Jackdaw 9

Monday 1st August
Called into Darlington Car and Commercial to arrange to have the van picked up on the Thursday, we were working every day but that day we would be home at 4 so it was arranged to get it dropped off after that so we could put it into our yard. I rang Peter and he just said I could take it anytime it was our van now and he probably would not be there anyway. Because of the uniqueness of the vehicle and its location I went to great lengths to describe all the details about the van and its awkward parking position I even gave them a photo.
Paid out ££££……

Wednesday 3 rd August
We were working all day up in Northumberland at Cragside House.
The mobile rang. "Hi" said the voice "I am here to collect a vehicle but there is nobody home"
They had put down the wrong date. I thought what the hell, go for it, and told this chap to collect it anyway but he could not deliver it back to our house until after six to which he agreed. Five minutes later he rang back, he obviously did not have my detail sheet as he moaned about the access and the fact the van had no brakes and he was on his own. I said I was sorry but it was not my problem, get on with it, I had told the office all of this. He rang his office and I rang the office and eventually he picked the van up and we just got home to see him arrive with van on the back of a low loader. (See next page). He had calmed down a bit when he arrived and after he dropped the van off in the side street we talked a bit and he said that he had worked with Fords all of his life and the running gear was not Escort as Peter had described but the front end was from a Cortina and the engine was a Pinto block, this I confirmed later. With help from our son and his mates we squeezed the van into the yard it was a bit tight as it had to go in with a caravan.
At last it was finally home.