Astran / Middle East Drivers

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
4921

ok dave is that the trip niks lift up axle nealy fell off
graham :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

4922

Hi Graham, It wasn’t just his axle, I was dodging bits of metal all the way home.

Dave.

4923

i was following him one night just before gieselwind when he lost two wheels
of is trailor there where cars flying every were but never hit anything youve
never seen two blokes move two wheels so qwick put them on the cat walks
strap the axel up and get in the parking and the old bill never showed lucky
or what
cheers
graham :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

4924

In the book transorient there is a thread on here for it on here somewhere. There is a picture of nvw480p in the same livery as that pic on here but with astran on the cab and soameson international transport under the screen and pulling an astran trailer.
Prehaps this name may ring a bell with a few of you on here.

4925

G’day,
Thanks for info fellas. Did Nick Bull’s 142 have a fuel tank on the L/H side next to the battery box,simular to the other pic that you posted Dave? Also did it have an exhaust stack? Do you have any photos please Dave?
Cheers Jamie

4926

Mushroomman
Hi Steve I’ve sent you a PM

4927

Hi all, I’m back - first I had 3 weeks in France caravanning (great time) then back to working flat out. It seems that a lot of firms are not replacing drivers but using agency.Drivers who know the job and can go backwards as well as forwards seem to be in demand,it’s funny but most of the agency drivers I see regularly are in their 60’s. us olduns have some uses :unamused:
I’ve logged on a few times trying to catch up on missed posts but have had to shut down because of all the ‘flying teddies’ hitting the back of the screen :laughing: I gave up believing some drivers accounts of transit times many years ago, hence my signature :wink:
How about a different story? when I had the Crusader I was travelling home through Syria somewhere north of Damascus. For the benefit of those who have not been there, south of say Turkey it used to get very dark very quick and early, there were no streetlights outside off the large towns and I never recall seeing a moonlit night although the stars were very clear. The locals used to have strange ideas about headlights some had one light on main beam and the opposite one on dip, so that they dazzled you what ever they did.Some appeared to have no headlights and travelled permanently on sidelights, some did not use any lights, they obviously thought they were well in with him above!but if you used your mainbeam they would put on more lights than a truckshow winner.
Back to the story I was driving along when I noticed I was catching up with a vehicle with about 20 red lights on it (only red) I suddenly realised I was catching it too quickly,I thought it must have stopped,I swerved to the left to go around it when suddenly he put on about 6 white lights-it was only a coach coming towards me, I did not have time to swerve back so I went farther to the left and we passed on the wrong side. When I looked in my mirror I could see no rear lights at all :imp: He had not crashed as I could see the front lights shining on the road.
I drove on somewhat cautiously (noticing that my seat had got a little soggy) as I regained my nerve and picked up a bit of speed (45-50 mph) I noticed some sparks in the road, someones chucked out a doggend I thought then a few hundred yards later I saw the same spark right in front of me, I went on to mainbeam and right in front was a motorbike with about 20feet of steel strapped to it with 3 people on board.The sparks were the steel bouncing on the tarmac :open_mouth:
If any one requires instruction on how to stop a Crusader in 3 feet please let me know. As my seat was now even more soggy and I thought someone was trying to tell me some thing I parked at the next town.

4928

Nik bulls scania A820VVW is the one he had took of him by turk customs i lost my daf and tilt and
me and nick was on house arrest in ankara for severn weeks . we never did get our trucks back
it done us both a favour looking back cus we both went doing sellers[ drive flys ]
cheers
graham :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

4929

Hi Gav
Oh yes, now you have rung some bells !!!
The trucks and Pulman coaches in Syria, with the lights that barely glow and red pointing forward!! Can you imagine pulling out of Dover like that, I used to have to turn off my red interior backlight, the lit up the carpet hanging at the back of the cab!
I remember one trip, on the convoy coming home and we were on a new bit of “dual carriageway” north of Homs, and I was happily buzzing along empty when I see this faint glow getting closer and closer, so I put my highbeam on and was promptly microwaved by a set of lights, that were attached to an old Bussing wagon and drag, coming towards me on my side of the new dualcarriageway ! Work that out, I took evasive action and almost had to change my pamper !! All in a nights work, I made it to Bab el Hawa in one piece thankfully.
Then on a trip going down through Iraq, somewhere on the single lane road between Nasariyah and Samawar, I almost had a head on with a tanktransporter, which was heading north with no headlights on, just gave a short flash every so often, I ended up diving off on the dirt to the right and undertaking the truck in front of me !! Then just keep going.
They must eat a lot of carrots eh.
GS

4930

Graham… what’s the story behind you losing your trucks?

