Chapter 18

Trouble nearer to home.

Another incident now further reinforced both Danny and Tom’s decision to soon quit the whole gang scene that they had become part of. It all started off quite innocently on one Saturday night when the two of them attended a dance in the nearby town of Brownhills at a venue called ‘The Memorial Hall’. It was a large dance hall that was especially popular with the locals. After dancing with a couple of girls, Danny and Tom were stood at the bar drinking a pint when a guy whom they had never seen before barged into Tom, knocking most of his pint over. Tom called out after him, “Watch what you are doing, you pratt.”

The guy then stopped before turning to face Tom. He was a tall guy with a short crew cut and wearing a white T shirt with dark blue jeans. He asked Tom in a manner that suggested that he should know without being told, “Do you know who the hell you are talking to?”

Tom, his temper now rising replied, “Yes, the twat who knocked over my drink.”

Suddenly a big guy moved between the two of them, and, taking the gobby guy by the arm, he led him away saying, “Come on Jack, let’s not have any trouble, eh.”

Tom sat down but still looked daggers across to where the guy had now joined some of his friends. After a few minutes the guy who had intervened came to their table and sat facing them. As Danny looked across the table at him a look of recognition came to him as he saw it was his old friend from junior school, Mick Morris.

His friend held out his hand across the table saying, “So, you finally remember who I am, Danny.”

Danny shook his head, before asking him how he was and what he had been up to in the ten plus years since they had last seen each other. Mick informed them both who the guy who had spilled Tom’s beer was. When he revealed that his name was Jack Collis, the two of them now looked at each other before Tom asked, “Don’t tell us, he is Wilf Collis’s brother, am I right?”

Mick nodded his head. “Yes, indeed he is. He by himself is just a prick, but he lives on his brother’s reputation.”

The boys then thanked Mick for defusing the situation after which they both decided to finish their drinks and move on to avoid a further clash with either Jack Collis or his cronies.

The next day they mentioned what had occurred at the dance to Mazza, who agreed that avoiding a further clash with Jack Collis had been the right decision. He then told them that he had in fact worked with the brother Wilf Collis, when he had been coal face worker at ‘Lea Hall pit’. He also informed them that he was over 6ft tall with the build of Charles Atlas and that his temper was also well known as being ferocious. He further informed them that as far as he knew he now ran several rackets around the Brownhills area, but his main one was in breaking scrap cars at a yard in ‘Coppice Lane’ and could be found most evenings sat in the bar at the ‘Station Hotel’ from where he conducted most of his business.

Danny was impressed with Mazza’s knowledge of Wilf Collis to which when he mentioned this Mazza replied, “It pays to know these things, the only business though that I have had with him was a few years ago when I sold him a frame for his ‘Goldie’ that he had bent in a smash. He is a bit of a bike enthusiast and that is all I know, so let’s hope his twat of a brother does not stir things up between us.”

Over the next few weeks life went on much as usual until that is one Saturday morning when Danny was in the workshop working on an old Thunderbird, while Sean sat in the armchair smoking while discussing his love life or at this time the lack of it with Mazza.

Tom was not with them on this morning. Suddenly a Ford 5cwt van pulled up outside after which two guys came into the workshop. Looking around, the taller of the two asked, “Who is in charge here, then?’

Sean having finished his cigarette said, “That is according to what you are after, old son.”

Danny on hearing this looked up from what he was doing and immediately recognized the voice of Jack Collis who after looking around answered Sean, “Motorcycle parts, that is what I am after.”

Sean pointed towards Danny saying, “Then that is the man you need to talk to.”

Jack Collis now also recognized Danny as being the guy who had been with Tom at the ‘Memo’ dance. He now seemed to hesitate before asking, “A magneto, that is what I am after for my brother’s D.B.34 Gold Star.”

Danny decided to treat Wilf as he would any other customer, so not mentioning their previous encounter he pointed out to him that the ‘B.S.A. Gold Star’ used a special magneto called a Lucas Golden magneto, which are very rare to come by.

Jack Collis answered arrogantly by saying, “I did not ask for a history of motorcycles, just have you got one or not?”

Mazza who up to now had kept in the background while this discussion had taken place, after putting down his cup of tea entered the discussion by walking up to face Jack Collis, who at this point did not look quite so cocky. “Manners young man, you seem to have left yours at home.”

He then instructed Danny to fetch a Lucas Golden Magneto from the storeroom, after which he placed this on the bench. Mazza looking unimpressed by Jack’s attitude said, “£ 10.00 that is how much I want for it, that’s with a 2-month warranty on it.”

