When Frank 1st went to africa he was transport manager for united transport
group(swift Rhodesia). They were running ERF and FODENS. The local drivers who went to work for him were driving Kenworhs and White trucks, he later started on his own with 3 Scania 141 6 leg double drives and hire trucks
when needed. The trucks were running from Botswana to anywhere Swift Transport needed the loads to go all over southern Africa. The furthest north
they tipped was Dar es Alam, Tanzania. The Ayatollah he said was a scary time for him and drivers. He and his drivers must have many great stories of
that time and i have asked him to put pen to paper many times.
Hi All
Its good to see this thread is still going. Ihave not been on for a while busy driving and running the haulage in these hard times. Its good to see the link to the frank white pictures i didnt know he was running in the 90s to russia very intresting. I managed to get in touch with a freind of mine with pictures of 70s and 80s hauliers/owner drivers from the lothians that did m/e so i hope to get them on here soon. Who was gentleman george?
Cheers Scania 142
Scania’s Colin, I don’t remember Frank mentioning anything about Scania’s, I was obviously paying more attention to changing his trailer wheel than to what he was telling me. Oh, and thinking about it now I think that he was going some where further than Turkey.
I do remember him telling me that when he got the new vehicles that the drivers drove them side by side down the main street of Bulawayo. People stopped, stood and stared at seeing such an unusual site in Rhodesia as sanctions were imposed on that wonderful country at the time.
Anybody who had driven down the main street of Bulawayo will know just how wide it was. When it was built it was made wide enough to do a U turn with an Ox cart pulled by six Oxen but that was before Frank arrived there.
Another story he told me Colin and this one is very cloudy so I hope that you can get Frank to clarify this.
I.I.R.C., there was a high tax or something to do with importing new vehicles or even something to do with registering new vehicles. Frank found a legal loophole in this piece of legislation and decided to keep it to himself and to put it to good use. It was some time later that a “ friend ” of his enquired how Frank had got around it, Frank confided in him and explained about the loophole. Some time later Frank had a visit from the relevant department and the loophole was sealed.
It turned out that Franks “ friend ” , had a friend working in the same department and at a party one night Franks “ friend ” asked his mate an hypothetical question.
What would happen if I imported three new trucks and did so and so and so and so to get around this bit of legislation. Everybody in the area knew who the only person was to get new trucks so Frank was paid a visit.
I might be a bit off course with all the details Colin so I hope that Frank can put me right.
It was only a couple of days later while I was waiting for a boat in Rotterdam that I bumped in to old Billy “ Jock ” McDonald and I told him that I had met another Scotsman called Frank White. Jock said he had met Frank back in the seventies and he must have had some balls to go back to Iran to get his trucks at that time.
I hope that Frank can tell us all exactly what happened but one thing that I am sure about is that Frank White has had a very interesting and exciting life.
I only met him once and for a short time but I wish I would of listened to him a lot more, all the best for the future Frank.
B.T.W., I know it’s nothing to do with Middle East but when I worked for Blue Dart Transport in the 70s, a certain Mr Alan Gilzean ( ex Scotland and Spur’s soccer player ) was the transport manager of Blue Dart European at the Enfield depot on the A10.
The trip he done in the mid eighties with his family was to Baghdad i will ask
him about the others but i think they were to there also. On one trip he had a
friend called Micheal Watson with him aswell. I will ask more of what you asked and i wouldnt be surprised as he always did seem to find his way round
things!! As for the the Ayatollah he and his drivers were the only westerners on
the outward flight to Iran and they had many troubles to get the trucks out. I will find out the drivers names as i no Geordie Scott and jock mackie were two of them but the others im not sure. On the way out of Iran Frank went to overtake
a bus but didnt see the bus overtaking him and he ended up in front of the mullah court for taking the side out of the bus! He said if it wasnt for the fact he
used to use hotels and keep the receipts in Tehran then he would probably be
locked up. The Mullahs looked on that he was in fact investing in their country
and using the facilities and not always sleeping in the truck so they fined the bus driver instead!!
I spoke to Frank today and he was trying to place the tyre changing and he thinks it was somewhere in Czech? He says if you are the same guy from that time he sends his thanks and best regards.
That’s right Colin, it was between Pilzen and Prague and like I said before he had a brand new white or grey Iveco. I remember being very impressed with the unit, as the side windows by the bunk didn’t have curtains, they had slats that opened and closed. I was on my way home and Frank was on his way down and the puncture was on the trailer nearside.
I would of been in my thirties at the time and I thought Frank would of been in his fifties. As I have discovered, it’s a lot harder trying to change a truck wheel in your fifties.
It was very interesting listening to him and I should of thought that he would of had a lot more interesting stories to tell.
B.T.W. Colin what on earth are you doing up so early in the morning.
Best regards Steve.
Just finished work!! Dont do anything exciting anymore but would like to. Ive had some laughs from him and other drivers like yourself. Its amazing what you here when you are on the road.I will never forget the customs guy at the Uzbek border who was a little worse for wear and wouldnt do our paperwork and was ranting at us outside so Frank went to pick him up and throw him in the river!!! Mayhem broke out and guns nearly drawn and he says to me dont worry they wont shoot as its too much paperwork?? They stamped us up in jig time as i think they were just glad to see the back of us
Dont you just love anecdotes like that.
I heard about ( I must admit I wasn’t there ) a Scouser called Billy Jones when he was going through Aachen Nord with a group of Brits.
Billy gave the German customs man all his paperwork, the customs man looked at it and pushed it all back . Billy put it all back in his folder, screamed and threw the folder onto the floor. he then knelt against the counter sobbing saying Vos is los, Vos is los ( whats wrong ). Two customs men came over feeling very sorry for him and explained that he had not put the date on his tankshein.
