Just found a photo on the web of Stevie Smith courtesy of Kevin Frost. When Steve decided he wanted a break from Promotor he did some work for Essex International. The photo’s not very clear but it shows him with Barry Cleaver. I believe they worked for subbies who pulled for Essex.
A couple of years after my initial trip for Promoter, with the the small 4 wheel Coles crane to Plovdiv from Brno, I got another to deliver.
This time an Octag to Prague.
Traveling from UK Harwich - Hook of Holland, because of the size and speed of it, I was met by a a Dutch ■■■■■■, who took me across Holland.
On arrival at the German boarder I was met by a German police ■■■■■■. Who took me, in shifts along the Autobahn and on to the Czec. boarder.
Prague was a pretty dismal place back then.
I was back there this time last year for the Xmas markets with my Daughter, Son in Law and one of my Granddaughters the transformation was a joy to see. It’s now a vibrant modern city.
Never did work out what the 2 wheels on the back were for. Perhaps maneuvering in tight spaces on site.
Lovely photos of the Coles crane Alan. I know Chic Steadman did many movements involving Coles cranes to the eastern european trade fairs. The only time I became involved was when we shipped some into Mersin and Iskenduran ports in southern Turkey. A number of us working on the Baghdad Fair ran up there to collect them. The previous year we shipped some cranes out the same route but employed Turkish drivers to drive them. Big mistake. Two of the cranes ended up on their sides.
I mentioned in my last post that Chic Steadman moved a lot of Coles cranes about. Look at the attached photo and you can see why they loved having him on the job. You could always rely on Chic to get the job done. Ace man.
I think I posted a reply about Coles Cranes before so please excuse duplication… I collected one up North to drive to Zagreb fair and drove out through the gates of the factory where it promptly broke down. A call from the gatehouse to the factory and they said if you’re outside the gate it’s your problem… Happily the wheels were just inside the factory so they came out to get the fix the thing. Not a great start.
As to the photo of the crane on it’s side in Turkey I remember driving past it and wondering which of our drivers had a come a cropper.
There is also the story of the counterweight dropping off the back of one and sinking into the road - not that anyone would notice with the huge holes in the road in Turkey by the military road along side the Syrian border. I think it was John Preece driving it but he managed to lift it up with the crane and reinstall.
What happy days!
George Fardell in the yellow shirt talking to Paul Linscott to the right. Have you spoken to George lately Efes?
Please click on photo to enlarge. If you look closely you will see George is wearing real ‘desert wellies’ whilst Paul is wearing his version of them.
Posted on Page 10 on 23rd November 2016.
mushroomman:
WOW Sandway, I AM GOBSMACKED.After all these years I have made enquires on here and I have never had a reply, it’s not everyday that you see two brand new Coles cranes lying on their side within ten miles of each other and that’s probably why it’s always stuck out in my mind. As I say, it was my first trip to Turkey and by the time that we got that far I thought that it was just another one of those things so I didn’t bother to take a photo of them.
Over the years I have looked at articles about Coles cranes to see if there was any mention of them as I thought that somebody must know the story behind it and the only thing that I came across was this photo.
I know that this is only a four wheeler and it is not on a dirt road but the terrain does look like Southern Turkey. Now I am wondering if they were six or eight wheelers but at the back of my mind I still think that they were eight wheelers.
Well I am off to bed now but thanks for sorting that out for me “I knew the truth was out there somewhere”.Regards Steve.
Hi Brian, I don’t suppose that they are the two Coles cranes that tipped over somewhere between Osmaniye and Urfa as I always thought that they were eight wheelers and I thought that the accident happened on a long stretch of a graded track, not on a bitumen road. I think that I can also put a date to the accident as it would of been about the 14th June 1980 which was a week after The Zenobia ferry sank. By the time that we had reached Adana I thought that I had seen more than my fair share of accidents, dead donkeys and Kamikaze coach drivers so when we came across those two cranes I didn’t bother to take any photos, it seemed to be that it was just another day in Turkey. We did stop to see if there was anything that we could do to help but I can’t remember talking to any of the drivers, in fact I seem to remember that at one of the accidents there was nobody around so we just carried on.
There were seven of us taking an oil rig and some drilling equipment for the Aladdin Oil Company somewhere east of Diyarbakir in the Kurdistan region and these are a couple of photos that I took on the trip.
The first one was taken leaving Rotterdam on the Sunday morning and photos two and three was taken going through Rumania near Ramnicu Valcea before they flooded the valley and built the new road on stilts. I was hoping that maybe some of your guys might recognise the old road or might even recognise a couple of the faces in the fourth photo that was taken in The National Hotel in Belgrade around the same time.
Morning Steve. I know very little about the Coles cranes that ended up on their sides apart from what I have already posted, however, that timeframe you mentioned seems to fit to a certain extent as we sometimes shipped goods down to Baghdad well in advance of the Fair and often they didn’t get exhibited at all.
