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Croft PrtrtWilliam Heaney, Part VI. Newer Taxis and Illegal Driving!

A Wolseley 15/50 replaced the Somerset. Its Reg Nos were ** 4477 but I can’t remember what the Prefix County Letters were (VZ I think). Along with the Wolseley came Fred’s first full-time employed driver, a small chain-smoker called Sam Wasson who’d been a driver for the Herdman Family (They of the famous mill in Sion Mills) until his official retirement. This splendid small luxury car had proper carpets and real walnut dashboard and door cappings and would be referred to as ‘The Maroon’. I probably drove this car illegally more than any other, whether with Sam or my mother riding shotgun. With permission from the customer, I’d go out with Sam on taxi runs that were up in to the foothills of the Sperrins behind the town and then drive the car back to around the 30-Limit. Going visiting places with my mother, where appropriate she’d hand over as soon as we were off the main roads and less likely to encounter faster traffic or maybe even a Guarda or Police patrol. Over about three years of this practice, we were never stopped once and never got close to having an accident. As you’ll discover, this activity didn’t go entirely un-noticed by our RUC neighbours at the end of the street and frustrating punitive reparation would be applied, eventually.

Wolseley15-50

A beautiful blue/grey Humber Super Snipe MkIV Limousine, with a wind-up glass divider, then replaced the Hawk. It was christened “The Grey Lady” by Fred and was almost exclusively driven by him, although latterly I was allowed to bring it out of the rented ‘tandem’ garage behind the house and next door to the single garage that connected directly to our back yard. The latter had barely a foot of width to spare, at the door, over the 15/50 and its successors, before widening out to about 10 feet. Why it’d ended up such an odd shape is too long a story for here and could lead to legal action by the descendants of the builders of a pair of wedge shaped garages for us and our neighbours!
I did have some ‘illegal return runs’ with Fred in the Snipe, which meant that I encountered a column gear-change for the one and only time that I can remember. For our younger viewers, this was a full H-Pattern mounted on the left of steering column. An additional small chrome lever actuated the overdrive but I never got to use it because I was never going fast enough. Being almost two feet longer than the Hawk because of its silky smooth 4litre straight-six engine and additional rear legroom resulted in polishing it up being a real marathon. Although this job did command premium pocket money, there was an even bigger one yet to come.
Whilst the majority of Christmas Days were spent at home, usually with additional family and/or friends as guests, we’d go to family or friends in rotation year on year on Boxing Days. The Christmas after my 14th birthday the parents and I went to the Dennistons and I think we had one of my mother’s cousins with us. Whilst it wasn’t unknown for Fred to get “well oiled” on occasions such as this and my mother drive home, somehow she must have overindulged this time and most surprisingly I was elected to drive the Snipe back. At this time there were more stringent Border Controls between NI and RoI, so you actually exported and imported your car each time you crossed the Border and every vehicle carried a Log Book which had to be stamped at both Customs posts. A stamp missing from the correct place in the book meant the vehicle would immediately be impounded and possibly forfeit. It was fairly common that a Garda or RUC officer would also be on duty at the respective Customs Posts. Therefore, I was instructed to use one of the ‘Unapproved Roads’, that had no Customs Post, to cross back home taking us via the townland of Doneyloop south of Clady and so on to Strabane. It being the early hours of the morning the trip was completed without issue, although the last bit through the town would’ve been a bit nerve-racking. Sometime over the next couple of days Fred would have re-traced the journey back as far as Doneyloop, cut across to Castlefin and then crossed back over the Border at Lifford to legally re-import the car to NI – PHEW!!
Despite having hardly driven it, the Snipe was easily my favourite of all the taxis and it annoys me that I can’t remember its Reg. No. now. I remember being quite upset when I found out that the Snipe was to be replaced after barely two years (The first heart over head car moment of which there would be more). A couple of months ago I met a fellow enthusiast who has one and he has invited me to have a drive in it when its next back on the road.

Humber Snipe

Wolseley 25 Reg. No. MZ 5541 replaced the Snipe. This 1948 Coach-built Limousine was christened ‘The Queen Mary’ and wasn’t that much easier to manoeuvre, being near enough 18 feet from bumper to bumper. It’d be a couple of years before I was allowed to drive it, although I did shunt it up and down the tandem garage to keep it “warmed up” between its jobs. As well as being able to carry complete wedding parties, thanks to the twin ‘jump seats’ that folded out from the divider, my father had a local coach-builders make up a small full width bench that slotted over them. This enabled him to carry a full school cricket or hockey team, with teacher, making it more economical for the schools. Thankfully it only required polishing a couple of times a year, although the fabric roof insert eliminated an extra acre of toil. Once I was qualified to drive I was kitted out with a ‘chauffeur’s outfit’ of black suit, gloves and nifty peaked cap that had a removable white cover that was taken off for funeral duties. I still have the cap, but I don’t think any photos of me dressed as such exist any more. Thankfully it only required polishing a couple of times a year, although the fabric roof insert eliminated an extra acre of toil. From around the time the 15/50 arrived pocket money was earned by doing weekly fluid and tyre checks on the cars and washing them. There was monthly polishing in rotation which earned an extra 1/-s each time. The polish wasn’t any of the nancy liquid stuff you have nowadays but a solid wax harder than shoe polish that was applied using a damp cloth and then buffed off when it had dried. It was hard work and good aerobic exercise.

Wolseley 25

More from William, same time next week.