any old promotor drivers around

[sandway]

More Jeff Stringfellow photos. Most were taken in Volos or on board the ferry to Tartous.

[MaggieD]

Hi Brian,
The Duxbury driver in Jeff's photo is Steve Cherrett one of the last drivers to get out of Iran,and here's a photo of him on the left,taken earlier this year.
Thanks for all your input on this thread, and to Jason for Jeff's photo's

Regards Richard

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[sandway]

Hi Brian,
The Duxbury driver in Jeff's photo is Steve Cherrett one of the last drivers to get out of Iran,and here's a photo of him on the left,taken earlier this year.
Thanks for all your input on this thread, and to Jason for Jeff's photo's

Regards Richard

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Morning Richard
I always find it interesting to read articles or see photos from the past but then to see the story brought up to date is an added bonus. Its good to see Steve still enjoying life.
Brian.

[sandway]

Here are the last of Jeff Stringfellows photos. Thanks once again to his son Jason for allowing me to post them here on TNUK. Jason has intimated there are a couple of albums with his sister which haven't been seen yet. Lets hope he can get his hands on them.

[sandway]

A few observations and thoughts from the recent Jeff Stringfellow posts and photographs.

1. We learned from Jason that Jeff flew back to Tehran to collect the Arthur Evison lorry and was stuck there for six weeks, before being evacuated with the help of the embassy. I've found out that the the Yanks, French, Italians and British governments laid on flights to get their nationals out of Iran at that time. The RAF provided planes for the Brits. These flights were spread over weeks not days so we don't have exact dates for Jeffs departure but he must have been on one of those flights. The evacuation flights occurred between the second and third week of February 1979. It seems the Brits chosen to depart that day met at the British Embassy summer residence in the north of the city from where they were escorted to the airport. However, before they were allowed to join the convoy they all had to sign documents promising to reimburse the British government the cost of their flight even though it may cost more than a commercial flight. Bet the Yanks weren't given that ultimation!
So I think Jeff could have flown out to Tehran about the 8th/9th January and returned six weeks later, ie, about 21st/22nd February. He must have had some time off but on his next job, a trip to Saudi for David Duxbury, must have departed the UK mid March as I caught up with him on or about the 21st/22nd in Greece as we made our way to Volos to catch the ferry to Syria.

2. A nice little anecdote from Jason regarding Jeff and the 'Jesus sandals' as Jeff called them, that he wore. It seems he loved wearing those sandals so much that he wore them continuously when abroad the way they are meant to be worn, ie, without socks but when in the UK he still wore them but with socks. When Jeff died, the family knowing how much he love his 'Jesus sandals' had him buried wearing them. What I don't know is --- was he wearing socks as well!!!

3. And finally where did that photograph of me wearing swimming trunks standing by my lorry in about 83 come from. The remainder of Jeffs photos are dated 79 or earlier. I saw him only once more in 80. How come he had a photo of me in his collection taken three years later?

[sandway]

The attached photo, of British drivers in the queue at Habur, has been aired a couple of times on the Promotor drivers thread in the past. I asked if any of the drivers could be identified without a great deal of success. Since then I posted the photo on Facebook, where it appears many of our old colleagues reside, and a few more names have materialised.

There are seven drivers shown and going from right to left we have;---
1. Frank White.
2. Unknown driver.
3. Roger Heath in the blue shirt was driving the Volvo F12 EKR 459V with Astran trailer WG57. This trailer was ex George Hall, Barry Barnes and Peter Hicks.
4. Tommy Birch of Promotor.
5. Possibly John Dowdall with the camera.
6. Possibly Alan Thornton.
7. Ken Ward.
If anyone has any other ideas I'd be pleased to know.

And whilst on the subject of Turkey, well Habur is there, I was watching the 'Tour of Turkey' cycle race a couple of weeks ago and was astounded by all the super highways they have now. Bit different than in our day but one thing I did notice was they have only just started the bridge and super highway to replace the Canakale ferry. The new suspension bridge will have a centre span over two kilometres long and be the longest in the world.