Like your photos of Rumania so have decided to put together some photos of Yugoslavia. As everyone knows Promotor were big in the Yugo market and most of the drivers were kept busy running back and forth. Some more than others. Micky Twemlow reckons he did over 80 loads to the country whereas I don’t think I delivered more than a dozen but I transited many times to Greece and the middle eastern countries.
Some of the photos are mine and some are borrowed from our Italian and French colleagues websites whilst a couple are from UK contributors. Thank you to them all.
More photos from Yugoslavia. Many are mine but some from our Italian and French colleagues websites.
■■■■■■■ ENGINES stand at the Tehran International Trade Fair. I think it was either 91 or 92. They were one of our best customers that year. We shipped out their exhibits and did all the internal standfitting for them. The British Overseas Trade Board had an Iranian company build the main stands. I was involved with the Iranian company introducing them to the BOTB a couple of years earlier. Note the futuristic Union Flag logo. Something that hadn’t been seen before, well not in Iran.
I must dig out the rest of my photos for this show. It was another biggie for Promotor and my last event before I decided to call it a day.
Please click on photo to enlarge.
Close up of the main exhibit.
Photos of “Yugo” brought back memories. Like you I didn’t do so many groupage runs, Mick Twemelow 80 wow! by my calculation that represents over 3 yrs work.
I seemed to have a pretty diverse body of work with Promotors, Trade Fairs, Ford Clinics, Motor Shows, Exhibitions, Product Launches, vehicle delivery and of course Polish aid, with Yugo groupage runs interspersed among that.
In truth I probably spent more time at the Voronesh in Brno than the National in Belgrade (certainly more time checked in 
Added to the transits I did over the years, I also did 5or6 Yugo groupage trips whilst an employee.
Then, when I worked for them as an Owner Driver, I spent the Summer of '86 on a regular run for around 3 months with alternate weekends in Yugo and at home.
Sunday evenings head for Dover, 2 or3 hours stood on those bl**dy stairs at customs, ( youngsters today are in for a culture shock if they have to go back to that next year)
Couple of hours kip on the ferry to Zeebrugge, then through the night to Rhienbollen UTA truck stop off the A6, stop for breakfast and a couple of hours “nap” on to the Austrian border for Monday night and take an 8hr break.
Would arrive outside customs at Zagreb late evening Tuesday
Wednesday morning, clear and unload in the compound, then head for Belgrade.
Thursday in Belgrade, repeat procedure. ( I could never understand why I needed to “do” customs again, but of course even then they saw themselves as Croatia and Serbia)
Then complete deliveries before heading back north where I would “week end” at a Motel outside Zagreb, out by the airport I believe, here I would check in for Saturday night (nice bed and a shower) After my shower I would change into “decent” clothes and head for the Restaurant where there was a huge BBQ Pit with 3or4 chefs cooking up big chunks of Lamb. Served with crusty rustic bread and big spring onions and with a couple of Pivos all seemed well with the world 
- Small point of interest here. My son came with me in the school Holidays on a few trips, this being one of the places he visited with me. Then some years later he was back there based in the Zagreb area attached to the American Military/UN peace keeping force as a communications “adviser”. (I could never understand why the Yanks needed a British Royal Navy, P.O Weapons and Electronic Warfare Engineer in that role, expertise hardly relevant to Infantry I would have thought:?)
He passed comment that he was glad it had been summer before when he was there with me, he had never realised how cold the winters could be out there.*
Sunday evenings head north to the furniture factory near Ljubljana to reload Monday . It would take all day with their bldy “Nemal Problema, you slaven” "Fk off I’ve been asleep all night"
By Wednesday evening I would be back at Rhienbollen for an overnight, then on to the ferry Thursday evening.
Arrive dover late Thursday, papers in to customs and “turn in” 'till early morning whilst waiting for customs to process paperwork.
Deliver Friday morning and, if lucky, Home just after lunch Friday.
Weekend at home then after tea Sunday back to the Stairs in Dover and repeat, I did about 6or7 of these back to back.
A few more Yugo photos. I believe Micky Twemlow said in one of his books he did a total of 86 loads to Yugo. He reckoned it was because he didn’t get on with Staggie who, being a bit on the vindictive side, wouldn’t let him go elsewhere if there was a Yugo load to be delivered.
I did a few full loads but mainly two or three drops. Always had to clear customs separately. Celja was one of the best customs compounds for me and always cleared and tipped by midday giving time to get to Banja Luka or Belgrade or wherever for next morning.
I did one trip to Sarajevo where I tipped almost a full load but my next drop was in Bucharest with two tons of booze for Lucas at an exhibition. I’ve told the sorry tale of that trip way back on this blog so won’t repeat it. I will say I got stuck in a tunnel just short of the Rumanian border!!!
