mr sun worshipper:
my mate did mention a couple of other drivers…Mick Maunders…& Jeff Ruggins so does anyone know these guys?
Jeff was my Step- DAD went to Tehran with him in1977 best six weeks of my life. sadly he died 2 years later. I’m gonna try and post some photos soon so people can remember these great days
bestbooties:
mr sun worshipper:
my mate did mention a couple of other drivers…Mick Maunders…& Jeff Ruggins so does anyone know these guys?You bet!
Mickey Maunders worked for Chapman and Ball at the same time as me.Great bloke to work with,where is he now?
Jeff Ruggins name is carved in the folklore of M/E trucking.He was famed for his “Camion curry stew”.We worked together on Simon International.
I remember well the time he knocked up a Camion curry for a bunch of us lads in Volos while waiting for the Tartous ferry.His currys were so hot they could cure anything.On this particular ocassion Tony Khan was with us,who was no stranger to curry dishes,but he did query Jeff as to what was in it as he had a job to get it down him.
You could not miss Jeff with his blond crew cut,no teeth and hands like shovels,I think he was ex paras,a great mate,but not a bloke to fall out with!
Sadly,Jeff died one Saturday night while at home after taking his dog for a walk.This must be over 20 years ago,he was probably in his 40’s.
Jeff will be remembered along with the other trailblazers on the M/E run along with names like Howard Leighton,Maurice Gray,Atholl Addison,and many more.
RIP all.
THANKS for the nice comments your right ive had more than a few of them curries 
Hi davidb1962.I remember Jeff well.He was my mentor when i first started pulling for Asian in the 70s.Without a doubt he was one of the finest people i ever had the pleasure of knowing.I can honestly say that my knowledge and experiences would have been considerably poorer had i not have met him.I still think of him from time to time.
I wrote a couple of posts about running with him on the Astran forum [somewhere].If you have any photos you can post it would be nice as there are few photos of Jeff to be found from when he worked for Asian,PIE,or Simons.Take care.Mike
Think you knew my father, Lew Sains. Didn’t you live in Ronan Point in Canning Town
Louise
bullitt:
Any of you ex Middle East lads used to know or remember a chap callled Terry Brookes? He was from Birmingham / Solihull area and used to be a regular on the M/E run in the 80`s? A real laugh, very dry sense of humour, smoked a pipe I think? I think he said he had a Transcon at one time, but then again, on the middle east run, so did a few hundred othersI cant remeber who he used to work for but I do remember him saying that when he got down there he used to do abit of “internal” work,cash in hand, until he decided to head back home or until he got a back load sorted.
Another name that came to mind was a chap called Dave Terry, from Essex or East Angla area, soft spoken, slim, grey hair, only drank Coke! I think he used to do alot of Russia in the 80`s.
Just a thought…I worked with both these blokes for a couple of years in the early 90`s.Loved listening to some of their storys.
Cheers, bullitt.
Dave was from Chelmsford he ran for Brain haulage to Russia on M & S shipping work, He then came on M & S direct, we mainly did EU and Hungry.
Apologies for the quality of the photos but I thought this might bring back some memories, even though this was almost 50 years ago.
Turkish road trip 21/4/1976 Darlington to Tehran city (1/5/1976)
Collect the trailer from a car park in Darlington, fill up with fuel and head south down the North road to Bowcliffe Hall for photographs with Hargreaves.
Down to Felixstowe and the first customs post, onto the ferry, Viking 1. Where we get a good meal and a clean bed, we also meet up with Jim Brown, a driver working for John McNeil of Glasgow the same company for which we are hauling the trailer for. Jim Brown is driving Volvo 89, which he handles like an extension of his little finger. Mr Gray the owner and driver of the Leyland Marathon has worked with Jim before and knows him well. Jim left the Glasgow depot at 12:30 and arrived at Felixstowe at 21:00, he must have driven like the wind.
The ferry leaves at 01:00and arrives at Zeebrugge Belgium at 07:00, unloaded and off the ship 08:00, clear customs 10:00. We hope we have no bother on the Belgium / German Border – no problems. Onto Cologne to catch the overnight freight train, Cologne – Ludwigsburg, sleeping accommodation on the train quite good.
Off the train early morning 03:00.
