OK lads, you’ve had your joke. What do you think this is? An Obituary Column. This is becoming deadly serious you know. But of course we are all getting older and it will come to us all one day. But recently we have lost Steve Smith, George Fardell, Richard Phillips and very recently Trevor Thayre.
And once again I have to inform you of the loss of another of our team. Tom Miles, head mechanic and company man through and through.
Tom was often asked to do things by the company way out of his pay grade but he always got on with the job and saw it through. The building of the Ford Mondeo Show Trailer was one example. He converted one of our trailers to a design Peter Calderwood came up with. Many of us protested that it wasn’t right to ask Tom to handle such a large complex job but he took it on anyway and it certainly turned heads when completed.
We must not forget Toms love of his old Saab car. A company car that stayed way beyond its sell by date but Tom loved that car and wouldn’t give it up until Peter told him it had to go. Thought Tom would go with it but no he stayed on for many years after that.
He was, in his spare time, a beekeeper. I remember buying honey from him. My wife loved it.
Rest in Peace Tom. You were part of the fabric of the company and much liked by all of us.
What a great shame. One of the good guys! My condolences to his family.
RIP Tommy!
Richard Brown in touch with me… He’s 70 shortly and still in Tun Wells.
More news: if you remember I posted some Sunday newspaper articles about the goings on of Promotor’s Mr Fixit in Moscow - he’s written a couple of barely disguised fiction books about this time in Moscow
Moscow Ain’t Such A Bad Place
BARRY JONES, Moscow’s own Arthur Dailey, was a scholar, raconteur and Mr Fix-it, well known for his ability to arrange almost anything in the city that he made his home town from 1976 until his expulsion — in chains — from the Russian Federation in 1998. MOSCOW AIN’T SUCH A BAD PLACE, the first of his ‘Moscow’ novels, is a compelling story peopled by fascinating characters, and provides a sympathetic and unique insight into the people and pattern of daily life in Moscow during the heady days of glasnost, perestroika, and the dramatic buildup to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991
I’m sure that Barry Jones’s books will make for interesting reading. He was one of the most interesting guys I met in Moscow even though I made sure I kept my distance from him. Always had birds in tow and offered them to you or you could join them in bed for a romp. Never did fancy getting in bed with him even if his bird was gorgeous.
Have just found a new photo of what were, I believe, the last Scannia’s purchased by the company. Chris Holmes is posing with them.
Remember back in the 60’s and 70’s drivers drivers complaining about having to put boards down across the engine hump to sleep in the cab. Well, here’s the latest lads. You can now have a choice of five bedrooms. Not sure where the load goes though!
I have been trying to work out where this photo of Ken Singleton, Micky Tremlow and Pam was taken in 1980, and I think that I may have found it.
The road junction has changed a bit as the lay-by used to be on the other side of the road.
Czechoslovakia or what is now the Czech Republic, looks really prosperous since The Iron Curtain was lifted. I am sure that there are still a few of us who can remember all the cobbled roads, the medieval looking villages and the numerous horse and carts.
I remember that there was a lay-by with a water pump like this one, somewhere along that stretch of the road.
I’ve not been on for a while. Had better things to do. Been by my son Christopher’s side as he battled a losing fight against cancer. That battle is now over.
He was diagnosed six years ago with lung cancer which had already spread to his brain. He was given 18 months to live but through grit and determination and with the help of the cancer unit at Dorchester hospital he was still with us up to a week or so ago.
He always wanted to travel. From the days when he threw his kit bag over his shoulder and went of with the Army cadets to burning the rubber as he went flat out on the local go-cart course.
He took and passed his HGV Class 1 test just after his twenty first birthday. Soon after we employed him at Promotor. He was in his element. We had him running to Poland, Italy and Spain for a few years interspersed with other destinations as they came up. We took on one job to Kuwait after the end of the Gulf war. I gave him one of my old maps of the Middle East with the route highlighted and some advice on what and what not to do. The trip was an ordeal for him though as a guy he was driving with was involved in a fatal accident just to the north of Damascus. It was the only Middle East trip he did.
After he was diagnosed with cancer he travelled even more. “Ticking places off my bucket list he would say”. Iceland, Vietnam, Kenya, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Morocco and others would be ticked off and still he had plans.