[mushroomman]

Hi Brian, they say that every picture tells a story and it's such a shame that Jeff is not here with us to share those story's but thanks again to Jason for sharing his dads photos.
The above photo of those lads at Habur that you also posted a few month ago I thought that I said that the guy on the right was a guy from the North East called Barry who worked for Duncan Macrea or Taffy Davies and then I thought his name was Brian. As you have just mentioned that it is Frank White who I think that I only met once, then it did cross my mind if this is also Frank in Jeff's photo.

FRANK WHITE. Possibly..jpg (90 KiB) Viewed 3773 times

A few years ago Franks son in law Colin, used to post on Trucknet and we exchanged a few P.M.'s over the years. Colin sent me a couple of Frank's old photos and a copy of the letter that Frank received from The British Embassy when Frank tried to get his trucks out of Iran after the Ayatollah had closed the borders.
Colin as far as I know never put this letter on Trucknet and if he is lurking on this site and would prefer me to delete it then I will do but I feel that it's a part of British trucking history and should be shown.
Some lads might still find this link interesting.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=37316&p=464984&hilit=frank+white#p464984

FRANK'S LETTER FROM ANKARA.

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I bet that Dave Jamieson a.k.a. M.& C. Jamie R.I.P. would of been able to put names to a lot of those faces.

I used to enjoy my little cruises across The Dardanelle Straights on The Canakale Ferry. I just kick myself now that I never spent one of my lunch hours visiting the Gallipoli War cemetery when I had the chance.

Regards Steve.

[sandway]

Morning mushroomman. Concerning the group of lads at Habur a guy by the name of Colin Rogers gave me Frank Whites name. He seems to have Scottish connections but not sure he is or was a driver. I had over twenty replies when I put the photo on one of the Facebook sites but many of the replies were tosh. However, Colin seemed sure it was Frank White but there was a another guy by the name of Barry Reed who put forward an alternative name for the driver on the right and here I quote him "The lad on the right looks like Ronnie Slater, (Depression), worked for CVH Bedwas, sadly no longer with us". So still not sure unless someone from CVH knows. I believe you have mentioned that company a few times Steve!!

One person that we know for sure is the guy in the blue shirt, its the late Roger Heath. This was confirmed on Facebook by Peter Hicks who ended up with the trailer. He said the Volvo unit later went to work in Norfolk. Sounds like it was being put out to pasture or semi retirement.

[sandway]

Steve. Why don't I put my brain in gear before attempting to drive off!!!!!!!!!! The letter (your post) from the British Embassy in Tehran supplied by the same Colin Rogers as mentioned in my last post. Must be Frank White in my photo and yes the driver in Jasons photo looks like him as well.



That letter dated 14th February 1979 also ties in nicely with the Jeff Stringfellow story as a it was only a week or two later that Jeff was repatriated back to the UK as the sh-t really hit the fan in Iran.

[mushroomman]

Hi Brian, it's good to know that Colin is still around and hopefully Frank is as well.
Colin was a driver in fact in his early twenties I.I.R.C. he used to run with Frank out to the Zarafshan gold mine in Uzbekistan.
I sometimes wonder if there were two Depression Rons from Birmingham. One who worked for L.O.B.O. in the early eighties and one who worked for C.V.H. in the mid eighties or was it just the same guy.
Somebody posted a photo of Ron Slater on here a few years ago, I can't find it at the moment but I shall keep trying. I remember meeting Ron who worked for C.V.H. when we were parked up in the desert at Fallujah on new years day 1984 and he was waiting for another C.V.H. driver called Martin Mouldsworth, I think that there is a picture of Martin on one of the threads somewhere.

Regards Steve.

[sandway]

Morning Steve. Just read through all the Frank White posts via the link you gave. Much of them over ten years ago. Very interesting they are to. Certainly Colin posted a lot in those days. Frank has been identified as one of the drivers amongst the group waiting to get into Iraq at the Habur crossing and this kind of completes my story, or should I say puts a few more things in place in my fading memory, of an event that happened a few hours after that photo was taken. I have recounted in an earlier post a couple of years ago of an incident that happened as we attempted to get out of the Turkish customs compound at Habur and cross into the Iraq side of the border. I will repeat it for those who may not have read it at that time but have not added the photos as mentioned in the story.