Cross the German/Austrian border and Austrian/Yugoslavia border and have 405 miles under our belts spending the first night sleeping in the Marathons cab on the Yugoslav side of the border. It’s not too bad and there’s plenty of room.
Another early start, the drivers call this part the Ho-Chi-Minh trail, down through Yugoslavia where we see a few bad accidents and the sites of many more are marked by wreathes and crosses displaying the pictures of the victims.
We arrive at the Yugoslavian/Bulgarian border late at night, 504 miles and clear a customs post. Not bad going in 1 day.
Travelling through Bulgaria on a weekend is no fun as all the special police are on duty, at every cross road they are anxious to annoy someone, the laws are very unusual – no overtaking in any town or village, slow down at every minor crossroad to mention a few.
The roads in Bulgaria are not too bad.
We meet up with 2 other drivers from McNeil’s, they’re driving new DAF 2800’s, these vehicles have had troubles, one trailer lost a set of twin wheels, sheered the studs off! We all work to get them mobile and driving like hell to make up lost time.
Jim Brown is hauling a Supercube step frame trailer with 18” wheels and has 2 blowouts – more aggro.
Off again, then bang! another goes (must cut out the speeding). Onto the Edirne on the Turkish borders. This is the place where the word aggro was coined, aggravation! customs officials, police, soldiers, special agents, road agents, hawkers and kids with something to sell, somewhere free enterprise starts. After a long time, we finally get through.
Onto Istanbul where we spend 2 days repairing tyres and making sure we’re ok for the Turkish track. On the whole the roads haven’t been too bad, narrow with twists, turns and sheer drops etc, but no big potholes. Onto Ankara where the standard of driving is bad the further east we go the worse it gets. We overnight at a “Morcamp” a thief proof compound in Ankara,
Leaving early in the morning. 04:30, less movement of vehicles now except for busses, light – medium haulage, international tourists and T.I.R transport, the roads are very poor with lots of potholes, soft spots and ungraded rough surface with very bad sides. We see a few wrecks.
We spend the night on a filling station forecourt where we have to pay. This is the start of a long pull up through the mountain villages with snow covered tops. Very bad storm through the night, thunder lightening and very heavy rain.
We try for an early morning start but the Volvo has electrical issues, fix the problem and we’re off. The roads are awash and it’s not possible to see the potholes, however we are still maintaining 45-50 MPH and hit these holes hard.
I spend the day this day in the big DAF, Willie Hughes the driver is no stranger to this trip and has been out 8 times before. The DAF cab is very good with plenty of uncluttered space, very clean and tidy inside. It’s fitted with 1200 tubeless tyres and the ride isn’t as good as the Marathon.
We are ascending the mountain ranges where Willie has to work hard with the gears, the noise level is high and the big engine lacks deep down power, a big surprise for me as I had thought very highly of the motor, then the temperature starts to rise fast and the engine boils, we must stop. The clutch unit in the centre of the thermos fan has failed, but provisions are made on the fan unit to lock it up solid, which we do and start the engine as soon as possible to cool it. This engine used 2 gallons of oil a day and was returning about ¾ MPG after this.
Back in the Marathon and onto Tahir, which all the drivers have talked about. A mountain pass with deep snow on either side of the road melting. The road surface is made from clay, sand and stone which is graded as good as the local labourer is able to make it. The Volvo is leading and howls out over the top with its spare wheel sliding back along the trailer frame and locking the rear wheels. The Marathon is in second gear and the diff lock is in 2000 RPM on the engine and we ride over the top no bother at all.
No other 4x2 tractor units get over that day except the Volvo 89, which had to revered back over to drag the DAFs over but was able to do so. We put the snow chains on the DAFs rear wheels but still no go. We must leave them as we need to get off the mountains before dark. ^ vehicles are stranded on the mountain pass that night 5 DAFs and 1 Mercedes, It cost them about £25 each for a pull up the next morning by a local youth with a CAT D8.
We spend the night at Eleskirt, this is base camp for “Big Willie” an ex British army Scammell 6x6 recovery vehicle. We spend a long night chatting to the men who live out in Turkey 8 weeks then fly home for leave, they’re employed by Norwich Union Insurance to recover vehicles and cargo lost in this remote lonely region.
