Think i remember the stacks being fitted, didnt one end up in Rothmans colours ? & they also had a “older” Scania which wasnt a rental , the Cargo was Stormont vehicle hire and maybe the F10 ? Shady was one of there drivers long hair & a beard, i messaged Steve at the start of the thread & i think he said Shady was dating his sister at the time i dont know his real name
A WARD:
Think i remember the stacks being fitted, didnt one end up in Rothmans colours ? & they also had a “older” Scania which wasnt a rental , the Cargo was Stormont vehicle hire and maybe the F10 ? Shady was one of there drivers long hair & a beard, i messaged Steve at the start of the thread & i think he said Shady was dating his sister at the time i dont know his real name
I think it was the other Transcon A432 VOO that was painted up in Rothmans colours and yes, Show-haul used Stormont a lot. I only remember going to there depot once to pick up a 7.5t Ford Cargo box lorry. So the guy with the long hair and beard was going out with Debbie Lacy. Hmm, we of course wouldn’t have employed him on Promotor if he was that scruffy. Yes I know we employed Johnny Mantle but that was different!
Possibly him on page 4 on the right 
A WARD:
Possibly him on page 4 on the right
Do you mean this guy. Looks a right ‘Jack the lad’ with his shades.
Second photo shows Dave Lloyd aka Little Dave setting out on a Road Show after we had absorbed Show-haul into our business and started to paint the units in our colours.
Looks a right ‘Jack the lad’ with his shades. 
I think thats him, i only knew him by his cb handle he lived up the road from me & i used to see him when i was doing my paper round & later on at Stormonts, send Steve a message he will comfirm
Some more photos from The Baghdad International Trade Fair in the mid 80’s. Not sure of the exact years but maybe Efes remembers as he delivered the Saftcrest container back to their depot down Robertsbridge way I think.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
Thought I’d put some pics on our old mate Micky Twemlow used in his books. Quality’s not great but that can’t be helped.
sandway:
For some reason Promotor seemed to attract outgoing, outlandish or plain cranky characters, some of whom wouldn’t have been out of place in a boys own journal. Thinking of John Preece, outgoing. George Fardell, outlandish and Welly Ward, hmmm. Maybe it was the type of work handled by the company! Maybe it was because of Peter and Liz themselves! Whatever it was there was never a dull moment.Of course most of the characters were drivers but I also include Zadenka, in charge of our Yugo business and Dave Stagg, transport manager in the mid to late 70’s. Others came and went sometimes with their reputation dented.
However, there was one character who arrived in about 75, who, reading between the lines, wasn’t ‘outgoing, outlandish or cranky’. He arrived at Promotor’s with a CV most drivers would sell their wives for. He was one of the early Asian Transport drivers working there for five years from 69 to 74. He drove UHM 25F, one of their Scania Varbis roadtrains. I have attached a photo obtained from F/B of his rig. Unfortunately he lost all his photos in a house fire years ago. He arrived at Promotor in about 75 and spent around three years there. He drove KGY 378P, a Scania 111.
He is a member of F/B and TrucknetUK but we very rarely hear from him. He posted once on here some four years ago but I know he pops in now and again to keep an eye on us. He last looked in four days ago. Recently he posted on F/B requesting some photos from either the Harem or Londra taken when he was a regular in Istanbul. Instead of photos I replied with the Promotor drivers list from 75 and asked if he was our old workmate. He said he was and confirmed he drove KGY 378P. Unfortunately thats all the info I got from him but I know he moved from Norfolk down to Plymouth a while back.
Although it would be nice to hear from you again ‘Dave Clark’ with perhaps some little anecdotes of your days with Pro’s or even Asian Transport its enough to know you are still there reading this Promotor blog.
I’ve been looking for photos of Dave Clark’s old lorry UHM 25F but so far without success. Asian Transport had a number of the Scania Varbis lorry and drags similar to the one Dave drove but unfortunately most photos are to indistinct to show number plates. The first photo shows John Frost, who was teamed up with Gordon Pearce who took the photo. The reg on this lorry looks like UHM 26F so obviously was purchased at the same time as Dave’s rig. The photos are poor as I’ve had to enlarge them and they weren’t very good to start with but hey, who’d have thought of taking a camera with them in those days. Shovel yes, camera no!