Ten months ago he married Ali and they flew to Scotland for the honeymoon. “Can’t count Scotland” he said “I ticked that off years ago”. During the summer he and Ali travelled to Lanzarote for a holiday against his oncologist’s advice. He wasn’t going to let the doctors stop him. That was to be his last trip abroad but it didn’t stop him planning. My wife and I were in France in August and he was making plans to follow us. Unfortunately his treatment put a stop to that idea.
Towards the end, whilst in the hospice, the nurses had to put an alarm in his bed so they could tell where he was. On three or four occasions he had walked out of the hospice no doubt heading off in the direction of some far flung horizon.
Well his last journey will be on the 24th October at 12 noon so keep those elbows in son. We shall miss you.
sandway:
I’ve not been on for a while. Had better things to do. Been by my son Christopher’s side as he battled a losing fight against cancer. That battle is now over.
He was diagnosed six years ago with lung cancer which had already spread to his brain. He was given 18 months to live but through grit and determination and with the help of the cancer unit at Dorchester hospital he was still with us up to a week or so ago.
He always wanted to travel. From the days when he threw his kit bag over his shoulder and went of with the Army cadets to burning the rubber as he went flat out on the local go-cart course.
He took and passed his HGV Class 1 test just after his twenty first birthday. Soon after we employed him at Promotor. He was in his element. We had him running to Poland, Italy and Spain for a few years interspersed with other destinations as they came up. We took on one job to Kuwait after the end of the Gulf war. I gave him one of my old maps of the Middle East with the route highlighted and some advice on what and what not to do. The trip was an ordeal for him though as a guy he was driving with was involved in a fatal accident just to the north of Damascus. It was the only Middle East trip he did.
After he was diagnosed with cancer he travelled even more. “Ticking places off my bucket list he would say”. Iceland, Vietnam, Kenya, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Morocco and others would be ticked off and still he had plans.
Ten months ago he married Ali and they flew to Scotland for the honeymoon. “Can’t count Scotland” he said “I ticked that off years ago”. During the summer he and Ali travelled to Lanzarote for a holiday against his oncologist’s advice. He wasn’t going to let the doctors stop him. That was to be his last trip abroad but it didn’t stop him planning. My wife and I were in France in August and he was making plans to follow us. Unfortunately his treatment put a stop to that idea.
Towards the end, whilst in the hospice, the nurses had to put an alarm in his bed so they could tell where he was. On three or four occasions he had walked out of the hospice no doubt heading off in the direction of some far flung horizon.
Well his last journey will be on the 24th October at 12 noon so keep those elbows in son. We shall miss you.
A wonderful, if very poignant post Sandway. My heart goes out to you and your family. No one wants to outlive their offspring. Thoughts are with you. May he rest in peace.
Hello Brian, please accept my sincere condolences and my thoughts, at this very sad time in your life, are with you and Ali and your families.
R.I.P. Chris.
We buried Christopher on Monday. He crammed a lot of travelling into his life. It was almost as if he had a premonition that he would be leaving us early.
The last photo is of myself and three of Christophers old workmates at Promotor.
This was the type of work some of our drivers lived for and the company that took us over, Ontime, are still keeping up the tradition. There is only one driver from the Promotor days still driving for them, Frank Gough aka Transit Van Gough.
It is to Frank that I must thank for the photos. Recently he took three cars to The Classic Car Show in Birmingham and enjoyed himself immensely.
Ahh, the ubiquitous Turkish handbrake, which could also be used as a Turkish safety cone. Sometimes, three or more rocks were placed to form a warning triangle and they would often light a small fire on the road at night to warn approaching drivers of a breakdown, but not always.
mushroomman:
Ahh, the ubiquitous Turkish handbrake, which could also be used as a Turkish safety cone. Sometimes, three or more rocks were placed to form a warning triangle and they would often light a small fire on the road at night to warn approaching drivers of a breakdown, but not always.
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The only problem being after the repair they’d leave the boulders in the road. You knew it if you were unluckly enough not to spot them and hit one (happily I managed to miss the many I came across).
Slightly off topic but on the subject of classic cars - I remember Sandway being surprised that I had the ability to rebuild a 1943 Willys Jeep which I did circa 1984 while working at Promotor.
