Promotor worked all the countries of North Africa at some time or other but the one where we were most prominent was Algeria. In the late 70’s we shipped freight to the Algiers International Trade Fair and provided customs clearance and on site handling. It was never a huge event though. Nottsnortherner said he and two other guys delivered to the fair in the late 70’s but after that either the trailers were shipped over unaccompanied from the south of France or the work was subbed out to French hauliers. I think the main problem for us was finding return loads as the south of France was an area we rarely visited.
The exhibitions in the 70’s were organised by the British Overseas Trade board and Promotor, although not appointed as freight agents, picked up most of the business especially transporting the large standfitting panels that, ten years later, I would use again. Dave Stagg handled the work himself mainly because the business language of Algeria was French and Dave spoke it fluently. Around 84/85 very few British companies thought it worthwhile attending the fair and the BOTB withdrew support. It was at this point Promotor stepped in and offered to provide those same services the BOTB were offering but without the financial support. We purchased space for a British Group in the fairground, built stands and still provided the freight service as we had done previously.
I got involved, even though I didn’t speak French, overseeing the unloading of trailers, handling customs clearance and unpacking exhibits in about 83/4. Dave briefed me and all went well. I can’t say I enjoyed working there. Algiers wasn’t exactly on the tourist map. Dave booked me into the same hotel he had been using for the previous few years, the ‘Hotel Albert’. It was just up from the port and although from a distance the old French architecture looked appealing as soon as you entered it was obvious it wasn’t the most salubrious of places. One up from a doss house was the best way to describe it but maybe thats being a little unkind as the staff tried their best to make you comfortable. Bigget problem, after getting back from a hard days work, was to find the taps only supplied a dribble of lukewarm water. There really wasn’t much to do in the evenings. I would wander down to the harbour and try to find somewhere to eat but apart from the odd local bar there wasn’t much there so would eat in the hotel most evenings.
My second trip was more interesting as that was the first event organised by Promotor. We had Stan Mountain, ex Coles Cranes exhibition manager, build the stands for us and we shipped them out on one of our supercube trailers together with the exhibits. The trailer went unaccompanied from a port in the south of France. Stan arranged his own accommodation, obviously he’d heard of the ‘Albert’. I helped build the stands and then Stan flew home whilst I stayed on. At the close of the fair I dismantled the stands as well as repacked the exhibits. It gave me more to do but it really was a boring old show.
