I put a post on here last year asking if anyone knew of the whereabouts of trevor long and it did not get any replies.The last time I spoke with trevor was in felixtowe docks around 86/87 when he was pulling sea land containers out of there. I was waiting on paperwork when he tapped me on the shoulder and asked how i was. we had not seen one another since i was driving Don Hubbards F89 to and from Baghdad around late 79and he was with astran.
Regarding frankie brandon the last time I saw him was in Mervyn Kings house in Coggleshall. He had shipped in to felixstowe and his first drop was at colchester. The temptation was to much and he and Mervyn ended up on a bender, they then went for a meal,which resulted in frankie getting food poisoning. the next day I done frankies delivery in colchester, his freight forwarder was phoning everywhere trying to find him, including Mervyns house and office. He eventually left braintree a couple of days later. I remember his party piece was to pull out his trouser pocket linings undo his fly and let the elephants trunk hang out., and he was very well endowed.
The last i heard of him was that he had rolled someones tractor and trailer on a roundabout and ran away from the scene.
OOH YAEH Jamie, I had forgotten about the elephant.
What was the name of the ex solicitor who had a Volvo F12 Globetrotter subbing for Astran and then went to work for M. and C. ?
I think he may of done a bit of internal work somewhere in M./E. for a time . His first name was John and he wore glasses. I think if there was a nice guy award for running to the M. / E. he would of won it.
His name is John Leightham, he was a qualified solicitor in practice with his wife in the grimsby area. As you probably know he would have been on a very good salary. He gave it all up and went into partnership with Egg on legs (not the one from charlston R.I.P.) After a while they fell out over money and he came to work for Mervyn. He would keep turning round on trips sometimes doing changeovers in Bulgie, so that is mayebe why you thought he done internals. He reached a stage where if he did not continue to practice law he would lose his entitlement to do so.If I remember correctly he joined a law practice in Oxford, I have not heard of him since. He was a rather placid chap and many drivers often asked after him, including a german i met in moscow who had a photo he had taken of him at Kapicule. Rgards Jamie
The D reg F12 Globtrotter in astrans colours was one of Peter Kings(Peterlea Trucking) and i think that was the one which was being driven by the lad from Harwich who was killed in Syria. He was doing a one off trip for Peter before emigrating to Canada.
I think that the white Transcon was owned by a Ugandan Asian who was known as Packie Roff He was another case and a half. He once told me that on his first trip through Syria he was so confused on which side of the road to drive on that he stopped and asked a policeman, through a young girl who interpreted for him. When she asked the policeman whether to drive on the left or the right she said the policeman say’s whichever is most comfortable.
He died in Saudi after running into the back of a tanker on his way to Doha Rumor at the time was that his Breifcase had slipped off the top bunk in the collision and hit him on the back of the head. Regards jamie.
Oldtimer Trucker:
Trawling throgh the web i came across these Astran trucks (6).
Subcontractors by Astran.
Volvo F88
Volvo F88
Volvo F88
Scania 113M 360
Ford Transcontinital
Iveco Eurotech
Salut, Oldtimer Trucker.
sorry to disappoint you Oldtimer, but the Eurotech was not running for Astran. It was my truck on Felgate,we didn’t go to middle east, only Europe! Hadn’t had it long, this was before livery was applied, pulled into Truckworld one day and saw Chris Hoopers trailer parked minus his unit, banged under it and took a photo for a laugh, and to show a mate of mine who is mad keen on Astran. However, I would be interested in where on the web you found the picture.
Was the John Willy truck the original that he had when he was working on the yachts? I remember Violet and Victoria and the DAF 2500 he was using. He had also just bought another F88 Unit
I met Brian Robertson on the shuttle on friday some of you m/e men will know him i also took a picture but i am havein problems with my photo bucket at the moment.
He is not a Astan man but he has been a long time on Davis Turner.
I put him in the direction of this site as there will be a few names he might recognise.
So Brian if you get on this site say hello and dig some photos out .
Klunk
Hi klunk, I remember Brian from many years ago when he worked for Chevallier Bros on the middle east. His wife never liked him driving so far, so he used to tell her he was only going to Istanbul. Many years later when we only went as far as Turkey and the trips only took about two to two and a half weeks, his wife would ask him why it had taken so long in the past. We ran together on a few occasions and had some laughs at times. He was rabbiting away to an arab one day and they were having a good old yarn about something or other, when I said that i didnt know that he spoke arabic he said i cant. talk about monty python!!!I lost touch with Brian a long time ago but often think of him and how he is. Regards Jamie
Hi does anybody know if the wing commander as he was known worked out of felixstowe on containers in the 80s> He was always singing and mucking about on the cb.
Hadn’t had it long, this was before livery was applied, pulled into Truckworld one day and saw Chris Hoopers trailer parked minus his unit, banged under it and took a photo for a laugh, and to show a mate of mine who is mad keen on Astran. However, I would be interested in where on the web you found the picture.
and yes
