Any old promotor drivers around

ERF-NGC-European:
Very true about Pat Kennett, Sandway - he was well respected in transport circles and I have taken the liberty of quoting your comment on the ERF European (1975) thread :wink: . Cheers! Robert

Although I never met Pat Kennett I knew of him from reading articles he had written in the 70ā€™s. Wasnā€™t he heavily involved with ā€œTruckā€ magazine? He was definitely the only correspondent that the Ford chaps respected, that being the message that came across loud and clear during my conversation with them.

sandway:

ERF-NGC-European:
Very true about Pat Kennett, Sandway - he was well respected in transport circles and I have taken the liberty of quoting your comment on the ERF European (1975) thread :wink: . Cheers! Robert

Although I never met Pat Kennett I knew of him from reading articles he had written in the 70ā€™s. Wasnā€™t he heavily involved with ā€œTruckā€ magazine? He was definitely the only correspondent that the Ford chaps respected, that being the message that came across loud and clear during my conversation with them.

He was TRUCK magazineā€™s first editor! He had spent his working life in the field, trouble-shooting round the world for Leyland and the like. Good all-rounder! robert

mushroomman:
You had better crack on with that trailer of yours Brian and itā€™s a good thing that you have got a Supercube on. I could just imagine all The British Embassy staff stood in an orderly queue, with a copy of The Guardian and a bog roll in their hands waiting to do a spread axle jobbie under a forty foot tandem axle. :laughing:
Somebody mentioned on here a few years ago about a U.K. trailer that was abandoned for quite a long time at The National Hotel in Belgrade which had a full load of toilets on destined for Baghdad. I canā€™t remember which year it was but does anybody know anything about it.
I just wondered Brian, if you went on the Sofia Ring Road then did you use the border at Kaluta from Bulgaria into Greece. :confused:
Also, I wonder if this photo which was taken by another Dow driver Pete Woolfenden was taken from the same layby at a different angle.

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Iā€™ve just remembered something about the ā€œSofia Ring Roadā€ mushroomman. I was sailing round there one day with Micky Twemlow in tow but must have been day dreaming. I turned off to head down to Kulata and Greece only to realise five minutes later that I had turned off a turning to early. The road we were on started to climb and there was no where to turn round. We were going up that mountain to the south of Sofia. Luckily for us we came to a point where the road had been widened to allow tourist busses to do a u turn. Added a few miles to our trip but I bet not many lorry drivers had experienced the great views from up there that we had that day.

sandway:

mushroomman:
You had better crack on with that trailer of yours Brian and itā€™s a good thing that you have got a Supercube on. I could just imagine all The British Embassy staff stood in an orderly queue, with a copy of The Guardian and a bog roll in their hands waiting to do a spread axle jobbie under a forty foot tandem axle. :laughing:
Somebody mentioned on here a few years ago about a U.K. trailer that was abandoned for quite a long time at The National Hotel in Belgrade which had a full load of toilets on destined for Baghdad. I canā€™t remember which year it was but does anybody know anything about it.
I just wondered Brian, if you went on the Sofia Ring Road then did you use the border at Kaluta from Bulgaria into Greece. :confused:
Also, I wonder if this photo which was taken by another Dow driver Pete Woolfenden was taken from the same layby at a different angle.

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Iā€™ve just remembered something about the ā€œSofia Ring Roadā€ mushroomman. I was sailing round there one day with Micky Twemlow in tow but must have been day dreaming. I turned off to head down to Kulata and Greece only to realise five minutes later that I had turned off a turning to early. The road we were on started to climb and there was no where to turn round. We were going up that mountain to the south of Sofia. Luckily for us we came to a point where the road had been widened to allow tourist busses to do a u turn. Added a few miles to our trip but I bet not many lorry drivers had experienced the great views from up there that we had that day.

Yes I remember that little excursion Sandway. The views were well worth the detour.

