LRM:
the devil went to georgia, but i think it was a big fiddle…
chilistrucker:
well i certainly wouldn’t chance it, no matter what the job was worth.was in st petersburg last year, and although ok, you always thought you needed to be on your guard. (2 of the crew were turned over.)
the same in the baltics,we were in riga for a week, drink in the right bar, at the wrong time, and you can meet the odd nasty, “family” type bloke there,who if your unlucky, just for being british, will happily threaten to “cut your throat” (1 of the crew, beaten, and wallet stolen.)so i’m with harry and bullitt, think chechnya has got to be a def no go zone!
pastures new is one thing, getting murdered for the sake of being in a uk registered truck, for a seemingly well paying load, it just ain’t worth it.
Why would someone in St Petes’ want to ‘cut your throat’ just for being British??
chilistrucker:
getting murdered for the sake of being in a uk registered truck, for a seemingly well paying load, it just ain’t worth it.
or a german, dutch, french registered truck you can just as easily get your throat cut in Liverpool, Marseille, Hamburg or Rotterdam so basically going anywhere is not worth it then ?
Vascoingles:
chilistrucker:
getting murdered for the sake of being in a uk registered truck, for a seemingly well paying load, it just ain’t worth it.or a german, dutch, french registered truck you can just as easily get your throat cut in Liverpool, Marseille, Hamburg or Rotterdam so basically going anywhere is not worth it then ?
thats a very good point, but, some places would seem to present more of a danger than others.
i’ve been round most of europe, scandinavia, and the balkans, and 1 trip to russia, over the last 17 years, and all that time, luckily, only had 1 bit of bother, riga last year, and that was down to 1 very ■■■■■■ bloke, who thought e was a real somebody. he wasn’t, but turned out his father most certainly was.
i agree, your as likely at risk in liverpool, marseille, madrid, etc,etc, but i’d feel happier travelling to these places in this job, rather than somewhere, that the foreign office, warns you to travel, as regards your own personal safety.
jonka:
chilistrucker:
well i certainly wouldn’t chance it, no matter what the job was worth.was in st petersburg last year, and although ok, you always thought you needed to be on your guard. (2 of the crew were turned over.)
the same in the baltics,we were in riga for a week, drink in the right bar, at the wrong time, and you can meet the odd nasty, “family” type bloke there,who if your unlucky, just for being british, will happily threaten to “cut your throat” (1 of the crew, beaten, and wallet stolen.)so i’m with harry and bullitt, think chechnya has got to be a def no go zone!
pastures new is one thing, getting murdered for the sake of being in a uk registered truck, for a seemingly well paying load, it just ain’t worth it.Why would someone in St Petes’ want to ‘cut your throat’ just for being British??
sorry, it wasn’t st petersburg, that was riga.
it was the crew members who got turned over in st petersburg.
surprise, surprise, in a strip bar.
a strip bar, in st petersburg, didn’t appeal to me, and glad i didn’t go.
bullitt:
Ben9:
Thats what we thought but what we were asked to quote on.
Stuff that!!
Im all for exploring new destinations and routes etc but to tempt fate like that is abit daft!! Would the border posts even let you in??
They still have a massive mujahadeen army there and are still fighting for an independent Muslim state, you ben, will be fair game and a “legitimate” target for them. Should you get caught and fall into their hands then the Government will wash their hands of you cos you ignored their advise!!
Remember that guy from a telecom company who went over there to help build up the infrastructre, snatched of the street then beheaded!!!
What ever you quote for the job, it wouldnt be enough for me!!!
You will find it was four telecoms workers who were beheaded, three brits and a kiwi if i remember right. I was in dagestan at the time and there was a really bad atmosphere in that area at the time. Chechnya next door was closed off to outsiders and im sure it still is! If not it wants to be as you only need to watch rt news on sky channel 512 to see its still very volitile down that way. Chechnya i would give a miss but nothing wrong with azerbajan going through turkey ben!!!
I know it was a while ago when we were going to Baku, we used to go through Turkey then Georgia, when you go through the border (Sarp if memory is ok) we had to go to a cafe about 15 ks from the border and told to wait there for the military ■■■■■■,when they turned up theyd only ■■■■■■ 15 trucks, unless you paid, bet that surprised you didnt it 
The reason for the ■■■■■■ was, the Batumis (Batumi is first town after the boder) wanted independence from the Georgians and Georgians had just got independence from USSR, so they were all fighting eachother 
From what I was told, when the Russian/chechnyan border closed Eddie Edwards (Russanglia/Peter Gilder) was in Chechnya at the time, and he was trying to get out and there were tanks throwing shells at eachother so Eddie just looked at the map, and headed North,no road just headed north He was a bit strange
Edward Gilder,I think is still doing pigs out to Russia, I know he did the biggest livestock movement,UK-Russia a few yrs ago, 57 loads in total, not all in one go, was spread over a couple of months.
Because chechnya was closed you had to divert to kizylar and then head down to mahachkala at the time i was there. I was lucky i got to baku on day nine but the lads coming behind me were stuck at the border of derbent for three days. That area is just as dangereous now as it was then. I met mervyn king on the way back going from azerbajan into russia at the border and had a rare old time on the way back to smolensk for my change over for turmenistan. With mervyn it was a trip i will never forget, what a laugh