Wow, that was a tad severe. Do transit permits in Turkey still exist? I guess things are a little more relaxed these days. I am guessing of course.
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jsutherland:
Wow, that was a tad severe. Do transit permits in Turkey still exist? I guess things are a little more relaxed these days. I am guessing of course.Sent from my Hol-U19 using Tapatalk
No idea - I would have thought that itād be much more severe now, if theyāve got any sense! From what I remember, the Saudiās also sealed the dog-clips. Robert
robert1952:
jsutherland:
Was there a logical reason for the āentering/exitā rule? I guess it was one way of tracking truck movements. Was it a separate permit for truck and trailer?Sent from my Hol-U19 using Tapatalk
The Turks put a seal on your fifth-wheel pull lever where the dog-clip slotted. The details of the unit and trailer were entered on your passport so neither the driver nor the truck could exit unless together. This led to some interesting scenarios when drivers abandoned their trucks, or were hijacked, or were involved in any scurrilous activities. If you did the job properly and stuck to local rules you didnāt go far wrong (in theory!). Robert
Thereās more than one driver been smuggled out of Turkey under the cab bunk.
On one occasion I flew out to Istanbul to sort out a problem when a driver loaded for Baghdad sabotaged his truck because he didnāt want to go any further.
I got another driver out there and had Taci Kocman get the truck and trailer removed from the miscreants passport and entered into the other to allow him to continue, the other driver I sacked in Istanbul, long story but thatās the bit about the passports.
I fetched an Austrian driver out under the bunk. No trouble at all.
But in Yugo he made the mistake of critisising my driving when I declined to overtake in the dark and thick freezing fog. He must have had a very long walk.
David
Not Astran, I know, but do any of you old lags recognise this street? I showed this picture to Chris Till, who drove the other Eric Vick ERF NGC and he thought it might be in a side street in Baghdad near the Opera Hotel and British Club. Any ideas? Robert
Taking up your challenge Robert - yes definitely the British club, I spent many relaxing hours there in the pool -
freshir:
Taking up your challenge Robert - yes definitely the British club, I spent many relaxing hours there in the pool -
Thanks for that āfreshirā! Much appreciated. Another mystery solved. Robert
sorry, wrong thread!
Hereās one for DEANB (who has a soft spot for these): itās a picture I took in Turkey in the '90s. Robert
jsutherland:
Did Astran have an even mixture of Volvo and Scania? Were other makes also in the mix? In the film that was made about them if I remember correctly a Leyland was also in Astran colours.
JohnnySent from my Hol-U19 using Tapatalk
Apart from a Guy and a few AECs in the early days the only make they bought after the first Scanias came was Mercedes, 1632 V10s and later a couple of G cab 1633s?
freshir:
Taking up your challenge Robert - yes definitely the British club, I spent many relaxing hours there in the pool -
Good food too!
John
John West:
freshir:
Taking up your challenge Robert - yes definitely the British club, I spent many relaxing hours there in the pool -Good food too!
John
A nice detail! Robert 
Bit off topic but does anyone know if Astran still do overland stuff to middle east? I know the glory days are no doubt over and wars have screwed everything up, but surely stuff still needs to go to Qatar, U.A.E and Saudi etc from western Europe, how does it get there? Just curious.
robert1952:
John West:
freshir:
Taking up your challenge Robert - yes definitely the British club, I spent many relaxing hours there in the pool -Good food too!
John
A nice detail! Robert
The British Club was an Oasis for drivers in Baghdad. As mentioned, good food and lovely swimming pool. I think the drivers usually swam in Y fronts, but I donāt remember anybody objecting - maybe they lent us swimming trunks, it is a long time ago. Iāve never had a suntan in my life, even in Saudi I didnāt go brown. At the British Club Baghdad, a nine year old looked me up and down after Iād climbed out of the pool and said āYouā¦are a very white man!ā
I was with Paul Kerr, he was in the 110 I later bought from him, I was in a DAF belonging to a Yorkshire lad called Lawrence Something (a member of Nodag). At the end of the military road on the way down, we were following a Swede in a Volvo. As weād come round the corner and down the hill into Cizre, there was a huge crowd playing and watching football. They all stopped and as one man advanced upon us and started stoning us. Luckily no one actually got in front of us to stop us, but it was very frightening. You can drive a DAF from below the dashboard! I got some dents, but no glass broken. I think the Swede was also unscathed. Paul had a badly cracked screen, which he replaced in Istanbul on the way home with 2 flat panes of glass. It looked like a Scammell Crusader. Must have been a school day on the way home - no one playing football.