Once again I thank our Italian and French colleagues for some of the photos.
I have to say, in “Staggies” defence, I never saw his vindictive side.
I always got along extremely well with him.
In fact I would put him up there as one of my better bosses.
Alan Grant:
I have to say, in “Staggies” defence, I never saw his vindictive side.
I always got along extremely well with him.
In fact I would put him up there as one of my better bosses.
I was a Dave Stagg man. It was he who took me on and I certainly never suffered from his vindictiveness. I think by 78 when I joined the company he had mellowed a lot. However, ‘SUPERCUBE’ told us a few years back how most of the original drivers decided to move on rather than put up with ‘Staggie’ any longer. Micky Twemlow who joined Promotor just after me seemed to go out of his way to goad him so couldn’t expect any favours but George Fardell was different.
George had already been with the company a few years when I joined. He seemed to be a friend of ‘Staggies’ often staying at his house when returning from a trip but for a reason nobody could figure out he wanted George out and was quite open about it. It wasn’t until about 84 he got his way. George didn’t help his cause though by exhibiting on the dash of his lorry the horrible troll which he likened to ‘Staggie’ and which he would thrash with a small leather whip especially if Dave happened to be in the vicinity.
Hi Sandway,
Wasn’t trying to ruffle any feathers.
It’s just that I had read a few comments on this forum, that seemed a little less than complimentary to Dave and wanted to try and give a different memory of him.
In the summer of 1982, I had a “Show” in Geneva. I can’t remember who with.
I was to take it down set up, fly home, then go back a week later to collect and return home.
As it was summer I asked Dave if he had any objections to me taking the family with me and staying down there.
Dave was not only amenable to the idea but kept me on full pay, with night out money, and also gave me the cost of the airfare “toward your hotel bill”
We only had one night “on the road” each way and enjoyed a nice week by the lake. The kids loved the lido by the fountain.
On another occasion I had over taken some woman on the old A25, after being stuck behind her for miles at about 25/30 mph.
As I walked into the office she was on the phone to him complaining.
His response was “Madam I can assure you all my drivers are highly skilled and drive thousands of miles a week. I suggest to you that were you driving so slowly that he felt the need to overtake you in your car, it is your level of competence that is in question”
No mealy mouthed “I will have a word and he will be disciplined”
That’s the Dave I remember, the man who had your back.
Lets face it he, along with other bosses in the industry at the time, were under a lot of pressure.
They would send a driver “over the water” with thousands of pounds worth of equipment and no means of contact, no mobile phones or satnavs back then, and just have to trust him to get on with the job.
It’s how we liked it, but it did require a level of mutual respect.
Sadly not always forthcoming.
Just seen this comment, shown below, on a F/B page mentioning our George Fardell. As I said a couple of posts back Staggie was looking for a way to get rid of George, however, I don’t remember many times when he brought his lorry back damaged. Of course we know he put a unit on its side in Poland as he returned solo back from the Poznan Fair. But that didn’t count as it was a hired in unit!!!
The Andy mentioned in the F/B article is Andy Maclean aka Jazzandy. He’s just about to publish a new book concerning his exploits whilst driving to Tehran in the early to mid 70’s. I’m sure he will tell you all about it.
I think it’s fair to say we had some pretty nice jobs at times on Promotor.
In spring/summer of 1984 I had a 2 month conference tour of Scandinavia with Rank Xerox, launching a new range of photocopy machines.
The best way to describe this trip was “A pop tour, with the machine as the star” most of the roadies were veterans of pop tours.
We stayed in 4 or 5 star conference hotels throughout.
I carried the stage and AV gear between venues the roadies flew between mostly, we would then work non stop to rig, a couple of days of shows then break it down and on to the next venue. Hard work but well remunerated and a civilised life n top hotels.
We started with a 2 or 3 venues in northern Germany in “Spa” hotels before moving on to Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm and Helsinki.
When the tour finished I came home by ferry from Turku (north of Helsinki) and the Kiel Canal
That sounded a nice job Alan. I never did any work to those countries and it wasn’t until 2005 that I first visited Norway. Then my wife and I splashed out and did a twelve day trip on the Hurtigruten ferry running from Bergan up to the Russian border and back. Stopped at every port en-route where you could get off and have a walk around the town. Fantastic experience but as I said, it cost an arm and a leg. I’ve posted three photos of other Hurtigruten ferries as we passed them.
Of course Staggie wouldn’t send me north anyway as he knew I liked the hot sun on my back and talking of sun I’m getting withdrawal symptoms through the lack of it… so bearing that in mind I’m heading off in search of it as I’ve done every winter since 2006. Our bags are packed, the documentation has been double checked and the ferry awaits. Photos are from last year or was it the year before.
I may be offline for quite a few days! I don’t have one of those new fangled smart phones.