4931

Without going into too much detail,we loaded second hand ford transit engines from a well known truck exporter in the U.K for Cyprus.When we arrived at Ipsala we was told that we have to have a custom ■■■■■■ thru Turkey to the port of Mercin.I had a problem with the truck so I stayed in Istanbul that night,Nick carried on to Mercin.After having my repairs done I was on my way.Just before Ankara this custom officer got a phone call saying that I have to go to the customs in Ankara,for a full control of the load.I was in the customs when I got a phone call from Nick who was in Mercin at that time also having a control of his load which was not same load that entered Turkey.What he done was parked up in Ankara the night before faking a break down so he and the custom officer stayed in the hotel left the truck at the Telex,the Turks who the loads belonged to went to the hotel got the keys to the truck of Nick and off loaded the engines and replaced them with scrapped engine blocks.When they got to Mercin the custom officer sat next to Nick gave the load a control again has he did in Ipsala,to his surprise the load had changed on route so thats when the [■■■■ really hit the fan].I had still the same load on but they knew it was a big fiddle that had been going on for long time,the third truck got away w/out being stopped.Hence,seven weeks in Ankara and lost our trucks but it did pay well lol… :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Regards,

Graham

4932

Graham, was this the one that made it to Cyprus.

Dave.

4933

hi dave no that trailer belonged to a chap from maidstone called jason bunce who was on astran for a short while . a lad who works for me now had a truck run in to the back of it jason had it repaird and sold it to a turk cypriot
cheers graham :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

4934

Anybody remember this character, Egg on Legs, Kenny. Sadly no longer with us. If memory is correct, I took this photo at Mama’s, Carisio. 1987.

Dave.

4935

dave im still running the trucks in qatar but im liveing in thailand went down one of the bars what i use sat at the end of the bar was kenny [egg on legs] we had a good night burning some deasil has you do . went in a couple of weeks later
thats when i found out he ad passed away he had lost a lot of weight has well [rip] kenny
graham

4936

Graham… thanks for the story about losing your trucks, it’s all these little stories that make the M/E so interesting for those of us who never made it there.

4937

Gavin McArdle:
Back to the story I was driving along when I noticed I was catching up with a vehicle with about 20 red lights on it (only red) I suddenly realised I was catching it too quickly,I thought it must have stopped,I swerved to the left to go around it when suddenly he put on about 6 white lights-it was only a coach coming towards me, I did not have time to swerve back so I went farther to the left and we passed on the wrong side. When I looked in my mirror I could see no rear lights at all :imp: He had not crashed as I could see the front lights shining on the road.
I drove on somewhat cautiously (noticing that my seat had got a little soggy)

excellent story gavin - sort of incident that if you stopped and thought about it in depth you’d probably pack in, so close to being another statistic!

4938

Gavin’s story reminds me of the time I was driving through bulgaria late at night not to long after leaving kapic when I saw a bale of straw laid in the road, too close to swerve I ran over it and took the light bracket under the bumper off. Working on the assumption that whatever it had fallen from was’nt too far away I drove a bit steadier after that and sure enough a couple of klics futher along was the horse and cart ambling along without any form of lighting whatsoever.
Chazzer

4939

Gavin McArdle:
Hi all, I’m back - first I had 3 weeks in France caravanning (great time) then back to working flat out. It seems that a lot of firms are not replacing drivers but using agency.Drivers who know the job and can go backwards as well as forwards seem to be in demand,it’s funny but most of the agency drivers I see regularly are in their 60’s. us olduns have some uses :unamused:

How about a different story? when I had the Crusader I was travelling home through Syria somewhere north of Damascus. For the benefit of those who have not been there, south of say Turkey it used to get very dark very quick and early, there were no streetlights outside off the large towns and I never recall seeing a moonlit night although the stars were very clear. The locals used to have strange ideas about headlights some had one light on main beam and the opposite one on dip, so that they dazzled you what ever they did.Some appeared to have no headlights and travelled permanently on sidelights, some did not use any lights, they obviously thought they were well in with him above!but if you used your mainbeam they would put on more lights than a truckshow winner.
Back to the story I was driving along when I noticed I was catching up with a vehicle with about 20 red lights on it (only red) I suddenly realised I was catching it too quickly,I thought it must have stopped,I swerved to the left to go around it when suddenly he put on about 6 white lights-it was only a coach coming towards me, I did not have time to swerve back so I went farther to the left and we passed on the wrong side. When I looked in my mirror I could see no rear lights at all :imp: He had not crashed as I could see the front lights shining on the road.
quote]

You’re right on there Gavin.
It’s a very steep learning curve in every country you enter when doing m/e.
I had the same experience on my first time through Syria.I had noticed how most of the roadside restaurants were lit up like Blackpool illuminations at night because people tend to sit outside with it being so warm
As it turned dark,on that same stretch of road to Damscus,I thought I saw another restaurant coming up,when it zoomed past me,turned out to be one of these ancient road trains that trundle up and down day and night.Grossing anything up to 70 tonnes,would not like to have a head on with one.

4940

HI mushroomman I’ve tried another pm
Gavin