Hi Brian,
I think the chap in the middle is Graham Richardson R.I.P. an early Astrans driver, he was in the Leyland. Graham sadly passed away recently after contracting Covid 19,a great character.
Hope you are keeping well
Regards
Richard
Thanks Richard for the last comments. This lockdown has certainly boosted the supply of photos and anecdotes on various F/B sites some of which I hope to post on here soon. Thought I would add a couple of photos today courtesy of Paul Willis. We have seen both lorries before but the shot of the Scania 81 must have been taken not long before she was moved on. She’s certainly in need of a bit of TLC.
Barrington Laverick, in yellow shirt in first photo, posted many of these photos on F/B a few days ago. They feature Promotor driver George Fardell, the scruffy one wearing a Promotor t-shirt, and Ned Kelly. I think its Ned but I’ve never seen him so clean!
The photo was taken in the bar near the port in Tartous in the early 80’s. I’m a bit confused here as I thought George only ever did one trip on the ferry and that was when he, Geoff Gardner and myself ran down together to Baghdad. But in the photos theres no sign of Geoff or myself. However, look closely at the photos of George as I doubt you will ever see another of him with a beer can in his hand, albeit an empty one. George, as far as I know, only drank Cola Cola. He had cases of it in his Volvo F10 together with a fridge. It was a bit galling when we were somewhere hot to see him supping away on his ice cold Coke. He did, now and again, hand one to us although I’m sure he liked to watch us suffer. He wore a wrist watch on either wrist, one set to UK time the other to Rhodesian. Something thats missing from George’s attire is his tool belt. Used to wear this thing round his waist with all sorts of tools hanging from it. Don’t know why he didn’t buy a Swiss Army knife? Would have been much less ■■■■■■■■■■■
The other photos show the schoolteacher come barber. One of the most welcome sights was to see him cycling towards you as you waited for the ferry. I always had him shave me before embarking. Pure unadulterated luxury.
Rozvadov border crossing from Germany into Czechoslovakia was the principal route into the commie block for those of us delivering or returning from exhibitions in Brno, Budapest and Bucharest as well as our general haulage business in Yugo. Of course it was rarely called Rozvadov as perhaps the name Waidhaus, the German side of the border, tripped off the tongue far easier.
It was here in the 70’s that I first entered the commie block. Four of us from Promotor were in convoy and heading to an exhibition in Bucharest. Three artics and a rigid. Tony Grainger now aka Nottsnortherner was convoy leader. John Barclay followed then myself and last of all was the hated pantechnicon driven by Skippy, a casual driver from Preston.
We had no problems as we completed the customs formalities. I always found it one of the better borders to pass through. However, I’ve just learned that now in the village of Rozdadov, just down the road, is Kings Casino with the largest poker room in Europe. Just as well it wasn’t there when we were on the road. I can imagine there being a huge lorry park outside and when you finally get back to the UK having to explain to the boss why the job took two days longer than usual to complete.
Please click on photo to enlarge.
sandway:
Rozvadov border crossing from Germany into Czechoslovakia was the principal route into the commie block for those of us delivering or returning from exhibitions in Brno, Budapest and Bucharest as well as our general haulage business in Yugo. Of course it was rarely called Rozvadov as perhaps the name Waidhaus, the German side of the border, tripped off the tongue far easier.It was here in the 70’s that I first entered the commie block. Four of us from Promotor were in convoy and heading to an exhibition in Bucharest. Three artics and a rigid. Tony Grainger now aka Nottsnortherner was convoy leader. John Barclay followed then myself and last of all was the hated pantechnicon driven by Skippy, a casual driver from Preston.
We had no problems as we completed the customs formalities. I always found it one of the better borders to pass through. However, I’ve just learned that now in the village of Rozdadov, just down the road, is Kings Casino with the largest poker room in Europe. Just as well it wasn’t there when we were on the road. I can imagine there being a huge lorry park outside and when you finally get back to the UK having to explain to the boss why the job took two days longer than usual to complete.
