mushroomman:
Hello Robert, Dave Clark would that be the same Dave Clark who was an owner driver in the eighties who pulled for Whittles with a Fiat/ Iveco ? If itâs the one from Cornwall with fairly long blond hair he used to have a Cornish flag hung up in the back of his cab and he was a good lad to run with. The first time that I met him was in Mamaâs Bar on the Prater in Vienna about April 1980 when we were both week ending.
I.I.R.C. he was doing a trip for a mate of his in a Berliet who was also from the West Country and Dave was giving it a go to see if he would like doing continental work. I met him a couple of months later on The National in Belgrade when he was on his way to somewhere in The Middle East and we met up loads of times over the next seven years.
Now put your thinking caps on lads because I am thinking of the guys name who owned the Berliet and for some reason I think that it might of been the same guy who had those two girls working for him who used to do Italy in a wagon and drag about mid eighties, their names might of been called Jan and Carol.
Regards Steve.
Yep, same bloke. I think he still lives in Bodmin. I knew him from North Africa work and when he had a spell in hospital in early 2000 I took his Merc SK with a 500 lump down to Fez in Morcocco for him. It had the Euroliner high cab and as much as I donât like Mercs with EPS, that was an up-hill-down-dale machine. Dave was a great bloke to run with and I always enjoyed his company off duty. Robert
Robert, when I saw you mention Dave Clark I wondered if it was the guy from Cornwall with the Merc as I noticed that the truck in your pics had a Cornish registration. Back in 1990 I was in Spartrucks in Par having a service done on the NG Merc I was driving at the time and there was a Merc Powerliner unit in the next bay being fettled that had clearly seen some serious work (fairly heavy road rash, GB stickers and TIR plate, snow chains hanging off the rear of the chassis, etc. Not the kind of truck we saw in Cornwall very often back then when for many of us âlong distance haulageâ meant going up to Immingham). When I asked the fitter who it belonged to he replied âDave Clark. He goes all over the place in itâ. Judging by what you wrote earlier itâs clear he wasnât exaggerating!
Memory just drifting into a new field of consciousness⌠I was looking at some posts earlier, with the dancing bear at the Harem TIR-parking in Istanbul. I do remember in '95 driving onto the square at Russe in Bulgaria, just as you left the border, with all those TIR-parks off it, and holding back while a man with a performing bear crossed the road in front of me in the falling snow. It was a big bear and stood much higher than the man. This was in that interim period, pre-EU but post Soviet when it was a bit wild and lawless in Bulgy. Anyone remember the bears? Robert
On a roll here: one of the lorries that got stuck up little Shipka with me in the snow back in Dec '95 was âBarny Rubbleâ off Brooks of Braintree. He had an MAN 281 (or near offer) with an Astran tilt. I met him again in Istanbul and again in Dover on the way home - bit of a character to say the least. In Londra-camp he told me his real name, which of course I canât remember, but I do remember that the office had written âBarney Rubbleâ on his TIR carnet and he commented that one day this would be his undoing!
Another character who seems to have gone off all the radars is âCrackersâ. I last saw him at Containers TIR-parking at Debes in Hungary in Aug '97. He was one of the Middle-East runâs classic mis-fits: highly intelligent but totally ungovernable (thatâs not an insult, I hope it describes the best of those who did âthe runâ). He used to drive a Foden pulling RJâs last remaining 12m tilt (RJ125). Observant bloggers might notice that this was the tilt I took down to Turkey for Harrier in '95. So what became of Crackers? Robert
Earlier on this page I posted a picture of Jogger John Roberts cooking. He is no longer with us, as you may know. I first met him in Romania and subsequently ran often with him on the North African run. He was a highly independent and very resourceful driver. I remember him telling me that heâd driven a DAF 2600 to Pakistan in '74 and when he got to the border he asked the policeman which side of the road he should drive on. The policeman replied that he should drive in the middle but but if anything came in the opposite direction he should move to the left. Robert
Well, while Iâm in a name-dropping mood, I remember fetching up at the Saudi border at Haditha in the âbe kind to sheepâ season (Eid al-Adha in the Islamic calendar). There were livestock transporters dripping with amputated hooves and limbs, clogging up the import parking and slowing the process down. Bearing in mind that this was 2002, it was becoming rare for sizeable groups of Middle-East run drivers to be found assembled in one place. Well, we sat among the trailers sipping chai and if the devil could have cast his net he would have caught Barry Barnes, Dave Poulton, Aluminium Andy, Trevor Dodwell, Ritchie Thorne and me. On those few trips I did in 2001/2 I also ran briefly with Billy Tingle, Benny, Graham Ball, Trevor Marks and a bloke called Gary who was wrapping up his haulage business by doing a seller. I also encountered Chris Hooper at various borders and stopping places.