Iām vague on detail, but we definitely cleared at Abu Graib. Why we finished up at the British Club for about 3 days I canāt remember. We couldnt afford a room, we slept in the cabs, close by, and it was very hot. hence the relief of the pool and the air conditioned club. They had a lot of those huge āDesert Coolersā where a large fan passed air through a waterfall on a bamboo screen. Very efficient, but you occasionally received a spray of water.
Paul and I ate our evening meals with an English engineer who worked for an American company. He had a fund of tales and also told a long poem, which Paul had him repeat often, a part of which was:
'Iāve driven four bars, six bars,
Big Mother******s that go ātshā when you hit the brakes,
When youāre a gearjammer, boy,
There aināt no easy runs!ā
We finally cleared and headed for the drop off point, some sort of cotton mill I think, somewhere South of Baghdad. We picked up empty aluminium cotton bobbins for leicester as a return load I think.
John.
John West:
robert1952:
John West:
freshir:
Taking up your challenge Robert - yes definitely the British club, I spent many relaxing hours there in the pool -Good food too!
John
A nice detail! Robert
The British Club was an Oasis for drivers in Baghdad. As mentioned, good food and lovely swimming pool. I think the drivers usually swam in Y fronts, but I donāt remember anybody objecting - maybe they lent us swimming trunks, it is a long time ago. Iāve never had a suntan in my life, even in Saudi I didnāt go brown. At the British Club Baghdad, a nine year old looked me up and down after Iād climbed out of the pool and said āYouā¦are a very white man!ā
I was with Paul Kerr, he was in the 110 I later bought from him, I was in a DAF belonging to a Yorkshire lad called Lawrence Something (a member of Nodag). At the end of the military road on the way down, we were following a Swede in a Volvo. As weād come round the corner and down the hill into Cizre, there was a huge crowd playing and watching football. They all stopped and as one man advanced upon us and started stoning us. Luckily no one actually got in front of us to stop us, but it was very frightening. You can drive a DAF from below the dashboard! I got some dents, but no glass broken. I think the Swede was also unscathed. Paul had a badly cracked screen, which he replaced in Istanbul on the way home with 2 flat panes of glass. It looked like a Scammell Crusader. Must have been a school day on the way home - no one playing football.
Iām vague on detail, but we definitely cleared at Abu Graib. Why we finished up at the British Club for about 3 days I canāt remember. We couldnt afford a room, we slept in the cabs, close by, and it was very hot. hence the relief of the pool and the air conditioned club. They had a lot of those huge āDesert Coolersā where a large fan passed air through a waterfall on a bamboo screen. Very efficient, but you occasionally received a spray of water.
Paul and I ate our evening meals with an English engineer who worked for an American company. He had a fund of tales and also told a long poem, which Paul had him repeat often, a part of which was:
'Iāve driven four bars, six bars,
Big Mother******s that go ātshā when you hit the brakes,When youāre a gearjammer, boy,
There aināt no easy runs!āWe finally cleared and headed for the drop off point, some sort of cotton mill I think, somewhere South of Baghdad. We picked up empty aluminium cotton bobbins for leicester as a return load I think.
John.
Love it! Reminds me of the Seamansā Center [sic] in Casablanca! Robert
Very interesting John, certainly brought back memories particularly the ābratsā at Cizre - I have found a pic of the agents runner at Abu Ghreib. regards Fred
Now thatā¦is a shifty looking individual, if ever I saw oneā¦no, not the one posing in front of his Toyota carā¦the one in the MAN Truckā¦oh hold onā¦sorry Fred, the old eyesight has let me down again. Whereās that bloody dog gone with my stickā¦
All the very best
Mick B
Hi Mick, there were quite a few shifty looking individuals driving column change M.A.N.'s back in the day. 
I hope that you are O.K. Freddy.
Well said Steve - well done - so you should be - hope you and family are keeping well - I have not heard of Barry or Val for yonks
Hi Fred, as far as I know Barry and Val are both well.
I thought that you or somebody might be able to put a couple of names to match the faces on the photo.
I came across this one somewhere on the internet and recognised the beach just outside Kavala and I wondered if anybody knew anything about this company as they didnāt ring any bells with me. 
Best regards Steve.