GS OVERLAND:
What a nice looking trailer. Isn’t it a shame that when the sign writing was done the spelling wasn’t proofed.!!
They spelt Qatar wrong…QUATAR…Dipstick.
Don’t you just hate that.!
GS
Sorry to have to tell you Steve,but I think you’ll find that QATAR is the correct spelling!
Who’s Steve ■■ GS
You must have miss understood my post Wayne…!! I know Qatar is the correct spelling, I drove there for almost 10yrs.
Read the trailer. GS
I think thats what hes trying to say. On the trailer it says Quatar, which is wrong .
Well i know what i mean !!
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Can any one beat me on distance covered going the wrong way.
I got to the mirrors and turned left for Kuwait, but I think it was dark when I got there. I set off back and the road did not look right, so I kept asking. Saudi Arabia. Every one pointed straight on. So I did. Ended up some where around Damman. I recon it must have been 500 miles, longer, or was it K’s. Dunno now. Can any one beat it??
bestbooties:
Sorry to have to tell you Steve,but I think you’ll find that QATAR is the correct spelling!
Sorry Boss but it wasn’t me again. Quater or Qatar I was never there, honest. I am sure that we dont want a handbag fight like the guy on another thread who crossed The Chanel only to have his arse kicked and to be told by all the other drivers on the thread that if he couldn’t spell The Channel then he had never crossed it.
Sheeplady, Trevor told me it was a Jaguar, somebody else heard the same story and it was actually a Triumph 2000.
I think that I had better get myself one of those sat nav thingies as I feel like I am losing something .
rondavies:
Would I be right in saying that Astran were the only Brit outfit back in the mid 70’s that went beyond Iran?
I seem to remember talking to one of their drivers back then who told me that they used to take goods to Phillips who had a place in Karachi. Am I correct?
Felixstowe based Trans UK Haulage (You Call-We Haul) regularly ran to Lahore,Karachi and Kabul with Fiat 619’s and 170’s during the mid-70’s.
Can any of you remember the Panalpina drivers from hull who did the M/E who used to have the F88’s I have been racking my brains trying to
think of there names for years as I used to ship out with them on the old North Sea Ferries and ran with them on occasion as I tended to do my own thing
yet Another great bunch of guys
if I remember correctly there was only one driver from Panalpina who did middle east and although the truck was painted in Panalpina Hull colours , he actually worked out of Bradford. His name was Joe Craven, Sadly died a couple of years ago.
mushroomman:
Well spotted Gavin, I must admit that it did slip my attention .
However, it has just remided me of a story that John Bruce told me while we were shopping in The Grand Bazaar over 22 years ago. Now I am a bit reluctant to mention this story because I e-mailed John about a year ago and asked him if he remembered our Grand Day Out in Istanbul with Peter The Plater and he told me that he only vaguely remembered it.
So come on Brucyboy, let’s see if you can recall telling me this .
An Astran driver on his way down to the Middle East stopped off in Istanbul to have some business cards made, with a picture of an Astran Scania with a tilt printed on them. His name, which hopefully John can remember because I can’t, was also printed on them in capital letters along with the words Middle East Transport. I think he ordered two hundred of them, paid for them in advance and was told that they would be ready for him on his return two weeks later.
On his return he was in a hurry to get up to Kapicule so he dashed into the printers and was relieved to find that the cards were ready. He threw them onto the bunk without proof reading them until he arrived at Kapicule only to find that they had put the words Moddle East Transport on them.
Can you remember this story John or does anybody know who the driver was ?
I have a strange feeling that I might regret mentioning this story but it is one that I remember John telling me.
Regards Steve.
Hello Steve, yes it was Tony Soameson and its nice to know that you are still about, Bruceyboy
Do you remember the story of Tony S recovering Billy Russell’s trailer at Kiziltepe and decided to start the engine to keep the battery up at night, the one thing he forgot was to apply the parking brake, all of a sudden the air built up, there was a hiss and the truck started rolling. Fortunately someone dived on the cat walk and dropped the red line off before it ploughed in to the back of another truck
Do you remember the story of Tony S recovering Billy Russell’s trailer at Kiziltepe and decided to start the engine to keep the battery up at night, the one thing he forgot was to apply the parking brake, all of a sudden the air built up, there was a hiss and the truck started rolling. Fortunately someone dived on the cat walk and dropped the red line off before it ploughed in to the back of another truck
This sounds exactly like the same thing that happened at the same place when I was there,perhaps it was the same tale.