[color=#FFBF80]I've been trying for a while to remember the sequence of events leading up to an incident that happened at Habur in the early 80's and where the photos I have fit into the story. There is a possibility that the incident and photos are of 2 separate events and if this is the case, I apologise now for any confusion.

In the first photo there is a queue of lorries and I think there are 3 M & C, one behind the other. Are they Mervin King's lorries and did he drive one of them? It certainly seemed the lead driver was the boss.

There are some other British lorries in the queue including an Astran. Now one of the other drivers (not M & C or Astran) was one of those chaps who should never have been on the road. Excitable was understating his temperament by a country mile. We didn't know the term "Road Rage" then but I'm sure it all started with him. The young Turkish kids would try to sell us water or Coke or whatever and ask us if we would like our lorries washed. One of the boys asked this driver and was told in no uncertain terms to "go away". Later, though, the boy started to wash the back of this drivers trailer and thats when we saw the "red mist" descend for the first time. The driver flew out of his cab, ran to the rear, and grabbed the bucket and flung it out into the scrub as far as possible, the broom was next and that went in the opposite direction. I think we were all wondering in which direction the petrified boy would be going. Luckily the "red mist" abated slightly and he was told to "p-ss off".

A few hours after the incident we all pulled into the customs compound at Harbour. We did the Turkish side and then the Iraqi side and all was going smoothly. We had all returned to our lorries to be on our way. As usual there was plenty of jostling in the lorry park as we tried to extricate ourselves. At this point, and I'm fairly sure it was one of the M & C lorries who was slightly to one side of me and a trailers length ahead, was dealt a glancing blow from a Turkish lorry. No real harm was done but from our excitable driver the "red mist" descended again. He was out of his lorry in a flash, raced up to the Turkish lorry, jumped up on the step and was raining blows upon the driver through the open window. Give him his due, the Turk was attempting to fight back but the British driver had the advantage of more room to manoeuvre. Of course, there was a great commotion going on. A load of other Turkish drivers came over to help their man but one of the other British drivers kept them at bay with a good bit of aggression and a stool. I notice the M & C driver (if it was M & C) was leaning over his steering wheel head bowed, no doubt thinking like the rest of us "what is this idiot doing here".

It did all calm down eventually but I can only think that this driver put back Turkish/British relations by twenty years.[/color]

The red mist man was ken Ward and I mentioned above that 'one of the other British drivers kept them at bay with a good bit of aggression and a stool'. That man was Frank White.

[sandway]

I was reading through some old posts when I came across one from 'M&C Jamie' in which I was involved. He wrote it in reply to one from 'jazzandy'. I have copied Jamie's post and it can be viewed below. Now, I'm not 100 % sure but am fairly confident it was the 1986 Tehran International trade Fair that Jamie's story related to. I am finding it difficult to put dates to the many exhibitions in which Promotor was involved in, both in Tehran and Baghdad at that time but it was the period when British companies, and other nationalities, were clamouring to do business with them even though the Iran/Iraq war still raged.

"Hi jazzandy, I remember spending three or four day's at Dover export customs, with a load of exhibition goods for a Tehran trade fair. Bill Kit and one of his drivers were both trying to clear export customs at the same time. He had so many alterations in his TIR carnet that the customs refused to stamp any more. if i remember correctly he had to go along to Shenkers office for another. I think this was the first time I had seen him with his portable typewriter which he apparently carried with him in the truck. I had a Promotors load on which had human bones in one display, which i think was part of my problem. the paperwork for the load was in three cardboard boxes, that i had to carry upstairs to the customs in Dover for checking, it was a nightmare before I even left the country. I had told my boss that I would not go back to Iran after the Revolution,as I had been stuck there for six weeks during it. So I was doing a trailer change at Polycastron in Greece With Ratchet neck Bob, who was turning round and delivering the load to the trade fair in Tehran. Regards Jamie".

I was running the show in Tehran and the 1986 Fair proved to be one of the biggest events we handled anywhere. That year relations between Great Britain and Iran had improved to the point where the Embassy had reopened and the British Overseas Trade Board supported the British Group. However, the Germans got in on the job by quoting a very competitive price to build the stands using a 'Meccano' type structure which had a very industrial look about it.