Call it an old wives tale if you like but I was assured that this one was true.
Yeah well being young and not so worldly wise i went ten shades in five minutes! Another time on way to the gold mine Uzbek president decides to make all kids at school learn tennis. We were loaded with the balls for the new international tournament the Presidents Cup and had to tip them in Tashkent on the way to Zarafshan. In Tashkent they couldnt decide where to tip them so Frank decided to take the decision himself . He got so annoyed he broke the customs seal on the main road in the center of Tashkent and started throwing them out the back off the trailer, the customs and the agent didnt see the funny side but i near ■■■■■■ myself laughing on the street below trying to catch them
You know Colin, I believe evey thing that you have printed and there must be 1000s of stories like that of what has happened to drivers while on the road. It’s getting now that people are reluctant to share their experiences on here for fear of them being called old wives tales or only believe 10% of what you hear.
It appears that the days of when lorry drivers used to have a bit of a laugh to make the job a bit better are slowly disappearing. There was a time when you didn’t need a C.V. to be a lorry driver but a sense of humour was a great asset.
Like somebody has said on here more than once, if we dont share our memories then they will lost for ever.
Keep em comin mate .
Best regards Steve.
Yeah you are spot on there guys. My mates used to ask me in the pub when i was home about the trips but after a couple of trips i stopped telling them as they thought i was full of the S word!! You dont need to do long distance to have a laugh and it is true when you say the fun is leaving the job but its mainly down to the ( remove the brain to think for itself) training most people get when they start in the industry. You must admit tho some of todays trucks are excellent for driver comfort and that hopefully will make more young drivers starting wanting to go to faraway shores and tell others of the experiences
the gentleman george i knew worked for george thomson in stirling running m/e in the 70s .he was also with roadfreight international in ireland running m/e in the late 70s early eighties.hope this helps.
Hi all there was a firm with new bright yellow Daf’s running M/E in the 70’s, I cant remember their name. They were involved in a multiple shunt in Syria or Jordan on the way down - they all ran into the back of the first one, I think he was the only one who knew where they were going and the rest were scared of being left behind. We stopped but couldn’t do much as they were quite badly damaged but they said they had the matter in hand. Some months later I was coming out of Kuwait in to Saudi when I saw one of the DAF’s parked at the Kuwaiti customs post, I stopped and walked around and asked the customs about the driver but no-one knew anything so I went on. Later on the DAF caught me up and when we next stopped I asked what had happened? The driver ( very blond hair & a broad accent) said that he had put in his passport and the customs man had asked English? He had replied yes as it was often easier than trying to explain Scotland. The officer then said ‘no English’ he replied yes, this went on for a bit until the officer said ‘no English you no speak English’ So the driver said OK I am Scotlander. The officer said why you have English passport? And promptly arrested him! When I was looking for him they had just received confimation from Kuwait city that it was OK for a Scotsman to have and ‘English’ passport!
Gavin
colin.f.whitetrans:
Yeah you are spot on there guys. My mates used to ask me in the pub when i was home about the trips but after a couple of trips i stopped telling them as they thought i was full of the S word!! You dont need to do long distance to have a laugh and it is true when you say the fun is leaving the job but its mainly down to the ( remove the brain to think for itself) training most people get when they start in the industry. You must admit tho some of todays trucks are excellent for driver comfort and that hopefully will make more young drivers starting wanting to go to faraway shores and tell others of the experiences
I have got to agree with you Colin, you don’t have to do long distance to have a laugh. How many good laugh’s have you had at the depot or in the garage.
I remember at one company when one the fitters was having a day off ,a mate of mine called Barry took the big green wet suit that we used with the steam cleaner and filled it with crumpled up newspaper. He then pushed a pair of wellington boots over the bottom of the legs, so it looked like a Guy Fawkes without a head. He then placed it in between the two back wheels on one of the trailers which had been parked next to the canteen door for a couple of days waiting for an M.O.T.
The two legs with the wellingtons and half a body was sticking out from under the trailer. A couple of people cottoned on but the same people who strode over the legs saying don’t move Tony was quite amazing. Some of them didn’t bother to wonder why he had been in the same position for over four hours.
I used to dream of sleeper cabs when I was doing nights out in an A.E.C. Mercury day cab and the thought of a telephone in the cab, that was like something out of a Dan Dare comic.
In the 70s I thought if only we all had telephones in the cab how much better that would make the job, but did it.
Good luck to any young fellow who is starting out in the transport industry now a days, who knows what the job will be like in 40 years time but goods will still have to be moved by road.
I do know that being on the road as a young lad beats working in a cotton mill in Manchester.
colin.f.whitetrans:
Mayhem broke out and guns nearly drawn and he says to me dont worry they wont shoot as its too much paperwork??
I was given similar advice as a serious argument in Yugoslavia ensued. This time the reason they won’t shoot is that the policemen have to pay for their own bullets,
the same reason was given as why they didn’t chase after you in the car, as they paid for petrol from any fines they could raise from foreigners.
I believed this information and it stood me in good stead for several years
I thought mercury was a metal I know the guys going east had in some truckstops the use of a phone but mostly if we really needed to we had to go to the post exchange in the towns and that could take some hours just to make a connection!! Im glad i had the pleasure of sleeper cabs and air-con too
I don’t remember Frank mentioning anything about Scania’s, I was obviously paying more attention to changing his trailer wheel than to what he was telling me. Oh, and thinking about it now I think that he was going some where further than Turkey.
They stamped us up in jig time as i think they were just glad to see the back of us 
