View Full Version : Down memory lane: that white tank?
London_Calling
03-09-2006, 17:00
the big one with the turret and caterpillar wheels and, well, proper gun barrel.
Wondered what happened to it and the owner - think the last few times I saw it was parked part way down Acre Lane, I presume outside the owner's home :D
That was at least a decade ago, I suppose.
Anyone know the story ?
Mrs Magpie
03-09-2006, 17:03
It was pink
there was a pink tank for ages at the top of old kent road, last year it got painted dark grey and silver, and then i went past today and my step-daughter pointed out that the tank has gone :(
detective-boy
03-09-2006, 17:57
The tosser who owned it was always in dispute with the police or the council or some or other agency. He used to drive it down Brixton Road and "break down" in the middle of a junction causing fucking mayhem.
Unfortunately one of my PCs used to be in the Tank Regiment and drive the things ... and he worked out a bit had been deliberately removed which is why it wouldn't go ... which turned up in the pocket of the owner ... who then found himself nicked again ...
He was a right pain in the ass.
Mrs Magpie
03-09-2006, 18:02
He wasn't popular with the council either...he had an ego the size of a planet...he thought everyone loved him but he was generally perceived as a tosser as you say....the noise of that tank was appalling.
The guy was from Norbury, and in continous dispute with one public body or another. You're right, the tank was parked for a time on Acre Lane (I think he may have had some business operating in what is now the used tyre place), and had various colour schemes. Last I saw it, it had broken down or run out of petrol by Kennington Park, returning from haranguing the crowds going into an Arsenal Match. That was a couple of years ago.
He seems to have had an especial relationship with Brixton police.
Police pay out for pig-parking prank (http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200southlondonheadlines/tm_objectid=11395829%26method=full%26siteid=50100-name_page.html)
Mrs Magpie
03-09-2006, 21:13
Folk memory has it that he was the shark on the roof man, but that was someone else....
http://www.headington.org.uk/history/misc/shark.htm
fortyplus
03-09-2006, 21:23
It was pink
It started green, then it was painted white for a wedding, then it was pink, sponsored by or jumping on the bandwagon for Tank Girl the movie, then yellow.
If it wasn't the same guy who had the marlin on the roof (John Gladden???) it was certainly closely associated with him and joined in all his protests to parliament.
The morning after a little commotion we had in 1995 when the media were all jumpy that it would be 1985 again and loads of outside police were drafted in he drove it round the centre of Brixton - it was pink at the time - with a number of inflatable pigs in policemen's uniforms tied to it.
Which always rather endeared him to me.
Mrs Magpie
03-09-2006, 21:34
Yeah, he had the marlin on his roof, but loads of people thought he was the shark on the roof man....which was somewhere else....
RaverDrew
03-09-2006, 21:36
The guy was from Norbury, and in continous dispute with one public body or another. You're right, the tank was parked for a time on Acre Lane (I think he may have had some business operating in what is now the used tyre place), and had various colour schemes. Last I saw it, it had broken down or run out of petrol by Kennington Park, returning from haranguing the crowds going into an Arsenal Match. That was a couple of years ago.
He seems to have had an especial relationship with Brixton police.
Police pay out for pig-parking prank (http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200southlondonheadlines/tm_objectid=11395829%26method=full%26siteid=50100-name_page.html)
That guy was cool
It all started when he stuck a massive marlin on his roof, that he caught while on holiday.
The council told him to take it down, so he went to all out war with them. :D
He even had a HUGE inflatable winston churchill on his house at one point. Fuckin class !!! http://www.urban75.net/ubb/icons/icon14.gif
Mrs Magpie
03-09-2006, 21:38
What didn't endear him to me was the way he'd hold up traffic, buses etc as a sort of ego number...didn't care about all the people he inconvenienced and pissed off again and again and again....because he thought his obsessive spats were the be-all and end-all and he was far more important than everyone else who lived here....
subversplat
03-09-2006, 21:46
Yeah, he had the marlin on his roof, but loads of people thought he was the shark on the roof man....which was somewhere else....