Well, finally the finished version of the book cover, I hope.
The book weighs in at 334 pages, 83,000 words and includes 36 photos.
Some from my collection and others from Stevie Lacey and Brian.
My greatest thanks to Brian and Steve for making them available.
Just going into the proof reading stage and changing the format for the Kindle version.
Hopefully, the paperback and Kindle versions will be available on Amazon by the end of August.
I will keep you up to date on its progress.

Mick

Hello Mick, I hope that your health is improving and having read your last book I am now looking forward to reading the next one so good luck with that. :smiley:
I was hoping that in The Vodka Cola Cowboys there might of been a mention of the Totem Poles restaurant near Poznan or was that the wooden cabins that you mentioned in the book ? I was on my way back from Gdansk one night when I pulled on there and decided to call it a night. There was another English truck parked there (no names, no pack drill) so I walked over to say hello. He had his curtains pulled around with the light on inside the cab and I could tell that he was on the pull.
On his dashboard he had a couple of oranges, a jar of Nescafe, a two pound bag of Tate and Lyle sugar and a bottle of shampoo. I asked him if he wanted to go for a meal and a beer but he said that he wanted an early night so that he could do an early start. When I came out a couple of hours later he had gone. :unamused:
Brian, if you remember that story near the beginning of this thread where I had the slight altercation with the horse and hay cart with no lights and the tree in Rumania.
Well I was on my way to catch the Calafat Ferry to cross The Danube and then I headed towards Sofia to pick up the ring road. As it was the second week in January there was quite a bit of snow about and I took the exit road and headed towards Kaluta. Sometime in the early afternoon I found a bit of spare ground and decided to have a brew and a bit of a nap. It was quite a clear day and I could see for miles across the snow covered fields with the hills in the distance. About half an hour later I woke up to see that The Soviets and Bulgarian Army were doing manoeuvres with tanks and half tracks going off in all directions. I had a camera with me but I thought that I might be chancing my look by taking photos, I wish I had chanced it now. With Mick being an ex Tankie he might remember the area.

Now something for the week end. :laughing:
I posted this photo of this floating bridge a few years ago on the Astran/ Middle East drivers thread and to my surprise nobody could remember it. As this photo has now disappeared from that thread I thought that I would reshow it on here as I have a feeling that you lads might remember it. :slight_smile:

Regards Steve.

Yes Steve. The totem poles was the same place. I picked up the name wooden hut, from the Dutch boys who called it the block hut.

Astran.JPG

Just to prove that Astran went the extra few yards more than Pro-Motor. I had parked on the service area, but he decided to get ahead of me. :unamused:

mushroomman:
Hello Mick, I hope that your health is improving and having read your last book I am now looking forward to reading the next one so good luck with that. :smiley:
I was hoping that in The Vodka Cola Cowboys there might of been a mention of the Totem Poles restaurant near Poznan or was that the wooden cabins that you mentioned in the book ? I was on my way back from Gdansk one night when I pulled on there and decided to call it a night. There was another English truck parked there (no names, no pack drill) so I walked over to say hello. He had his curtains pulled around with the light on inside the cab and I could tell that he was on the pull.
On his dashboard he had a couple of oranges, a jar of Nescafe, a two pound bag of Tate and Lyle sugar and a bottle of shampoo. I asked him if he wanted to go for a meal and a beer but he said that he wanted an early night so that he could do an early start. When I came out a couple of hours later he had gone. :unamused:
Brian, if you remember that story near the beginning of this thread where I had the slight altercation with the horse and hay cart with no lights and the tree in Rumania.
Well I was on my way to catch the Calafat Ferry to cross The Danube and then I headed towards Sofia to pick up the ring road. As it was the second week in January there was quite a bit of snow about and I took the exit road and headed towards Kaluta. Sometime in the early afternoon I found a bit of spare ground and decided to have a brew and a bit of a nap. It was quite a clear day and I could see for miles across the snow covered fields with the hills in the distance. About half an hour later I woke up to see that The Soviets and Bulgarian Army were doing manoeuvres with tanks and half tracks going off in all directions. I had a camera with me but I thought that I might be chancing my look by taking photos, I wish I had chanced it now. With Mick being an ex Tankie he might remember the area.