We subbed out loads to various companies including M & C and as can be seen in the above post Jamie had problems with the 'human bones' onboard which were part of an exhibit. When Bob arrived in Tehran with the trailer he told me about the problem in Dover customs but I don't think it caused any agro at the other border crossing. Obviously we all had a good laugh about the bones and certainly the Iranian customs in the fairground weren't worried but many of the other nationalities working in the fairground thought the crazy Brits had lost the plot as we worked and played to the accompaniment of the song 'dem bones' in which we all sang along as follows;-------------

Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the heel bone
Heel bone connected to the ankle bone
Ankle bone connected to the shin bone
Shin bone connected to the knee bone
Knee bone connected to the thigh bone
Thigh bone connected to the hip bone
Hip bone connected to the back bone
Back bone connected to the shoulder bone
Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone
Neck bone connected to the head bone
Now hear the word of the Lord.

In the end the novelty wore off but we all had a good laugh even the Iranians. The only ones who couldn't see the funny side of it were the German stand fitters.

[sandway]

M&C Jamie wrote that he had a problem in Dover with a Promotor load bound for Tehran and that he had to take upstairs to the customs office the three cardboard boxes of paperwork that went with the load. One thing Promotor were really good at was churning out copious amounts of paperwork for the exhibition work we handled. Most of that paper was handed to me or whoever was repping the show by the driver once they had arrived. I would then hand a set to our Iranian agent to enable him to clear the load whilst a set was held by me for use at the end of the show. You have to remember that I flew out and it would have been almost impossible for me to have taken the documents with me especially as I always made my way to Heathrow by train and underground. The reason for the huge amount of paperwork at both Tehran and Baghdad Fairs was that we provided services for the bulk of the exhibitors. Many of them would take small exhibits all requiring invoices and associated documents. This also meant that the TIR Carnets all had to have packing lists attached to every page. Jamie said Bill Kitt had problems with his carnet. I'm not surprised if some things weren't mentioned.

I have attached some photos showing trailers about to be unloaded at the Tehran Fair. I also have a photo of Bill Kitt's load somewhere, I will dig it out. Almost all are small consignments on these trailers all of which we had to identify, clear them through customs, deliver them to the stands and in many cases, unpack and position the exhibits for the customer.

[sandway]

I put a photo on here a couple of years back asking if anyone could identify the company 'Taytran' or the drivers. George Ginn's name was mentioned at that time. A few days back I posted the same photo on five different Facebook pages and had many replies. However, the very first reply was from the guy on the left, Hugh Ashton who was driving for Funstons. He confirmed the other driver on the right was George Ginn.

The photo was taken at the Londra Istanbul in Jan/Feb 1983 where we had been told by the police to either put chains on or park up. Tempting as it was we decided to put our chains on.

[sandway]

Hugh Ashton aka Biffo, on the left in the photo above, has not posted here on TNUK for a few years. Mushroomman put a link on fairly recently relating to a trip Hugh did to Tehran where he was arrested as he was about to leave the country. It seems he was doing a favour to some Iranian by bringing a tea set to the UK for this guys relative. The story, albeit short, was spread over a few postings but I can't find the final one, the punch line, the climax anywhere. Come back Hugh and finish the story!!!!

I had many replies when I showed the above photo on Facebook and some interesting recollections of past times. One such story was from Ian Taylor aka bestbooties. Ian told this story on TNUK about ten years ago with photos taken at the time but those photos have been ruined by Photophucket printing their name across them. So I hope you don't mind Ian if I copy the photos from Facebook and repeat those extraordinary exploits again for us all to see and marvel at.