Please click on photo to enlarge.
The German Customs officers at Waidhaus had a little business on the side selling country identification stickers. No GB sticker? They would provide one at a cost. I can’t now remember if there was a fine AND a forced sale?
What do you do when you’re driving along, minding your own business, and you come across another British lorry driver in trouble. You stop of course and get your camera out and thats exactly what Bill Sallis did. Now I know its not Promotor related but theres some very interesting pics that Ray, Bill’s son, posted on F/B recently.
The incident happened in Saudi in 76. Ray also included a photo of a couple of Promotor loads on their way to Riyadh which I know happened in 76. It seems the Bowker lorries belly tank came adrift and was crushed and became wedged underneath. Bill, who was working for Knights of Old on internals happened to be passing by and stopped to help as did some others. They finally managed to extricate the mangled tank but an awful lot of diesel was lost that day. Most probably at least £5 worth!
I really do appreciate people who like Ray who post these old photos from way back when but its a shame they don’t or can’t reproduce them to a higher standard. I don’t want you to take offence Ray and I’m not aiming these remarks at you but at the many people who copy old photos by taking a snap with a smart phone or whatever. These photos are part of our history and need to be scanned properly and presented in the best way possible for us all to enjoy. There are many people on here who would be willing to help I’m sure (you only have to look at the Paul Gee photos) if you don’t have the equipment or time.
That looks like John McFall on the right of the bottom picture.
Appy:
That looks like John McFall on the right of the bottom picture.
Thats correct. Big John McFall is also in the photo before on the right with his leg in the air. Did you know him well ‘Appy’.
Ken Hogger posted these photos on a F/B site recently. He had titled them ‘En Route to Tehran’ and thought they were taken in about 74. I really do appreciate people posting these old photos in whatever condition and Ken did give me the first three, of the Promotor lorry, in slightly larger format but what a shame he wasn’t able to scan each and every one of them individually. Think how much more interesting they would be.
If anyone recognises the Promotor driver standing by his lorry please let me know.
You need to click on the first three photos to open them.
Anyone recognise the trailer hire company
Think its TIR Rentals from Richmer Rd Erith. They were the hire offshoot of Merriworth Trailers.
Yes, Trailer International Rentals (TIR) at Erith, Kent - I was part owner and started the company (after being first salesman with TiP Trailer Rental) with the backing of the owner of Merriworth trailers and consequently morally bound to purchase mainly Merriworth trailers. I parted company with the Merriworth connection in 1978, selling my shareholding and going on to operate TiR Express.
Sandway - I was hiring stepframe TIR Tilts to Promotor in mid 1970’s but fell out big time with your Peter Calderwood. Asian Transport, then Astran hired lot from me and I had a number based permanently in Jeddah and operated by SARAMAT.
Mention of Merriworth there has reminded me that when I joined Pro they had two Merriworth tandem axle step frame tilts of their own. Without a doubt they had the heaviest superstructure components I ever encountered in over thirty years working on trailers. Even the roof rigging boards had pieces of two inch angle coach bolted to the ends which fitted in loops welded to the roof bows. An absolute nightmare to fit if on ones own and in the end I converted both to have normal roof bow pockets with plain planks to fit them. Both also had plywood dropsides which did not last well. Strangely enough I did later work as a sub contract trailer fitter for TIR Rentals for a couple of years at Richmer Rd Erith, leaving there shortly before the start of the Falklands War. I think this was around the time that Mr Collen decided to pack up Merriworths and if memory serves I think a lot of the chassis jigs etc were sold to South Africa. Again by coincidence one of the Collen Brothers started a business building tilt bodies on the outskirts of Gillingham and myself, P.C. and Chris Sly visited there one day to look at the bodies when Pro were in the market for some new trailers. And those premises were approximately one mile from the house that I later moved into and have lived in now for 42 years. The old building he occupied at Gillingham was part of an old Anti Aircraft gunsite and has long been demolished and the site is now a garden centre often visited by myself. Small world.