Efes:
I never ran with Stevie - just odd meetings here and there. I once bumped into him in Austria (post-Promotor) coming back from Yugo with a non-sleeper Scania (another story). I think that was the longest chat I had with him.However, I did several trips with his cousin Slim which were most entertaining (mostly). Slim and I were on the way to Italy and and decided to drop by into Geneva to stop the night with my girlfriend. We pulled the pin on his trailer and headed for the Swiss border at St Julien. I suggested we wouldn’t be able to drive (no trucks allowed to drive after 9pm in Switzerland) and would be turned back. This did not dissuade Slim as he said he didnt intend to stop… We whizzed past the French dozing in their hut - which alerted the Swiss who jumped out of their cabin to stop us… It was clear they meant business so Slim threw a “u-ey” and we headed back towards the French who, by now, had emerged from their hut. Slim accelerated and the French - made of less stern stuff than the Swiss - scattered…
We later walked over the border and took a bus to town. Slim had trouble with my girlfriend’s homemade “fire-water” (rather like Grappa) from her village. Poor Slim was a bit out of sorts after that.
I remember an incident in Italy where the police were called and demanded Slim’s passport and he handed them his TGWU union card. My mouth dropped open and Slim had to turn away he was laughing so much. The policeman carefully noted down the details from his little red book…
Promotor driver Tony Lawson aka Slim was one of those guys who built up quite a reputation as Efes so eloquently outlines above. I had a message from Slim yesterday which backs up many of the outlandish stories that have followed him around over the years. I only met him a couple of times in passing but I was warned early on in my employment with Pro’s that if I ever saw Tony and his cousin Steve Smith parked up somewhere together not to stop but move on to the next watering hole.