Now something for the week end. :laughing:
I posted this photo of this floating bridge a few years ago on the Astran/ Middle East drivers thread and to my surprise nobody could remember it. As this photo has now disappeared from that thread I thought that I would reshow it on here as I have a feeling that you lads might remember it. :slight_smile:

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Regards Steve.

Interesting picture of the floating bridge mushroomman. I am sure I never drove over it but my ā€œlittle grey cellsā€ perked up at the sight of water and also your mention of a ferry. I did a trip in about 82 and again Micky Twemlow, that well known author, was involved. It was one of the most interesting trips I did but unfortunately I didnā€™t have my camera with me. Once I get my head round it I will post it. Its not that long a story it just takes me longer nowadays to remember it all.

Is this a sign of getting older, I just presume that everybody remembers all the same things that I do. :laughing:
I took that photo of the floating bridge in the summer of 1981 or 1982 at Svelingrad, Bulgaria about 10 miles from Kapikule. It was controlled by the army and they would only let about three trucks on it at a time and boy did it flex about. I was told that it would only be there for a month while they repaired the other bridge that we usually used which was about five hundred yards up river but it must of been there over six months.
According to Google, the other bridge was called The Mustafa Pasha Bridge which was completed in 1529 so with all the juggernauts that gone over it over the years then it was about time that they patched it up.

photo0jpg.jpg

structurae.net/structures/svilengrad-bridge

mushroomman:
Is this a sign of getting older, I just presume that everybody remembers all the same things that I do. :laughing:
I took that photo of the floating bridge in the summer of 1981 or 1982 at Svelingrad, Bulgaria about 10 miles from Kapikule. It was controlled by the army and they would only let about three trucks on it at a time and boy did it flex about. I was told that it would only be there for a month while they repaired the other bridge that we usually used which was about five hundred yards up river but it must of been there over six months.
According to Google, the other bridge was called The Mustafa Pasha Bridge which was completed in 1529 so with all the juggernauts that gone over it over the years then it was about time that they patched it up.

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structurae.net/structures/svilengrad-bridge

I count myself lucky that I only transited Kapikule three times. For me it was the pits. I either used the ferry from Volos in Greece or Koper in Yugoslavia to Syria or used the Greece/Turkey border crossing at Ipsala. However, I had to go though Kapik on one trip. All will be explained in the short story I will be posting soon and you will understand why.

Hi Sandway and Mushroomman.
Yeah, I remember the Bulgie army manoeuvres. One bright morning I was heading through Bulgie
and the traffic suddenly came to an abrupt halt.
I looked down into the Lada Zhigulie that was in front of me and could not believe my eyes.
On the back seat there were three Bulgie gentlemen. On their laps there was a cow, laid across their laps.
I picked up my camera to get a shot of this and then looked up.
The first thought that went through my head was ā€œFark me!ā€
The traffic had stopped because up ahead there was a column of tanks blocking the road.
I did no more than lob the camera onto the bunk behind me.
I reckoned that if the Bulgie Army saw me taking a photo they would think that I was photographing them.
I did not fancy a weekend break in Siberia, to be fair.

And yes, Sandway. We had some interesting little runs down to Baghdad together. I have mentioned some of it in the book.
Obviously, I have not mentioned you too much, in case you decide that you want a share of the royalties. Ha ha ha.
But, no Brian. I always enjoyed running down there with you.
As slow as it might have been, I enjoyed it mate.