The shark on the roof is in Oxford :)
RaverDrew
03-09-2006, 21:48
What didn't endear him to me was the way he'd hold up traffic, buses etc as a sort of ego number...didn't care about all the people he inconvenienced and pissed off again and again and again....because he thought his obsessive spats were the be-all and end-all and he was far more important than everyone else who lived here....
You could say the same about many forms of demonstration.
Like those pesky Mayday soapdodgers that shutdown part of Central London each year. ;)
Mrs Magpie
03-09-2006, 21:54
The shark on the roof is in Oxford :)Yeah, I posted the link to the Headington shark further up this page
subversplat
03-09-2006, 22:04
Yeah, I posted the link to the Headington shark further up this page
Oh yeah! I thought I was being useful there :(
detective-boy
04-09-2006, 08:47
I think he'd be first in the queue for an ASBO nowadays ...
Minnie_the_Minx
04-09-2006, 13:07
Yeah, he had the marlin on his roof, but loads of people thought he was the shark on the roof man....which was somewhere else....
Getting confused now.
So who had the Marlin? :confused:
RaverDrew
04-09-2006, 13:13
Getting confused now.
So who had the Marlin? :confused:
The guy in Norbury, South London.
fortyplus
04-09-2006, 16:44
The guy in Norbury, South London.
who was (or was not?) the same person who had the chameleon tank (although a weaponsnerdy friend insisted it wasn't a tank, it was a self-propelled gun) and a metal-bashing business on Acre Lane, now turned into a yuppie-yard.
probably.
Getting confused now.
So who had the Marlin? :confused:
The Mormon from Chiswick with the remote control Wooly Mammoth.
http://www.bibleprobe.com/mammoth.jpg
RaverDrew
05-09-2006, 03:13
who was (or was not?) the same person who had the chameleon tank (although a weaponsnerdy friend insisted it wasn't a tank, it was a self-propelled gun) and a metal-bashing business on Acre Lane, now turned into a yuppie-yard.
probably.
Not 100% about the acre lane connection, but he definitely had a tank that he customized reguarly, to taxi himself to court and back, and parked outside his house.
Personally I only ever saw him going in the tank (upper norwwod/crystal palace way) towards croydon. Although I read and heard about him taking it up central london to protest.
tarannau
05-09-2006, 12:25
The guy in Norbury, South London.
He. My aunt lives pretty much opposite his house. They used to get so pissed off with people trailing past his house at Chrimbo, when the giant marlin was joined by Winston Churchill, a spitfire AND a giant santa, reindeers and sled. Quite remarkable - eventually I think the council gave up with the idea of forcing him to remove the marlin from the roof, realising that perhaps the retaliatory ten tons of inflatables he kept sticking up in defiance wasn't any better.
The bloke even used to pay his employees to put on combat fatigues and "Un' blue berets on and march in front of his house from time to time. And he owns that US-style police car with the policemen (pants rolled down, receiving a batty slap) on top that you see driving around from time to time. Nutter.
Interestingly the church where the man went loopy with the Samurai sword is at the end of the same road too. It must be something about Norbury...
;)
Mrs Magpie
05-09-2006, 12:27
I'm going to stop saying 'Normal for Norfolk' and saying 'Normal for Norbury' instead....
London_Calling
05-09-2006, 21:21
Thanks for the replies. Fwiw, I do now remember it as while and pink, though I'll take your word for which came first. I also remembered we used to call him 'Rommel' for a while, though I can't recall why.
Memories, eh. Wish I had more left.
RaverDrew
05-09-2006, 21:44
http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/_images/db/0/18/09080320011145241.1817.full.jpg
http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/archive/display.var.18720.0.0.html
http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/archive/display.var.631456.0.0.html
Brixton Hatter
06-09-2006, 00:31
The tosser who owned it was always in dispute with the police or the council or some or other agency. He used to drive it down Brixton Road and "break down" in the middle of a junction causing fucking mayhem.
Unfortunately one of my PCs used to be in the Tank Regiment and drive the things ... and he worked out a bit had been deliberately removed which is why it wouldn't go ... which turned up in the pocket of the owner ... who then found himself nicked again ...