Jack looked at this on the bench then picked it up as if to inspect it. “No, I don’t think it is worth a tenner, I will give you a fiver, how’s that?”

Mazza’s face hardened as he too now picked up the magneto. “Do you know how scarce these are, you brainless twat.”

Jack tried to act the hard man by once more pushing his luck with, “Okay seven quid and that’s it.”

Danny looked at Sean as they both knew Mazza’s temper had by now reached boiling point.

Mazza instructed Danny to bring him the small sledgehammer that they used for obstinate jobs in the workshop.

Jack looked on wondering if this was to hit him with or what. His not knowing now ended abruptly as Mazza hit the magneto twice with the hammer rendering it useless. He then looked at a bemused Jack before throwing the hammer to one side.

Then after kicking the remains of the Magneto to one side, he added, “That’s how much I need your tenner, so don’t forget to tell your brother whose fault it is, that he does not have his magneto.”

Jack looked shocked not expecting this to have been the outcome, as he now tried in vain to recover some control in front of his friend, who had up to this point, not said a word but had just stood looking on at the proceedings.

Jack found his voice once more as he headed towards the safety of his van by calling out. “You wait until Wilf knows about this; you will be sorry if he pays you a visit.”

Mazza now in a foul mood ran to the van before grabbing Jack’s jacket through the van’s open window announcing, “Visit me, tell your brother any time any place, you twat.”

And with that, the pair made a hasty retreat in their van, the smoke coming from its exhaust and tyres was evidence as to how quickly they left.

Sean was the first to speak after Mazza returned to the workshop by saying, “What the fuck happens now, are we at war with Wilf Collis and his gang?”

Mazza now having calmed down somewhat just shrugged, “Who knows, but I am not having a wanker like him dictate to me.”

Danny could see from the look on Sean’s face that the thought of tangling with Wilf Collis was not something that he was looking forward to.

As the week ahead moved on, Mazza seemed to calm down and although the encounter with Jack Collis was not forgotten it was no longer the main topic of their conversation. Until a couple of weeks later when Sean accompanied Mazza to see Jim Ferry who was the boss of a large car and commercial vehicle business in Brownhills. Mazza had dealt with Jim Ferry for several years mostly in supplying him with part time drivers to deliver vehicles he had sold to different parts of the country. This involved the men being paid cash in hand therefore not costing Jim office time to deduct income tax and the like.

As they entered Jim’s office which consisted of a large old motor coach having finished its usefulness on the road and now serving as a comfortable office, Jim as usual offered them coffee, but he seemed on edge as if he wanted to say something but was afraid to do so.

Mazza picked up on this, so in his usual tactless way he asked, “So, what is bothering you, Jim, my old son? Because by looking at your face, you look like you have lost a tenner and found a quid.”

Jim wrung his hands together before he plucked up courage to answer, “Well, Mazza you know that I employ other drivers beside the ones that you supply.”

Both Mazza and Sean looked puzzled at this and when Jim did not elaborate any more, they both looked at him waiting for him to continue.

Jim stood up and after lighting a cigarette he turned to face them and finally continued,

“I have a contract for six tippers to deliver coal from ‘Lea Hall’ pit to several power stations. This contract is vital to keep my business turning over. But a problem has arisen in so much as the drivers and vehicles are supplied and contracted out to me by Wilf Collis.”

As Mazza and Sean looked at each other the penny finally dropped as to why Jim Ferry was so anxious. Mazza shook his head before replying, “Don’t tell me Wilf Collis has threatened to stop his men working for you, as long as I supply you with my drivers, am I correct?’”

Jim looking fearful as to what Mazza might do, just nodded his head, “I am sorry, Mazza, but what can I do? As I have explained to you the coal contract is my main money maker, I just cannot do without it even for a few weeks.”

Mazza could see what an awkward position Jim was in through no fault of his own. He could not be angry with him, so he asked Jim to give him one week to sort this out in a way that suited both parties. Jim, relieved to have the meeting over, agreed at once to this.

Once they were on their way home in the car Mazza’s anger resurfaced, by his hitting the dashboard so hard that Sean who was at the time driving almost lost control of the car. After pulling up outside the workshop his anger had still not abated as he marched inside swearing and punching a petrol tank on a customer’s motorcycle so hard that he dented it. Danny and Tom looked on, not daring to ask, what had brought on his foul mood. After one hour of hearing all the things that Mazza intended to do to Wilf Collis, they realised they now had a big problem on their hands.

Both Danny and Tom had seen at first hand, what Mazza’s temper was like, but up to this point they had not witnessed quite how far he would go when confronting an adversary. This was all to change when he announced that they would be paying Wilf Collis a visit that very night.