Of course, coming home was another matter.
Baghdad to Zakho, first day. Zakho to Adana second day. Adana to Istanbul third day. Istanbul to Kavala fourth day.
Then a month off.
Strangely, my first trip to Baghdad, April 1979, I did Dover to Baghdad and back to Dover, in three weeks flat.
After that, they always diverted me back into Brno, to reload from the exhibition.
There I always met Clive, the Arab, Turner. For some reason, these trips then turned into six week jobs.
Obviously, I am not going to say why.

I thoroughly enjoyed working for Promotor as work was rarely boring or tedious.
In 1982 Promotor were involved in running food aid to Poland. It was a great job but unfortunately didnā€™t last long. I think I did five loads in total. I would perhaps have done more but on one occasion, after tipping somewhere in the south of the country and running back to Germany for a reload, I was instead sent to Rotterdam where a load awaited me. I was informed by ā€œStaggieā€, most of you will know by now that he was our transport manager, that I was not coming home but was being turned round as a very important exhibition job had suddenly come Promotors way. The exhibit was a large articulated dump truck. I donā€™t remember the name of the company but it seems it was loaded on a ro-ro ferry somewhere in the north of England. Its destination was an exhibition in Izmir in Turkey. Unfortunately there was a problem en route and the company were informed the dump truck would not arrive until the exhibition had ended. So they had it offloaded in Rotterdam and asked Promotor to get it to Izmir overland in time for the opening day of the exhibition. Knowing Staggie he would have said ā€œno problem, leave it to usā€. And they did.

Speaking to Staggie on the phone I was given the broad outline of the job. It seems this was not your ordinary building site dump truck. Oh no!!! This one was over three metre wide and weighed in at about 18 ton if my memory serves me correctly. ā€œHang on Daveā€ I said. ā€œIā€™m pulling a box trailer. How can I load a dirty great dump truck in thatā€. ā€œNo problemā€ he said. ā€œMicky Twemlow is in the area with a super cube. You will meet him at the docks and swap trailers. The two of you will then load the dump truck and Micky will return home whilst you leg it down to Izmirā€. I never did find out why Micky couldnā€™t have taken it but Iā€™m glad he didnā€™t.

I was then told to meet him at 1600hrs and given instructions on how to find him. Sure enough I arrived on time but to my surprise Micky had already stripped out the suprcube and loaded the wheels on the step and the main body of the dumptruck over the three axles further back. As soon as I jumped down from the lorry I knew Micky was not a happy bunny. He was dirty and sweaty as anyone would be after stripping out the tilt leaving a completely flat area to the rear of the step. ā€œWhere have you beenā€ he grumpily inquired. ā€œStaggie told me to meet you at 1600hrsā€ I replied. It seems Micky had been told to get there in the morning. ā€œWell you can finish it off cos Iā€™m outta hereā€. With that he hooked up to my trailer and left in a haze of blue smoke fuelled no doubt by the thought of what he was going to say or do to Staggie once back in the office.

It was now late afternoon and after tidying up the tilt and tying it back I was ready to go. My instructions were to make my way to Aachan and find the agent who would be expecting me. He was going to provide hazard warning lights and sort out my wide load permit. Seems I didnā€™t need either for Holland and Belgium or I was expected to chance it. I left Rotterdam docks early next morning and was in Aachan by midday. Of course the super efficient German agent had everything under control and by mid afternoon I was on the autobahn heading south east on the route designated. My orange hazard warning lights were flashing well and I was on my way. After a stop for the night somewhere I finally got to the Austrian border at Salzburg. It seems I didnā€™t need a wide load permit for Austria so sailed through the customs and was on my way to Yugo in no time.

Normally I would use the small borders as the main border crossings were a pain but on this occasion I had to stick to the direct route. Once out of Austria and into Yugo I again had to find the agent who had been informed I was on my way. However, my transit of Yugoslavia was to be handled differently. Here I had to have an ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  from The Austrian border down to the Bulgy border. This was to meant to take two days but my ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  were keen to get home asap. Perhaps there was a football match they wanted to see. Anyway we set off and apart from a few short breaks en-route we did it in one hit. I was knackered but at least I was on schedule. After a good nights sleep I transited Bulgy and made it to Kapic late afternoon.