On again with no vehicles coming from the opposite direction, this is not good. We soon find the cause, the road was washed away and is under repair, almost open allowing us to continue to the Turkish Iranian border. We clear this in record time and find that vehicles have been standing 2 – 3 days to get from Iran to Turkey. 118 TIR trucks standing behind the barrier not counting those standing in the compound. In Iran I try the Volvo, the roads are quite good with a surface that looks like tarmac but I’m told it has a very high oil content and when wet it’s lethal. We stop at a roadside pub called the Oasis about 30 miles into Iran. It’s about 14:30 so thinking of the condition of the trailer tyres we decide to stay until after dark and drive all night. We leave at 21:30 with the only thing worth mentioning was it’s one long pull from Tabring, 3rd gear for 11 Km, arriving in Tehran city 07:30. The ride in the Volvo is just rough an not as good as the DAF, the noise level is quite high but the 16 speed gear box with the high speed engine is a very good combination.
In Tehran the drivers are quite mad, they never use their mirrors, the traffic light (which were put up for the Shahs birthday and never removed) have no effect other to make them go faster. Pedestrians run like hell all over the road and drivers pass each other on either side whilst blasting their horns.
Report on the Leyland Marathon.
The Marathon tractor unit used 2 gallons of engine oil, never stopped or stalled and was driven by one driver (Maurice Gray)
Darlington To Tehran, loaded with 30 ton GVW, back load to Bruges 33.5 ton GVW in 16 days of travelling time, 6770 miles, averaging 423 miles/day on one day 725 miles in 17.5 hrs in eastern Turkey.
The only other vehicle which was in the same class was the Volvo 89 with over 50BHP more than the Marathon equipped with a 16 speed box and handled by a first class driver.
Chassis.
Rear shocks, we snapped one off as they’re fixed by a through bolt, the bottom plate bent on the front shocks
Engine TL12
At 280 BHP, it’s a fine tool, never missed a beat, started first time every time hot or cold, the temperature gauge never moved. Great exhauster brake design been able to clip on and leave the right foot free for braking.
The stop cable was very stiff
Accelerator cable stiff and got worse
Clutch cable was bloody awful
The steering wheel was small and most drivers who tried it didn’t like it.
Gear box was lovely with no problems.
The suspension was lovely apert from the shock absorbers.
Rear axle, hub oil seal and diff leaking from the breather.
The Cab. All is not right with the cab. Interior light awful and mounted behind the curtains and if left on the melted the plastic lenses.
The top bunk is very good with plenty of room and width, the bottom bunk is the same size, however access is only granted to the most determined after negotiating the razor sharp edges on the bent tin round the rear of the engine cowl. The rear support for the cab is two thirds from the front so the overhang part is where the storage space is and under the rear bunk. In this space we had tools, spares a jack and tinned food etc, on the top of the rear bunk we stored clothing and cooking kit about 12/16 stone in weight, the result was that the cab cracked in front of the rear door pillars on both sides.
Excellent posts Chilly! ^^^^ Thanks for sharing them 
Ro
ERF-NGC-European:
Excellent posts Chilly! ^^^^ Thanks for sharing themRo
ditto… great read thanks chilly…
And a reminder how ■■■■■ DAFs were with their limited slips diffs & no diff locks.
I lost count of how many I saw stuck, where almost every other wagon kept going. Obviously, there were some really good drivers who managed to make progress - but no thanks to DAF.
bullitt:
Was talking to the missuss dad the other day, turns out his brother, a chap named Stan Warmbold used to do the Middle East throughout the 70s and 80s!! Just wondered if any of the ex middle East drivers on here remember him or the name? He was a typical Northerner, great sense of humour, could tell tales for England, ran out of Oldham area of Manchester, always wore a cloth cap, even down there!! I think he had his own rig at one point, and was still doing Turkey in **his** 70s
He got bashed up pretty badly and left for dead in Turkey once.
The Old boy died about a year ago and I never got a chance to meet him but may have a chance to see some of the photos he took from that era!
If I can suss out how to post them I may try and stick some up on here.
Did any of you chaps know him?
Cheer, bullitt.
Rick, sorry for the delay but I finally got round to posting this.
STAN WARMBOLD.
I remember Stan quite well, although it was over 20 years ago since I last worked with him.
Stan was one of the old school, a northerner with a great sense of humour, who when he was in the right mood you couldn’t get a better night
out with a couple of drivers and a few beers.
