Old codger

[seanandruby]

driving back from heathrow last night there was an old boy thumbing a lift and it reminded me of an occasion years ago on the way back from w,hampton. it was bad recession and me and some lads had been on the knocker. ( had to be done sorry.) It was freezing cold. icy and windy. An old geezer had is thumb out so we stopped for him. He said " i got to get to brum to the day centre before 5.oclock to get fed. " i drove miles out of my way to get him there. on the way he was telling us about his hard life, lost his family, house tried suicide the whole lot. any way we all chipped in and gave him a few quid then dropped him off. a few weeks later in a different van we where on our way to w,hampton and guess who was thumbing a lift. we stopped for him and not recognising us ( obviously because he had so many over. ) he gave us the same speal. bless him he was doing that trip back and frwards for years making a fortune. :laugh: ive been had over a few times but with this one i thought fair play to the old boy. he didnt sit there moaning because of the recession he got out and made a few bob. cant wait till i look old enogh to try it. :laugh:

[Dave_L]

I never give lifts to anybody - except tall leggy blondes :p

[lutonlagerlout]

that was me sean :p
LLL

[seanandruby]

i know i recognised the boots m8 :laugh:

[mouldmaker]

On the knocker?

Not familiar with that one.

[lutonlagerlout]

"on the knocker" is basically touting for business
i.e. "hello sir/madam ,we were just working down the road and wondered if you would like your drive tarmaced" etc etc
like sean says the early 90's recession was a kick in the bollox for a lot of lads and in desperate times you do desperate things,i know i did
cheers LLL

[bluffer]

Desperate it may be but a lot of lads get a lot of work this way...

[lutonlagerlout]

i wouldnt recommend anyone take up any service they are offered on their doorstep,it was a tough time then,nowdays most people work on recommendation,so if someone is knocking then they have no references===> why??
regards LLL

[bobhughes]

Round here, chances are that anyone "on the knock" lives in a caravan. They even have quite professional flyers with a local number but I wouldn't trust them an inch.

[Stuarty]

Its exactly the same up here bob, but when they feel theyve screwed over enough people they just up and go, or change their name and number and start all over again. Its a wonder how they get work, mind you, theres plenty vulnerable people that are sadly all to easily conned.

[mouldmaker]

Ah, down here we call it doorstepping.

And same as there, the guys who do it now work out of white vans with mobile numbers on the sides.

[lutonlagerlout]

i saw two pikeys knocking telling ppl their roof needed fixing, a guy said to us ( he was about 80) do you think my chimney needs repointing???
well i said not really and not for £800,that they wanted.
sad to say after we were gone they intimidated him into having it done and made a right mess of it
slags
another guy was doorstepped (an indian man) anyway he turned down the offer of a blockpaved drive
when he came home from work the next day they had done it(of a fashion) and said if he didnt pay or went to the police they knew where his kids went to school
the problem is and i have seen it when the police are called, is that it is classed as a civil matter and the police do not want to get involved,especially when the pikeys are involved.
if ppl doing this started getting some proper bird then they might think twice
frustrated LLL

[seanandruby]

as LLL said " desparate tmes..." being tme served i would like to think i did a good job on the knocker. there where a few cowboys who drank in the same pub as me and where always back hours before i was with donkey chokers in there pockets. there was one gang who even committed murder through it. there was no one home so they broke in but someone dropped in unexpectedly and they shot him dead. they were lifed up.any one knocks for work best tell them no thanks. by the way i had a white van. :p

[lutonlagerlout]

donkey chokers

before anyone asks,this is a wedge of money big enough to choke a donkey
in the 80's when cash was still de rigeur i sat in the carpenters arms in slapton one luchtime (still drank at work then) with a car dealer, a builder, and a scrap metal merchant
they were arguing about who had the biggest roll so they put £50 each in and i started counting
the car dealer had £17k on him the builder 10 and the scrapy 8
now that is a ridiculous amount to walk about with don't ya think
P.S. we then had a pie eating contest and the builder managed 6 steak and kidneys in 20 minutes,i could only do 4 (11 stone at that time :;):
cheers LLL

[seanandruby]

at work at heathrow there is a bloke who is just building op ( that used to be that awful word labourer ) and he carries and flashes 2 grand. ive told him one day someone will have that off you even if they have to smack you over the head. is answer..." how could they we are at heathrow." how nieve are some people? why carry that much money it doesnt impress me.