DaveL:
When did they move the IP5 to Spain?I remember it under construction in Portugal.I thought the bit past Guarda was part of a new quarry.
Didn’t say it was , i just posted i was on the ip5 at the time, poster i used the quote from used to see them in Spain i was in Portugal at the time, my post was not about what countries PJK used to go to it was about me being by the side of the road and one of there trucks went past me, along with a few other companies that used to go down to Portugal at the time, no problem it was just my view of a company who’s drivers were being made out to be knights of the road, in my opinion a few were not, but thanks for the potted history of the ip5.
sdj
On the subject of English drivers stopping, I had a wheel bearing go while heading home a few k’s north of Rennes in Jan 1990 at about 10pm.
I took all the wheels of the offending axle and while doing so I lost count of the number of English trucks that drove past, I was just inside a wooded area on a lay bye and the only truck to stop was a French Merc driver who looked at the hub and walked back to his truck. I remember thinking “at least he stopped”.
A couple of minutes later he came back wearing a boiler suit and carrying a jack & wheelbrace, jumped under and jacked the other side up and started taking the wheels off.
I strapped the axle up and rolled the wheels into a ditch, I offered him the trays of satsumas I had in the locker from the ‘doctor’ at Silla revision, he very reluctantly took one tray but would not take the other.
He was a true ‘knight of the road’ and a truly nice bloke.
Later that night driving throuch a villiage around Coutances the French police were pulling trucks into the villiage square, three of them looked at me trundleing along on 4 axles with one strapped up without any wheels and didn’t pull me, gawd knows why??
I remember these drivers in the late 90’s when I was doing Portugal for Brintons. Great guys and I also remember the IP5 and Guarda, lovely views going into Portugal. Liz
Nipper:
This, as you may see is my 1st post. Just found the website and very happy to see a thread for PJK. Will try and post some piccies up of the vehicles.
Aaahh, the good times [/b]
Welcome aboard Nipper some familiar names there Can’t wait for some piccies
Yeah I last heard that think it was Transfumeria. Ima trying to find some of my dads mates (he dont get out on the continent now and cant use a computer).
I remember the first time i met Marus down in Chipona at the Dutchmans bar boy what a night that was.
Is that marcus that worked for mckellars for a time, last i heard he was double manniing with his french girlfriend working for a spanish company in murcia.
Would have been about 7 years ago that marcus was double manning for mckellar think he had been working for transfrimur prior to that, and thats where he met the french girl think her name was edy or somthing like that, then when i was last talking to steve from portsmouth who was on mckellars about 2 years ago he told me marcus had gone back to spain driving for a fridge company in murcia i think.
I worked for P.J.K European from around 1989 to about 1995 as a freelance Contract Driver usually doing turnarounds and out for 4-6 weeks.
I remember in this time suffering the Spanish road updates & N1 Autovia construction from Irun to Madrid, being stuck in the Spanish & French drivers strikes and sadly, the end of european border customs clearance (the only time as a fridge driver that you could really chill out, have a life & catch up on the gossip with other drivers).
I also worked with Les Slater (LS Transport) Keith Barrett K.J.B (Red Rose International) and Buzby (John Davies International) and others who were all sharing the work (before they all fell out!) hauling Wall’s Ice Cream, McDonalds buns, sauces & coke & Kodak stuff around Europe mainly Spain, Portugal & Greece, the pay at P.J.K was average, but the crack was good & decent bunch of lads to work with and I always thought PJK looked after his drivers well.
I remember when I started contracting for P.J.K in 1989 and getting a big envelope of sticky numbers and letters to change the trailer numbers from a P.J.K prefix to to D.I.T or L.S.C prefix or vice-versa… It was just so much easier to change the trailer number to match the paperwork than being refused a load or transhipping a load but it played havoc with your fingernails trying to peel those letters off!
I still see a few really old P.J.K trailers floating around now with the huge green & blue european map on the side.
Heres a couple of PJK photos taken in southern Spain, one was used for an advert for something cant remember what for, and the other one im doing a teapot impression…doh!
Cheers Routier
I spotted Paul’s posts just after I posted the photos.
I just remembered my first trip for PJK was to Spain with a full load of Neopolitan Ice Cream (the multicoloured stuff) bound for Madrid. I was using a brand new fridge trailer, which malfunctioned (a compressor fault) while clearing customs at Irun TIR park. The weather was very, very hot and within a few hours and before they could fix it, my full load of frozen Neopolitan Ice Cream had turned into Technicoloured Cream… not a great start on my first trip for Paul…!
no rose tinted glasses needed, just a few genuine recollections. Believe you and me I remember the ones that didn’t stop 
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