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Tell me the old old story
Page 84
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DRIVERS who think they are hard done-by might change their tune after reading the valediction to George Gains, of Dor to Dor Carriers Ltd, in RHA Southern News. When he worked in his father's business in south London in the early 1930s, drivers booked on at 5.45am and off at about 7.30pm, after which they had to unharness and brush their horses.
For brushing and combing a horse and cleaning the harness on a Sunday morning the driver was paid the equivalent of 5p, or 10p for two. If I remember aright, 5p would have bought three pints of mild ale — and often did.
Unlike the men, the horses had frequent holidays on the firm's Surrey farm, to which they were +/Yolked at night — a trip that took five to six hours. I hope the wretched horse walkers got a lift back.