I spent my 50th birthday with Billy Tingle and Trevor Dodwell. We managed to âone-hitâ it from Londra-camp Istanbul to Duzce To be fair it was Feb and there was snow up Bolu (according to the police who preferred us to eat at the Duzce truck-stop). So we watched Saudi public beheadings on Turkish TV while we consumed our goulash-style meal before repairing to my Twin-splitting Eurostar for a drop of celebratory Turkish Villa Doluca vino collapso. Robert
Well, Iâm 62 and planning on semi-retiring this summer. Thereâs no way I want to teach in UK and Iâm not very inspired to trundle up and down the MI with over-regulated 21st century Brit lorries. I still have enough energy to do âsellersâ overland and if the route now is via Egypt, maybe my Egyptian Arabic will stand me in good stead. A sprinkling of âsellersâ might brighten up an otherwise dull retirement. Brace yourselves at Doha, chaps, I might be interested in a jaunt or two⌠Robert
robert1952:
On a roll here: one of the lorries that got stuck up little Shipka with me in the snow back in Dec '95 was âBarny Rubbleâ off Brooks of Braintree. He had an MAN 281 (or near offer) with an Astran tilt. I met him again in Istanbul and again in Dover on the way home - bit of a character to say the least. In Londra-camp he told me his real name, which of course I canât remember, but I do remember that the office had written âBarney Rubbleâ on his TIR carnet and he commented that one day this would be his undoing!
Another character who seems to have gone off all the radars is âCrackersâ. I last saw him at Containers TIR-parking at Debes in Hungary in Aug '97. He was one of the Middle-East runâs classic mis-fits: highly intelligent but totally ungovernable (thatâs not an insult, I hope it describes the best of those who did âthe runâ). He used to drive a Foden pulling RJâs last remaining 12m tilt (RJ125). Observant bloggers might notice that this was the tilt I took down to Turkey for Harrier in '95. So what became of Crackers? Robert
Robert,
Your posts and photos are top notch. I reckon the Barney Rubble your referring to is Brian Metson from Braintree??
He drove for me Dad and every other firm in Braintree and nearby areas over the yearsâŚwas a characterâŚto say the least.
When I started driving abroad in 1993 ishâŚused to see loads of Arfurs, Jon Mannâs etc etc⌠Me and me old 2800 DAF often used to overtake them on the way down to Madrid and then see them still coming down when I was on the way homeâŚhaha
Keep the stories and the fotos coming.
All the best
robert1952:
Well, Iâm 62 and planning on semi-retiring this summer. Thereâs no way I want to teach in UK and Iâm not very inspired to trundle up and down the MI with over-regulated 21st century Brit lorries. I still have enough energy to do âsellersâ overland and if the route now is via Egypt, maybe my Egyptian Arabic will stand me in good stead. A sprinkling of âsellersâ might brighten up an otherwise dull retirement. Brace yourselves at Doha, chaps, I might be interested in a jaunt or two⌠Robert
0
Retiring from trucking is not dull,thatâs an understatement ⌠Itâs death!
I kept going til I was 68. Shouldâve stayed on.
For a start you are mixing with civilians , different planet.