A few people would of said that he was a funny old bugger in more ways than one. To me he was funny, he had a great sense of humour and being from Lancashire he could spin a good yarn.
Now and again he would mention the days in the 1950s/60s when he was lorry driving and how different the job was in the eighties. I remember him telling me that when he left school at fourteen, he had a job working with horses and carts.
He once told me that you could always tell a horse and cart from Liverpool. ( Expecting a joke to come out of a statement like this, Stan could get annoyed very easily if he thought you were not taking him seriously). Hows that Stan I replied, biting my lip trying no to laugh. Stan said “ it’s their brasses, nearly all the scoucers used to polish their horse brasses every day. I suppose really that horse brasses are the modern day equivalent of chrome wheel trims, drivers with chrome wheel trims don’t like to see them dirty.”
Stan would sometimes tell you a really interesting story and as soon as he realised he had captivated his audience he would come out with an amazing punch line which would have every body in stitches. The trouble was that you never knew when Stan was being serious or if he was about to tell you a joke.
Being in his late fifties it must of started getting hard for him running down to the Middle East, month after month. You could always pick him out on a cold morning in Turkey His flat cap, donkey jacket with the leather patches on the elbows and his Lancashire clogs did make him stand out a bit. A lot of continental drivers wore clogs in the eighties but they were the Dutch clogs or even the furry ones, if Stan didn’t have his clogs then he wore army boots.
As I mentioned before you could have a really good night out with Stan.
I remember on one occasion in 1982 when we were taking abnormal loads down to Sinop on the Black Sea Coast in Turkey. Six of us had teamed up, all with a fifty foot Broshaus trombone trailer, each with a Porta type cabin on the back. We had parked up for the night between Ankara and Sinop miles from anywhere. Stan had picked up an old car tyre some where along the way that day. He poured some diesel on it and set it alight, as we were all parked in a circle it looked like a scene from wagon train. The flames threw out plenty of light and we all put in a tin of something to make a camion curry. Stan wouldn’t have any of it, he called us all dirty buggers for eating it. Curry he said was invented by the Indians to disguise the taste of rotten meat. It didn’t matter to him that we were using a tin of Marks and Spencers steak and kidney pie filling, it was still bloody curry. He would not sit near us while he was having a tin of sausages and baked beans and we were eating our delicious curry and rice.
After a couple of Efes beers Stan got out his mouth organ and gave us all a few tunes. After telling us some tales about the good old days and telling us some jokes he then started playing the spoons. He also used to recite poetry, and he gave us The Boy Stood On The Burning Deck, where all but he had fled, from start to finish. I think that was his favourite poem. No body spoke a word or made a comment while he was reciting it. I told him how good he was at playing the mouth organ and he said “no I don’t play it I just blow it, now my Dad he really could play it ”.
As all drivers know, over the years you have thousands of nights out away from home but there are not all that many of them that you tend to remember all that well but this for me was on of them.
Rick if you can tell if the truck at the front is a Foden ,then thats Stans motor.
Leaving Ankara.
Struggling to get through another little Turkish town.
Yet another tea stop in Bulgaria.
I wonder if anybody can make these a bit clearer ?
Harry, have you got your magic wand ? 
Many, many thanks Steve for posting that. My missus has just sat here reading it and cant believe she was reading about her uncle on the internet!!
She laughed when she read the bit about the clogs, spoons, mouth organ and poetry. Apparently he always wore the clogs at home, and it was his father, my wifes grandfather, that taught him to play the mouth organ!! These were all part of his “party piece” at family get togethers!!
As for the curries…apparantley he hated “foriegn” food and would never eat it when in England, quite how he got on when down in the M/E for food then I dont know! 
I know that apparently he loved the job, especially running down that way, that was why he was still doing it in his 60`s!!
I never got to meet him and sadly, Stan died of complications brought on by a brain tumour in 2002. His brother, my wifes father, died a few years later and sincew then she has not had much contact with his side of the family but I have asked her to try and borrow some of his M/E pics so I can try and post them on here! You may even be in some of them steve!!! 
Many, many thanks once again, you certainly surprised by missus!!
TOP(MUSHROOM) MAN!!! 