Ian wrote that he met Big Cliff who was on Funstons going into Saudi. Ian was tipping in Buradah whilst Cliff was tipping in Riyadh. They agreed to meet up a few days later at the mirrors which they did. A couple of hours north of the mirrors on the tapline as they made their way home Ian's motor dropped a valve and couldn't continue. Obviously repairs couldn't be done there so Cliff agreed to tow Ian back to somewhere where repairs could be carried out. Ian had a bar and his trailer had an eye welded on the back, Cliff's didn't so they swapped trailers and got hooked up. They drove like that over a thousand miles back to the old Oryx yard in Incirlic just before Adana where they stripped down Ian's tilt and loaded the lot on Cliffs stripped down trailer. An agreement by their respective bosses saw them set off again for another thousand mile stint to Belgrade where, in a railway yard, Ian's crippled lorry and trailer were unloaded. It was then towed to the National. Ian's boss at Expo Freight had the necessary spare parts shipped out with another of his lorries. Once they arrived Ian spent the next three days carrying out the necessary repairs before reloading out of Belgrade and making his way home.

This story epitomises the spirit and resolve of (most) men who did the job back then. When you left the yard it was up to you to get it done and see it through. The boss didn't want you ringing him with problems. Drivers took a pride in getting the job done.

I hope I've repeated your story faithfully Ian. Please put it right if need be. One thing I would like to know is the date of your escapade especially when you were back in the National as I was there with a small group of drivers drinking beer when a couple of guys arrived and told a story almost identical to yours. That may have been you and Cliff.

[sandway]

Duh!!!!! Just found Biffo's missing post. Twas a great story.

Above photo. Wording on the rear trailer. Does that say PifPaf. Not only did that stuff kill mossie's it wasn't a stepping stone to long life for drivers either.

[sandway]

The Tehran International Trade Fair of 86 was one of the largest exhibitions we ever handled. I remember Peter Calderwood reminiscing about the Poznan Fair of the mid 70's when Promotor took all the stands out for the BOTB as well as most of the exhibits but the 86 Tehran fair was something special. The event itself that year was huge and the British companies as a whole was equally so, to the extent that many couldn't get into the official BOTB Group. Once again Promotor stepped in and organised our own Independent Group of British Companies. We hired a broken down old pavilion, tarted it up and built the stands. Although our group didn't get financial support for their participation from our government I didn't hear any complaints.

Promotor provided travel arrangements once again as well as most other services but one of the jobs we took on was the pits. It was to clean the pavilion twice a day. Once before the doors opened in the morning and secondly during the afternoon break. Our Chic Steadman armed with Cimex vacuum cleaners some local help and the willing but despondent Bill Kitt took on the job. Bill had two lorries in Tehran. He drove the Volvo whilst another driver drove an old Fiat which Bill had just bought. M & C Jamie mentioned in the above post that he met them both in Dover on the way out. However, the Fiat gave up the ghost on the expressway as it neared the fairground. Bill retrieved it and after both trailers were unloaded he sent his driver back with the Volvo whilst he stayed in Tehran to wait for the Fiat to be repaired. It was during this time that we put him up with Chic in the Esteghlal Hotel and employed him around the fairground.

Andy Maclean aka jazzandy was working there for Hammonds and we shared a cubby hole/office provided by the BOTB. It wasn't the most luxurious of spaces but thats where the exhibitors could get a cup of coffee so became very popular.

[sandway]

A few photos of owner driver Bill Kitt. The first one is taken at the 86 Tehran Fair in the little cubbie hole allocated to Promotor and Hammond's. The second and third photos were posted by Jazzandy a few years ago.

[sandway]

A few more photos from the 86 Tehran International Trade Fair.

[sandway]

Another Promotor subbie at the 86 Tehran International Trade Fair. Can anyone identify either the lorry SNO 622R or the driver. I think he was an owner driver and he was pulling a Promotor trailer. There is a young girl in the photo also shown in the Bill Kitt photo earlier. I did wonder if she was with him?

[sandway]

The driver I was enquiring about in my last post has been identified. Once again our many colleagues on Facebook have to be thanked for joining in but only one identified the driver and that was his son. The chap sitting on the ground on the left is Phil Houghton an owner driver. Originally from Liverpool his son say's he was living in Holland and other places! Seems he did a fair bit of Middle East as well as work for Promotor. I assume he did Yugo work for us otherwise I would have known him if he ran to the exhibitions.