There were no queues and I was parked up on the Turkish side by early evening. Once again I had been given the name of an agent who had arranged my Turkish wide load permit. All I had to do was find him. I located his office but it was locked and the blinds drawn. Damm I thought. That means Iā€™ll have to spend the night in this sh-t hole. I was about to walk back to the lorry when a Turkish chap came across to me and asked if I was the driver with the wide load. Confirming that I was he said my paperwork had been left in the duty free shop. So off I went to find the shop and my papers. Sure enough they were there and all looked nice and legal. There was also a designated route given which I had to stick to but there was only one route anyway so couldnā€™t go wrong. It was by now late evening but at least I could get away from the border and find somewhere decent to park up before I started the last leg of my trip.

I had tipped in Poland and Staggie had pulled me back to Rotterdam where a large dumptruck was awaiting delivery to an exhibition in Izmir, Turkey. Micky Twemlow had loaded it onto a stripped down supercube trailer. It was around three metres wide without its wheels on. They were loaded on the step. I had made my way across europe and was now parked up in Edirne which is just down the road from the Turkish border at Kapikule. I was on schedule but I had to be in Izmir first thing next day. As it was only 540km shouldnā€™t be difficult I thought, just might be a bit late arriving tonight.

I left Edirne first thing in the morning. I remember it was a glorious day with little traffic on the road. I stopped after an hour or so to buy some ekmet for my lunch. Couldnā€™t beat it. Just as good as the French baguette if not better. I was now heading down towards Kesan and I was making good progress. By late morning I was near Gelibolu poodling along without a care in the world when I saw the old bill ahead. Here we go I thought. Whats it going to cost me today. As I got nearer I saw him get a bit of paper from his pocket then look at my number plate. Miracle of miracles. He obviously had been informed of my presence and maybe was even waiting for me to pass. The wide load permit system in Turkey worked. I was impressed. He waved me by and put his hand up in a gesture indicating ā€œbonne route, drive steady, have a nice day or whateverā€. I pitied the next lorry that came along though. Heā€™d have to pay twice.

I was of course heading all the time towards Canakkale. The town sitting on the Dardanelle Strait better known simply as the Dardanelles. In a recent post in reply to mushroomman I said the mention of water and ferry had stirred my ā€œlittle grey cellsā€. It was here that I had in mind and here that I cursed myself for not having my camera with me but I know mushroomman has posted some photos of the ferry not to long ago. Hope they havenā€™t been lost. I donā€™t remember exactly where I caught the ferry but I do remember vividly pulling onto the ferry parking area. I was in a lane for lorries and ahead was the booking office. I walked up to the office paid for my ticket and returned to my lorry. Nobody seemed worried by the fact I had a wide load. After a short wait I was called forward and told to embark keeping to the right hand side. I am sure there were only two lanes for lorries. I was almost to the point where the loading crew wanted me to stop when there was a bang and a loud scraping sound. My wide dumptruck had caught on a bit of the ships structure sticking out high up and brought me to a stop. The crew didnā€™t seem to worried and told me to wait whilst they loaded tonkas in the other lane. I believe what happened was as I came aboard the ferry, it being small, it listed ever so slightly. This tipped me over to the right causing me to catch the piece of metal sticking out. By then loading the other side of the ferry with lorries it righted itself and freed me up. As Iā€™ve said I cursed for not having my camera with me. The four mile crossing was completed without further mishap and I was now heading down towards Izmir.

It was now getting dark and I knew it would be at least midnight before I arrived at the exhibition venue. However, I was in for one last scare. About 2100hrs as I was driving along daydreaming there was suddenly a grand display of sparks from near the rear of the trailer. I immediately stopped fearing for the worst but all that had happened was that one of the macalisters had come loose and the chain was dragging along the road causing the sparks. After reattaching it I finally made it to Izmir about one in the morning. I found the exhibition centre and got my head down parked about one hundred metres from the entrance.

