A couple of photos of hops from F/B. It was a toss up wether to show them on the Kent Transport page or on here but as they reminded me of the time I loaded hops from Slovenia whilst driving for Promotor I knew this was the place for them.
Of course in the late 70’s early 80’s we just knew the area as Yugoslavia but it was in the area south of Maribor that one day I was directed to pick up a full load of hops. Not knowing what to expect I was wondering if it would be a load of hop pokes, but no, it was similar to the load shown in the photos. I had a supercube trailer on and it was filled to the brim which I believe brought me up to my limit of eighteen tons. Customs was done in Maribor. The only other time I cleared customs there was when I loaded twenty tons of black plastic bin liners right in the centre of town.
My load of hops were bound for a farm just to the north of Paddock Wood. I didn’t tip many of my return loads but as it was convenient to our depot I was asked to tip this one. It was great being back on the farm again as much of my early driving experience was done collecting fruit in the same area.
The hops in the photos were mainly Kent hops with just a few from Sussex. They were loaded near Paddock Wood and bound for Germany.
Its sad to say that Kelly whose lorries are shown in the photos have decided they can continue in the business no longer due to unfair competition from abroad. They are closing the gates at the end of this month together with two other Kent hauliers.