I posted a picture on the previous page of Richard Hatton with John Roberts and Paul Bowles. Iâve just remembered that Richard drove for George Brookes of W Bromwich. I remember him telling me that heâd done Doha. He was a Nottinghamshire lad who had started life as an engineer and become sucked into the Middle-East run. I encountered him in Sibiu, along with Jogger John, when Richardâs load had become unstable and he had requested permission from Sibiu customs to unseal the load so that he could re-position and secure the alluminium on board with a borrowed forklift. In the process of doing this, he injured his leg. He was amazed that the local hospital was sanitary, capable and and put him right for going home. The only problem was that his leg was now in plaster and he couldnât drive. I had double-manned an aid lorry (a Scania 143:450) down to Sibiu while writing a Long Distance Diary (LDD) for TRUCK magazine. The plan was that I would continue with the aid driver to Slovenia to reload for UK. But, with the blessing of the aid driver (whose name will come to me in a minute), I âjumped shipâ to drive Richard Hatton home to UK in his absolutely fabulous 375-powered left-hand drive, V8, Y-reg, Dutch-spec Scania 142. To this day, it was the best Scanny I have ever driven. The full story is in the TRUCK magazine of course. As I live in Cairo, I canât scan it for you, but you certainly have my âcopyrightâ permission to post it here if youâve got it. Robert
robert1952:
On a roll here: one of the lorries that got stuck up little Shipka with me in the snow back in Dec '95 was âBarny Rubbleâ off Brooks of Braintree. He had an MAN 281 (or near offer) with an Astran tilt. I met him again in Istanbul and again in Dover on the way home - bit of a character to say the least. In Londra-camp he told me his real name, which of course I canât remember, but I do remember that the office had written âBarney Rubbleâ on his TIR carnet and he commented that one day this would be his undoing!
Another character who seems to have gone off all the radars is âCrackersâ. I last saw him at Containers TIR-parking at Debes in Hungary in Aug '97. He was one of the Middle-East runâs classic mis-fits: highly intelligent but totally ungovernable (thatâs not an insult, I hope it describes the best of those who did âthe runâ). He used to drive a Foden pulling RJâs last remaining 12m tilt (RJ125). Observant bloggers might notice that this was the tilt I took down to Turkey for Harrier in '95. So what became of Crackers? Robert
Robert,
Your posts and photos are top notch. I reckon the Barney Rubble your referring to is Brian Metson from Braintree??
He drove for me Dad and every other firm in Braintree and nearby areas over the yearsâŚwas a characterâŚto say the least.
When I started driving abroad in 1993 ishâŚused to see loads of Arfurs, Jon Mannâs etc etc⌠Me and me old 2800 DAF often used to overtake them on the way down to Madrid and then see them still coming down when I was on the way homeâŚhaha
Keep the stories and the fotos coming.
All the best
Cheers mate! Hereâs the wagon I co-drove down to Romania on the aid run. the Patrick White DAF Super-space in the background was driven by Joe Porter on his way to Baku in Azerbaijan. I later did a trip to Baku - see the thread about over the water in the 90s. Oh, and yes that is an Iranian trailer in the background. The TIR-park is the Containers in Hungary. Robert
mushroomman:
Hello Robert, Dave Clark would that be the same Dave Clark who was an owner driver in the eighties who pulled for Whittles with a Fiat/ Iveco ? If itâs the one from Cornwall with fairly long blond hair he used to have a Cornish flag hung up in the back of his cab and he was a good lad to run with. The first time that I met him was in Mamaâs Bar on the Prater in Vienna about April 1980 when we were both week ending.
I.I.R.C. he was doing a trip for a mate of his in a Berliet who was also from the West Country and Dave was giving it a go to see if he would like doing continental work. I met him a couple of months later on The National in Belgrade when he was on his way to somewhere in The Middle East and we met up loads of times over the next seven years.
Now put your thinking caps on lads because I am thinking of the guys name who owned the Berliet and for some reason I think that it might of been the same guy who had those two girls working for him who used to do Italy in a wagon and drag about mid eighties, their names might of been called Jan and Carol.