At 0700hrs I was woken by somebody banging on my door. It was a lad wanting me to drive into the exhibition centre. Just as well as the parking area I was in was filling up with cars fast. I couldā€™ve been stuck there all day. Anyway there is no more to tell. After a customs officer had come out and looked at the machine and it was offloaded I rebuilt the trailer. It was a very hot day and I remember I couldnā€™t find a shower anywhere.

I left about midday job done. I would be on the beach at Kavala next day where I intended to soak in the sea for as long as it took. I wasnā€™t in a hurry.

Thanks again Brian for writing all that down and for sharing it with us and as usual, you have once again kicked my brain cell into gear.
We did a lot of work to Izmir for customers like Courtaulds, Perkins, British Leyland, Rothmanā€™s, Ford and I.C.I. in fact it wasnā€™t unusual to send at least four trailers a week down to Izmir. The favoured route was from Yugo into Greece where we would stop at The Shell garage at Evzoni.
You might remember Brian there was a white haired waiter called Chris who worked there and he spoke very good English and always made us feel welcome.
About six years later he opened up his own restaurant between Polikastro and the border on the way home. In my opinion, it was a good days drive from The National Hotel in Belgrade down to the Yugo border at Gevgalija and after I had cleared both borders which were usually hassle free, I liked to call it a day. It didnā€™t matter to me if it was in the summer which may of taken eight or nine hours or in the winter which may of taken up to fourteen hours The Shell at Evzoni was the place to get to for the night which was also another good days drive down to Athens.
The following day if the sun was shining, we would head down to the beach at Kavala for an afternoon off but if it was raining or in the winter then we would just crack on to the Turkish border at Ipsala.
Ipsala was a much quieter border than Kapikule as not many of the Turks would use it because there was still tension between the Turks and the Greeks after the Turks had invaded Northern Cyprus several years earlier. From what I can remember the border post was only open between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. so I can remember sleeping at the border until the following morning on a few occasions.
Sorry Brian, I am drifting off the topic again (as usual). :unamused:
I have managed to find my photo of The Canakkale Ferry and as you mentioned, the trucks appear to be loaded along the outside with cars and Tonkas down the middle which is something that I have never noticed before.
Bestbooties did have a better photo than mine of the ferry so it would be interesting to see if he was also parked along the side.
I do remember my first two trip to Izmir very well and if anybody wants to hear about them then let me know and I shall try and write them down over the next couple of weeks.
As you will know the ferry went from Eceabat on The Gelibolu Peninsular or what we call in English, Gallipoli which was the scene of one of the greatest battles in World War 1. When you came off the ferry there was usually nowhere to park or the police would move you on but a couple of kilometres outside the town there was a large lay-by next to the sea and a sign that pointed inland which read to the A.N.Z.A.C. cemetery.
I always said to myself that the next time that I went that way then I would go and have a look at the cemetery but I never did and itā€™s one thing that I now deeply regret.

The Canakkale Ferry.

The lay-by between Eceabat and Gallipoli.

!cid_67539BD7CA6D4501A97C84E3BB642F0A@chrisstevepc.png

Iā€™m glad you havenā€™t lost all your photos mushroomman. Didnā€™t realise Dow did so much work to Izmir. To me that was one of the best destinations to drive to as long as you were transitting Ipsala. I would love to read of your exploits to Izmir so get it written up and posted for us all to enjoy. I also saw the signs to the A.N.Z.A.C. War Graves and would like to have visited them but unfortunately never got back to that area again. I did say before my posting the story of my trip to Izmir with the wide load that it would be a short story. I tell fibs but hope everyone enjoyed it but adding photos to a story makes all the difference.

I have attached a photo from the late 70ā€™s or early 80ā€™s. I could be in Greece but think it most probable that its taken in Koper, Yugoslavia, whilst waiting for the ferry to Tartous in Syria.