Hi…ive just joined this site was telling my mate about it so he said put this on…as he use to drive to the middle east back in the good old days…he use to work for Simner Bros out of weybridge said he knew kenny Searle on there…so if anyone remembers the firm please let me know & i’ll pass it on to him his name is steve. & he’s now 62…he was brought up near woolwich went in the army for a while then did bus driving he had a german wife…so if anyone remembers Simner Bros or may know him (steve)…please let me know…cheers…
There’s a couple of guy’s on the agency that are old M/E hands;
Mike Prior? not sure of details but he’s a nice chap lives in Theale, Berks.
Graham Allcorn? heard loads of stories while sat in drivers lounge,
He used to work for Charlie… something doing middle east, then in the 80’s and 90’s he worked for Gander & White London travelling the world doing exhibitions and removals for the rich and famous,…one story that sticks out was…
G&W were doing a removal for the boss of DEL MONTE and to cut a long story short (Iwon’t do it any justice) Graham was sat in the lounge with the boss’ wife and he accidentally knocked over his drink all over the floor, so he was on his hands and knees cleaning up [zb] ORANGE JUICE of all things …well it was funny the way he told it
Also Shelton Caswell another M/E hand but i knew him from a previous job, quite a distinctive name?
Anyone know these guys?
mr sun worshipper:
Hi…ive just joined this site was telling my mate about it so he said put this on…as he use to drive to the middle east back in the good old days…he use to work for Simner Bros out of weybridge said he knew kenny Searle on there…so if anyone remembers the firm please let me know & i’ll pass it on to him his name is steve. & he’s now 62…he was brought up near woolwich went in the army for a while then did bus driving he had a german wife…so if anyone remembers Simner Bros or may know him (steve)…please let me know…cheers…
Didn’t know Simners,but I knew Kenny Searle very well,where is he now?We were on the M/E at the same time,'70’s and 80’s.
my mate said he worked wiv keeny searle on simner bros which were in weybridge & was run by 2 bothers…he said kenny searle then went to work for oryx that may be spelt incorrect…he last heard kenny was working in iraq as a body guard for cnn .tv…my mate use to run all over saudi arabia & down to doha Qatar…he was doing it in the late 1974 all of 1975 & half of 1976…he also mentioned mike butcher wiv a blue F88…& says he met a few brit carmen drivers…ive told him to get a computer so that he can look all this up himself…instead of watching the ■■■■ channel late at night…lol…
Last time I saw Kenny would be about '82 or’83 and he was working for Grangewood.
my mate did mention a couple of other drivers…Mick Maunders…& Jeff Ruggins so does anyone know these guys?
mr sun worshipper:
my mate did mention a couple of other drivers…Mick Maunders…& Jeff Ruggins so does anyone know these guys?
You bet!
Mickey Maunders worked for Chapman and Ball at the same time as me.Great bloke to work with,where is he now?
Jeff Ruggins name is carved in the folklore of M/E trucking.He was famed for his “Camion curry stew”.We worked together on Simon International.
I remember well the time he knocked up a Camion curry for a bunch of us lads in Volos while waiting for the Tartous ferry.His currys were so hot they could cure anything.On this particular ocassion Tony Khan was with us,who was no stranger to curry dishes,but he did query Jeff as to what was in it as he had a job to get it down him.
You could not miss Jeff with his blond crew cut,no teeth and hands like shovels,I think he was ex paras,a great mate,but not a bloke to fall out with!
Sadly,Jeff died one Saturday night while at home after taking his dog for a walk.This must be over 20 years ago,he was probably in his 40’s.
Jeff will be remembered along with the other trailblazers on the M/E run along with names like Howard Leighton,Maurice Gray,Atholl Addison,and many more.
RIP all.
Jeff Ruggins, a very good description, except his ol wooly jumpers…(bless him)
Jeff took me on my first trip, everytime he stopped, i thought it was time to get into bed…but it was just a coffee stop…we left Chislehurst, and 3 days later we were in Istanbul…and i never saw the route…ha ha
Simon International…Brick lane…why some of the drivers never had a car licence, let alone a hgv…ha ha
Mike Prior…is he still as fat as he was…did he do turkey with one of charlies motors…ask him if he was happy for my wife to sew his trousers…scruffy git…(his zip had broke, never had a spare pair)
Steve from Woolwich…is he a big lump…who ya wouldnt wanna mess with ■■
Is that the same Alfie Jones who hails from newport/cardiff area…and had a big beard ■■