He was a right pain in the ass.
i remember seeing him drive it past my flat in elephant & castle in about '96 making a sh!tload of noise....there was someone standing on the roof dressed in a police uniform but wearing a huge pig mask..they were holding a massive sign saying "we're not gonna take any more shit from the pigs!"
..so i guessed he didn't really get on that well with the Met :D
So one afternoon a few years ago I turned right out of St James's Park underground into Broadway, SW1... and hear this grinding noise.
The pink tank is sat outside New Scotland Yard, with the barrel swivelling up to point at the Commissioner's office.
Made my day :D
Brixton Hatter
06-09-2006, 13:32
The pink tank is sat outside New Scotland Yard, with the barrel swivelling up to point at the Commissioner's office.:D
Where is he when we really need him???!!!!!!!
bazilbrush6
07-04-2008, 12:04
The tosser who owned it was always in dispute with the police or the council or some or other agency. He used to drive it down Brixton Road and "break down" in the middle of a junction causing fucking mayhem.
Unfortunately one of my PCs used to be in the Tank Regiment and drive the things ... and he worked out a bit had been deliberately removed which is why it wouldn't go ... which turned up in the pocket of the owner ... who then found himself nicked again ...
He was a right pain in the ass.
was that the shaved copper who couldnt work out for 20 mins where reverse was and the fuse was taken out hahahhahahahahahhah that was the tosser
Think he must have been a Palace fan - I saw the tank (it was yellow at the time) parked up in a bus stop just at the Vauxhall end of South Lambeth Rd the day of the play off final between Palace and Sheffield Utd in ?1997 I think. There were a load of guys standing on the tank with Palace flags - I was on my way up to Wembley to see the game and asked for a lift to Victoria where I was meeting people. But they said it was too full already :( So I never got my go on the tank...
was that the shaved copper who couldnt work out for 20 mins where reverse was and the fuse was taken out hahahhahahahahahhah that was the tosser
are you tank man bb6? where is the tank now?
He. My aunt lives pretty much opposite his house. They used to get so pissed off with people trailing past his house at Chrimbo, when the giant marlin was joined by Winston Churchill, a spitfire AND a giant santa, reindeers and sled. Quite remarkable - eventually I think the council gave up with the idea of forcing him to remove the marlin from the roof, realising that perhaps the retaliatory ten tons of inflatables he kept sticking up in defiance wasn't any better.
The bloke even used to pay his employees to put on combat fatigues and "Un' blue berets on and march in front of his house from time to time. And he owns that US-style police car with the policemen (pants rolled down, receiving a batty slap) on top that you see driving around from time to time. Nutter.
Interestingly the church where the man went loopy with the Samurai sword is at the end of the same road too. It must be something about Norbury...
;)
The guy with the sword attacked a church in thornton heath.
The guy with the sword attacked a church in thornton heath.
guy i worked with's mum was in the congregation when he did that :(
Is the Marlin man still in Norbury then? :cool:
bazilbrush6
09-04-2008, 13:47
are you tank man bb6? where is the tank now?
he moved his company from brixton to croydon lightning fastners hes called the company yes i drove the tank fook me it was actualiiy a good laugh im still laughing c ya bazil
happyshopper
09-04-2008, 15:56
My friend George, who knows about this sort of thing, told me that it wasn't a tank, it was a mobile gun. The main difference, apparently, is that a mobile gun is a lot lighter, as it doesn't have the armour plating, so it can be driven on public roads without making enormous ruts in the tarmac.
I just thought people would like to know.
Andy the Don
09-04-2008, 17:35
My friend George, who knows about this sort of thing, told me that it wasn't a tank, it was a mobile gun. The main difference, apparently, is that a mobile gun is a lot lighter, as it doesn't have the armour plating, so it can be driven on public roads without making enormous ruts in the tarmac.
I just thought people would like to know.
He's right you know..
It was one of these, an Abbot self propelled gun.
http://www.military-vehicle.net/vcls/Abbot.1.jpg
I remember the American cop care with the cop with his trousers down used to take perverse pleasure in driving up & down past Brixton police station.
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