Hi Sandway, looking at the red, white and blue flags I would say that it was taken somewhere in Yugoslavia rather than in Greece.
I canā€™t at the moment ever remember going to the port in Koper, just the Port of Zadar and Split.
I put this photo of Jim Smethurst, myself and Stan Warmbold on another thread a few years ago and I asked did anybody recognise the port. The consensus was that it was probably Piraeus but I wasnā€™t too sure if it was. I did do one trip to Izmir with Stan and Jim and I am now wondering if this could of been taken in Izmir, maybe Nazeam from O.H.S. or Jazzandy might recognise it.
As regards my first trip to Izmir, I shall try and type it out and get it on here before the week end. :slight_smile:

Hi everyone, I have only just joined and itā€™s great to hear of some of my old promotor driver mates, itā€™s also sad to hear of the ones that are no longer with us. I was an o/d for them for about 9 years under the heading of "Cannonhaul " some might remember me as Roy. There has been some fantastic features and pictures on here and if itā€™s ok I would like to put some on. A name I havenā€™t seen mentioned was a guy that took over the accounts was a guy called Chris Sly (?) He screwed the o/d to the last penny. I hope I have done this correctly, if I have I will try to put more stuff on.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

cannonhaul:
Hi everyone, I have only just joined and itā€™s great to hear of some of my old promotor driver mates, itā€™s also sad to hear of the ones that are no longer with us. I was an o/d for them for about 9 years under the heading of "Cannonhaul " some might remember me as Roy. There has been some fantastic features and pictures on here and if itā€™s ok I would like to put some on. A name I havenā€™t seen mentioned was a guy that took over the accounts was a guy called Chris Sly (?) He screwed the o/d to the last penny. I hope I have done this correctly, if I have I will try to put more stuff on.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Welcome to the Promotor thread cannonhaul. As someone who was with the company for many years I am pleased to hear there are still people, like yourself, who were associated with the company in the early days and even more thrilled when they say they can post reminiscences of that period wether it be anecdotes or pictures or just chipping in with comments. I was involved with the company from 78 through to 93 but obviously our paths never met although I know your name well enough. I have said many times my ā€œlittle grey cellsā€ are not what they were so if we did know each other and I have forgotten please excuse me. We have some good contributors and followers on here who no doubt will be pleased that new blood has appeared.

I have mentioned in past posts the name of Chris Sly. Thats something new to me that he was involved in accounts. I assume thats when the company was in Bromley. When I joined he was in the lower office block at West Kent Cold Stores not up the top where operations were.

You certainly have posted correctly cannonhaul and I for one look forward to more of your posts in the future.

I am sorry if my pictures havenā€™t come out too well but they are my Volvo f88 which I had first, and then Peter Calderwood said that if I would buy a Transcontinental with him, we could get a very good deal, hence the Transcon. the reg of the Ford was PLC265R which I thought was apt for
P eter L iz C alderwood. I started working for them after meeting Billy Heath while I was working for Frosty Trucking, we were tipping at the same job, I canā€™t remember my first job with Promotor but I run with some of the best including Billy and Bob Heath, Ray Scutts, Stevie Smith, Tony Grainger, John Barclay, Johnny McFall, Roger Oakley, Roger Greber to name a few, sorry if I missed some, there are so many stories to tell, with Billy Heath and his new 140 Scania that he was so proud of, Stevie Smith and our run down to Spain, he was going to Madrid and I was going to Barcelona, but Steve wanted to spend the night in the bakehouse at Macon, it took him a week to get to Madrid, Tony Grainger and myself running back up the autoroute on our way home from Spain when we heard on the radio the very sad song about an invalid boy and his teddybear, we had to stop and shed a tear. If this is all working out I will tell the long story of 6 trucks going to Tehran with myself on tow for 1400 miles on the back of another truck, with some photos.