Regards Steve.
I met Jan in the early 90âs near Rimini, she was loading trailers for Frans Mass. If itâs the same one she was about 5â2ââ and built like an Olympic sprinter. Someone had bent one of her drop side doors so we took it of and I drove over it a few times with my Turbo Star. I think she was working out of Padova.
There was a girl called Monica that used to drive Renault Draw Bar, I saw her a few times at Opti Transportâs caravanserai at Istanbul, she was mates with Kim who I posted in the Over the Water in the 90âs thread .
Now here are a few trucking scenes likely to be encountered by any driver using Egypt as a landbridge route to the Gulf. I took all of these. Enjoy! Robert
robert1952:
I posted a picture on the previous page of Richard Hatton with John Roberts and Paul Bowles. Iâve just remembered that Richard drove for George Brookes of W Bromwich. I remember him telling me that heâd done Doha. He was a Nottinghamshire lad who had started life as an engineer and become sucked into the Middle-East run. I encountered him in Sibiu, along with Jogger John, when Richardâs load had become unstable and he had requested permission from Sibiu customs to unseal the load so that he could re-position and secure the alluminium on board with a borrowed forklift. In the process of doing this, he injured his leg. He was amazed that the local hospital was sanitary, capable and and put him right for going home. The only problem was that his leg was now in plaster and he couldnât drive. I had double-manned an aid lorry (a Scania 143:450) down to Sibiu while writing a Long Distance Diary (LDD) for TRUCK magazine. The plan was that I would continue with the aid driver to Slovenia to reload for UK. But, with the blessing of the aid driver (whose name will come to me in a minute), I âjumped shipâ to drive Richard Hatton home to UK in his absolutely fabulous 375-powered left-hand drive, V8, Y-reg, Dutch-spec Scania 142. To this day, it was the best Scanny I have ever driven. The full story is in the TRUCK magazine of course. As I live in Cairo, I canât scan it for you, but you certainly have my âcopyrightâ permission to post it here if youâve got it. Robert
0
Who was Jogger John, would that have been John Conneelly ( spelling ) ?
robert1952:
I posted a picture on the previous page of Richard Hatton with John Roberts and Paul Bowles. Iâve just remembered that Richard drove for George Brookes of W Bromwich. I remember him telling me that heâd done Doha. He was a Nottinghamshire lad who had started life as an engineer and become sucked into the Middle-East run. I encountered him in Sibiu, along with Jogger John, when Richardâs load had become unstable and he had requested permission from Sibiu customs to unseal the load so that he could re-position and secure the alluminium on board with a borrowed forklift. In the process of doing this, he injured his leg. He was amazed that the local hospital was sanitary, capable and and put him right for going home. The only problem was that his leg was now in plaster and he couldnât drive. I had double-manned an aid lorry (a Scania 143:450) down to Sibiu while writing a Long Distance Diary (LDD) for TRUCK magazine. The plan was that I would continue with the aid driver to Slovenia to reload for UK. But, with the blessing of the aid driver (whose name will come to me in a minute), I âjumped shipâ to drive Richard Hatton home to UK in his absolutely fabulous 375-powered left-hand drive, V8, Y-reg, Dutch-spec Scania 142. To this day, it was the best Scanny I have ever driven. The full story is in the TRUCK magazine of course. As I live in Cairo, I canât scan it for you, but you certainly have my âcopyrightâ permission to post it here if youâve got it. Robert
0
Who was Jogger John, would that have been John Conneelly ( spelling ) ?