In the summer of 2021 I rebuilt the rusting Willys again - a new body (wish I could have one of those) from the Phillipines - and it’s now pristine and rust free good for another 80 years with ony 6,000 miles on the clock after a Mercedes engine rebuild in 1948 in Germany - and then sold to the Greeks.
That’s the young master posing in the completed Jeep 24th December 2021
OK for swanning round the Kent lanes in the summer Efes but not a lot of protection from the elements this time of year. Does it even have a heater?
Have recently found the attached photo on the web. I know the airplane has been mentioned before on here but don’t think I have seen this photo before.
What a great find Brian , we were discussing that Dakota a few years ago. Many of us had seen it, some of us had seen a photo of it, but nobody could remember where abouts in Yugoslavia it actually was.
I had a feeling that there was also an aero plane restaurant in Bulgaria somewhere along the E5, which might have been an ex Super Constellation. Does that ring a bell for anybody.
And Efes was dead right, they never seemed to move the rocks off the road, once they had repaired their Tonkas.
sandway:
OK for swanning round the Kent lanes in the summer Efes but not a lot of protection from the elements this time of year. Does it even have a heater?
There was a heater (an old Austin Mini heater) which I installed when I first restored the Willys and with a tilt, side screens and canvas doors used to travel in deep snow travel to work in Bromley in the very bad winter (1987?). It was very warm and comfy and reasonably dry and lovely passing all the cars stuck in that big M25 hill heading North from Sevenoaks. However, with the latest restoration I removed the heater to make it look more original. A bit sad, I know, but with a new 100% rust free body I am hesitant to take it out in the wet or go off-roading as I used to. It’s just for posing and shows these days.
As to the photo’ of the Dakota I don’t ever remember seeing this service station and the road does not look at all familiar at all and I’ve covered most of inland Yugo (I never went to the coast). Seems a very odd place to have a plane with all those steep cliffs. Maybe flat on the left side which we cant see? It must have crashlanded to be there…
sandway:
OK for swanning round the Kent lanes in the summer Efes but not a lot of protection from the elements this time of year. Does it even have a heater?
As to the photo’ of the Dakota I don’t ever remember seeing this service station and the road does not look at all familiar at all and I’ve covered most of inland Yugo (I never went to the coast). Seems a very odd place to have a plane with all those steep cliffs. Maybe flat on the left side which we cant see? It must have crashlanded to be there…
Anyone any guesses where this is?
Hi Efes, if you ever loaded at Tigger Tyres (which I think that you might have done) at Pirot Yugoslavia, on your way back from Kapikule Turkey, then you would have passed it.
I am sure that you will remember the White Wooden Policeman who stood by the tunnel just before Pirot, when you were heading east, and you will probably remember the gorge where the road followed the river.
A German hitch hiker called Kurt, asked on this forum a couple of years ago if anybody could remember seeing this D.C.3 Douglas Dakota and where abouts it actually was.
I shall add the Google Earth link and if you look very carefully, you will find it up the hill next to a building. It’s hard to recognise the place now as it may have been shelled during the Yugoslavian wars in the 1990’s, who knows for sure, not me. But I do know that it was on the left-hand side of the E5 as you were heading east.
Edit, I have just found the page where this was mentioned a couple of years ago. You might have to start reading about it from the top of the page and I have a feeling that Jazzandy also said that he remembered seeing it on another thread.
I never loaded Tigar Tyres at Pirot - I think everyone else did - although I must have passed this place on the way through to Plovdiv or Baghdad but I have no memory of it. Perhaps I was asleep at the time?
From the Google image supplied the road surface seems to be far, far better than I remember too. My first trip through Yugo (Jan 1979) most of the main road though Yugo two way taffic and was cobbled and potholed and just one long line of traffic both directions. And road accidents littered the side of the roads as the migrating Turks tried to overtake but didn’t quite make it. That and the broken down VW camper vans. A day of riding on that surface was exhausting it felt like being shaken apart.
I wonder if anyone has a photo of “The Trees” watering-hole (later called “The Stumps” after they chopped the trees down?). It was on the main road through Yugo and on the left heading South but for the life of me I can’t remember where it was now?
I wish I could find my photos of these happy days but Senora Efes has tidied them away somewhere unknown even to herself.
, we were discussing that Dakota a few years ago. Many of us had seen it, some of us had seen a photo of it, but nobody could remember where abouts in Yugoslavia it actually was.