[sandway]

I said earlier that the 86 Tehran Fair was huge and many companies couldn't get in with the official BOTB Group so Promotor formed an Independent British Group. We applied for a pavilion to house them but very little space was available. In the end the Iranian fair authorities found space for us in a very futuristic building left behind a few years before by the Japanese or some other far east country. It was a mess but our local contractors cleaned it up and it turned out to be quite good in the end. Certainly gave us a headache getting the exhibits in until the pavements were repaired though. In a couple of the photo's you can just see a guy in a yellow shirt. That guy was Stan Mountain, ex Coles Cranes, who we employed to organise the on site handling and positioning of the freight/exhibits of the independent group.

[sandway]

Unloading Bill Kitt's trailer at the 86 Tehran Fair. One of the first jobs was finding and removing the toolbox. Couldn't open any of the cases/boxes/cartons for custom inspection until we had the tools.

[sandway]

A few post back I was asking if anyone knew who the driver was of the Scania SNO 622R in the attached photo. We now know its Phil Houghton, a bit of a character it seems. However, a guy by the name of Peter Sumpter saw the photo on Facebook and came up with the following information about the lorry.

"New to Brain Haulage Ltd and bought from Scantrucks at Purfleet in 77. One of 20 ordered with aircon for Sharjah UAE. Came back on the Evergreen contract till it was sold".

There's still masses of information out there hidden just below the surface. Peoples memories just need a bit of a jog for it to be released.

[sandway]

Last few, I think, of the 86 Tehran Fair photos. I know I have a few more somewhere of a trip Bill, Chic and I took on a day off when we took the cable car up the mountain one friday. Tehran is of course tucked in immediately to the south of them.

[sandway]

Used to get some interesting loads. Obviously the kids thought so to.

[Efes]

Used to get some interesting loads. Obviously the kids thought so to.

Delivering Bluebird one of my first jobs at Promotor. Staggie was anxious that I was delivering back to Beaulieu without a chaperone.

On a different topic Phil Houghton dropped by a couple of times to my place in Kent when passing by. I think it was Phil I was with when we drove back from the pub in my car in 6" of snow having had years of experience with deep snow in Turkey on Bolu, in Russia, on Mont Blanc etc. Stopping at the brow of the hill I selected a low gear and started to descend. The car started to go faster and faster and Phil said "aren't you going a bit fast" to which I replied "yes, we're completely out of control now so I suggest bracing yourself". We whacked the kerb and the bent in the front axle so the front wheel was at a very strange angle. Managed to drive the car the few hundred yards home and had to replace the entire front axle assembly.

[sandway]

Morning Efes. I of course was never allowed near Bluebird or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or any of the F1 cars or anything else of value by Staggie. I was ok with big heavy boxes, suppose he thought I couldn't do much damage there. So Phil was obviously well known on Promotor. It does make me wonder sometimes just what happened on the company when I was away for months on end.

I recently got hold of a few photos courtesy of Paul Willis. I believe he was a resident of Biddenden and knew Graham Bertram. Most are of Grahams lorries that he parked up just down the road from his home. Perhaps you know the spot Efes. The ones I find most interesting are the ones of the yellow Transcon. Don't remember seeing that before.

[Efes]

I remember that bloody trailer with the wheels right at the back.. and with all the gubbins inside and having a hair-raising drive of a car (or cars as it carried two on the internal top deck) up an incredibly steep ramp at about a 45degree angle, foot flat down on the accelerator to make it to the top, ramming on the brakes on arrival at the top (if you made it that far and didn't slew about) and waiting whilst two accomplices pulled up the ramps on a pair of block and tackle. Dreadful business.

As to the photo's I have examined them carefully but can't imagine where Bugsy parked in Biddenden. Nowhere that I can think of (currently) that has pavement and a lay-by opposite. It may have been different 30 years ago. Nor do I remember the yellow Transcon.

Bugsy's second family is, I am reliably informed, still resident in Biddenden

Promotor had a Transcon for a while as I remember driving it to Poland. Jolly comfy over rotten roads and lots of room but it felt like being in a boat swaying all over the place.

[ERF-NGC-European]

Just seen this pic of B267-DHK on ebay:

So I thought I'd pop it on the Promotor thread. Then I noticed the number plate and it rang a bell. Yes, I drove it sometimes when it was in the service (later, I assume) of Harrier Express, Faversham. So here are some pics I took of it when I was at the wheel. Robert