âJoggerâsâ real name was John Roberts. I believe there was more than one John Roberts on Middle-East work. Robert
robert1952:
I posted a picture on the previous page of Richard Hatton with John Roberts and Paul Bowles. Iâve just remembered that Richard drove for George Brookes of W Bromwich. I remember him telling me that heâd done Doha. He was a Nottinghamshire lad who had started life as an engineer and become sucked into the Middle-East run. I encountered him in Sibiu, along with Jogger John, when Richardâs load had become unstable and he had requested permission from Sibiu customs to unseal the load so that he could re-position and secure the alluminium on board with a borrowed forklift. In the process of doing this, he injured his leg. He was amazed that the local hospital was sanitary, capable and and put him right for going home. The only problem was that his leg was now in plaster and he couldnât drive. I had double-manned an aid lorry (a Scania 143:450) down to Sibiu while writing a Long Distance Diary (LDD) for TRUCK magazine. The plan was that I would continue with the aid driver to Slovenia to reload for UK. But, with the blessing of the aid driver (whose name will come to me in a minute), I âjumped shipâ to drive Richard Hatton home to UK in his absolutely fabulous 375-powered left-hand drive, V8, Y-reg, Dutch-spec Scania 142. To this day, it was the best Scanny I have ever driven. The full story is in the TRUCK magazine of course. As I live in Cairo, I canât scan it for you, but you certainly have my âcopyrightâ permission to post it here if youâve got it. Robert
0
Who was Jogger John, would that have been John Conneelly ( spelling ) ?
âJoggerâsâ real name was John Roberts. I believe there was more than one John Roberts on Middle-East work. Robert
Fantastic!!
Iâm utterly amazed at how this thread keeps managing to refresh itself, most recently with the fantastic contribution of âRobert 1952â, albeit with pictures from more recent days.
I donât really think that those of us who were fortunate enough to do the M/E in the 70âs and 80âs really appreciated at the time just how privileged we were to get the opportunity, or that it would come to an end like it did!
It was indeed, a special kind of person that could handle the job on a regular basis, there were plenty of âOne hit wondersâ thatâs for sureâŚand indeed some who abandoned their motors at the Londra âŚor sooner!! No doubt put off continuing any further by the scaremongers, who seemed to relish in telling tall tales of bandits etc.
Whilst I give full respect to Astrans and Bob Paul in particular as one of the pioneers, my greater admiration and respect goes to the numerous O/Dâs and drivers who had to do the job without the fantastic backing and support that the bigger firms provided, and were virtually left to complete the runs using their own witâs and intuition if things went wrong, now that sorted the men from the boys!!
petecud:
Fantastic!!
Iâm utterly amazed at how this thread keeps managing to refresh itself, most recently with the fantastic contribution of âRobert 1952â, albeit with pictures from more recent days.
I donât really think that those of us who were fortunate enough to do the M/E in the 70âs and 80âs really appreciated at the time just how privileged we were to get the opportunity, or that it would come to an end like it did!
It was indeed, a special kind of person that could handle the job on a regular basis, there were plenty of âOne hit wondersâ thatâs for sureâŚand indeed some who abandoned their motors at the Londra âŚor sooner!! No doubt put off continuing any further by the scaremongers, who seemed to relish in telling tall tales of bandits etc.
Whilst I give full respect to Astrans and Bob Paul in particular as one of the pioneers, my greater admiration and respect goes to the numerous O/Dâs and drivers who had to do the job without the fantastic backing and support that the bigger firms provided, and were virtually left to complete the runs using their own witâs and intuition if things went wrong, now that sorted the men from the boys!!
Cheers mate! Itâs little comments and encouragements like this that keep me posting. Robert
would that be the same Dave Clark who was an owner driver in the eighties who pulled for Whittles with a Fiat/ Iveco ? If itâs the one from Cornwall with fairly long blond hair he used to have a Cornish flag hung up in the back of his cab and he was a good lad to run with. The first time that I met him was in Mamaâs Bar on the Prater in Vienna about April 1980 when we were both week ending.
To be fair it was Feb and there was snow up Bolu (according to the police who preferred us to eat at the Duzce truck-stop). So we watched Saudi public beheadings on Turkish TV while we consumed our goulash-style meal before repairing to my Twin-splitting Eurostar for a drop of celebratory Turkish Villa Doluca vino collapso. Robert 
