroft and an 8 ton Thorneycroft. The 8 ton Thorneycroft, as I have already said, was taken from the depot to take various art treasures right up into the heart of Wales and it was a vehicle that was fitted with a very low secondary gearbox so that it could almost go up a wall, the gearing was so low. This vehicle was replaced by an articulated four wheeled tractor and two wheeled trailer articulated vehicle of the Thorneycroft design.- Two other Scammels were introduced and we three drivers who were driving the articulated vehicles used to work two weeks on the buffer traffic and one week on the general goods deliveries. The amount of traffic that was passed through Caerphilly for a small station was remarkable. The two vehicles engaged on buffer traffic, particularly when transporting flour to or from the buffer, would each convey at least 50 tons every day so the two vehicles for five days would shift 500 tons in the first five days and on the Saturday invariably about 20 tons, somewhere about 18 to 20 tons, about three trips on a Saturday, so that you can see we were very busy. We also had cartons of milk powder, bags of sugar, cartons of dried fruit, tinned meats, corned beef, spam, all the ommodities that you can think of; The usual procedure was when this traffic had arrived at the docks it would be immediately unloaded into wagons and converted from Cardiff Docks to what was known as the Inland Sorting Depot at St Mellons, just outside Cardiff, far enough away from the docks to be comparatively free from air raids; At that depot the wagons would be discharged and the commodities sorted out and reloaded into wagons for the various depots in and around South Wales .
(When you say it came from the docks would this have been imported food?)
Yes, all imported food; It came from America. The convoy would come in and split up and go to various ports in South Wales and the Merseyside ports, what were known as the western approaches.
Of course, obviously to minimise any loss of foodstuff as a result of enemy action these depots were very very useful.
(This is 1941 that we are talking about. You said there wasn't much bombing in Caerphilly)
No. We did have one stick of bombs; the pilot I think, must have lost his way and he dropped a stick of bombs on open country over the mountains; If I remember rightly, there were seven bombs dropped and there were seven holes in the mountain, but they did no damage other than that.
(So you had no raids on your depot)
No, no raids in Caerphilly;
(But you did in Cardiff?)
Yes, we had raids in Cardiff;
(You were fire-watching in the evenings?)
I was fire-watching in Cardiff in the evenings and also I used to do fire-watching every weekend at Caerphilly;
(So you used to go in at weekends and fire-watch)
Every Saturday night I had to go fire-watching.
(That year, in 1941, was the year that I was born)
Yes, that's right; Well, then we had a comparatively busy period with stocking up the various depots with various commodities. They used the old gasworks in Mill Road for the storing of corned beef in 7 Ib tins; I forget how many it was to a case but they were quite heavy and they also used the old lamp room at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd. Incidentally, that was where the terrible colliery explosion occurred in 1913. The colliery concerned was the Universal, and well over four hundred men lost their lives; Indeed it is said that quite a number of those men are still buried there today because the explosion was so devastating that they couldn't go into the various galleries, as they were called, to recover the bodies.

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