Tony,(I forget his surname now but I met up with him quite often,he was an o/d with a 3300 DAF,I think he pulled for Astran),was parked on the sloping parking lot near Kiziltepe when I turned up,and there was a number of guys sat around the trailer box having a brew and a chinwag.The engine was ticking over,I think he had been standing and got a flat battery,released the parking brake to bump it but the air had gone down and the brakes were on. Tony then got a slave start,but forgot to put the parking brake back on!
That’s why after 10 minutes,there was a hiss as the brakes came off and the rig started to roll towards the back of the row of trucks in front,leaving the drivers with mugs of tea wondering why the trailer box was moving!
I’ve never seen anyone movbe as fast as Tony,he actually ran from the trailer box on the r/h side,round the front and got into the drivers door and slammed the brakes on with only about 3 inches to spare.Tony was shaking like a leaf.
There’s NO substitute for the broms brake on Volvo left hookers!
Yes Ian, I think the stories were one of the same, but cannot be sure if the brakes got applied before the red line came off, but there was one hell of a scuffle and I think the DAF was quite young.
Billy Russell had flipped his trailer carrying a load of cable drums. I think Billy Russell and Tony. S. (SIF) were both Astran sub contractors.
Reddesertfox:
Yes Ian, I think the stories were one of the same, but cannot be sure if the brakes got applied before the red line came off, but there was one hell of a scuffle and I think the DAF was quite young.
Billy Russell had flipped his trailer carrying a load of cable drums. I think Billy Russell and Tony. S. (SIF) were both Astran sub contractors.
Tony ran on his own most of the time I think and I met up with him quite regularly and we would do a few miles together or if we met going in opposite directions we’d share a pot of “The Earl”,(Earl Grey tea for those not familiar with the term used by Astran drivers).
This has been a good post to follow ,apart from the ■■■■■■■,some folk just like an argument ,
On the subject of Astrans, the job was done right as it should have been.
I did not do many Astran loads, but the ones i did do where dead on and well organised, the whole job was done by them, including the visas needed, also the TIR carnet and the Arabic translations were done in London before i left, and not done by an agent on route, who if he made a mistake you could not contact him which could mean a few days stuck on some obscure Border post in the middle of nowhere, on every trip we would always find someone in this situation.
I found that Astrans /Falcongate and Whittles were three of the best to load off regarding documentation.
Klunk
Reddesertfox:
Yes Ian, I think the stories were one of the same, but cannot be sure if the brakes got applied before the red line came off, but there was one hell of a scuffle and I think the DAF was quite young.
Billy Russell had flipped his trailer carrying a load of cable drums. I think Billy Russell and Tony. S. (SIF) were both Astran sub contractors.
Tony ran on his own most of the time I think and I met up with him quite regularly and we would do a few miles together or if we met going in opposite directions we’d share a pot of “The Earl”,(Earl Grey tea for those not familiar with the term used by Astran drivers).
Yes Twinings Earl Grey Tea, or as Gerry Wheelan would have said “The Prince of Tea’s”
Hi John, it’s good to hear from you again, I hope that you have finished the decorating by now and if you are interested in doing mine then please send me a P.M. .
Tea, did somebody mention tea ?, if Ian has got his trailer box open and the kettle on then I shall get my fold up chair and my cup . What was it with The Astran drivers drinking Earl Grey, it was the first time that I had ever drank it and to me it tasted like Gnat’s pee. I must admit that I was a Tetley man myself, tea bags or draught bitter, I used to like a drink of both of them in those days.
Sheep Lady, this might have been the time that I met Java John, hence why I thought that there may have been an Oriental connection with Java tea, didn’t he drink Earl Grey ?.
I remember the first trip that I did to Turkey and just before we left The Harem I asked Big T, Big Tony Gibbons ( R.I.P. ) if the road to Ankara was well signposted and would there be any chance that I might get lost. He assured me that I wouldn’t get lost, just pull onto any piece of open ground where you could park two trucks he said. If you can see a couple of tea bags and an empty Campbell’s soup tin on the ground then you are on the right road, so don’t worry.
O.K. Brucyboy, lets see if you can remember anymore of our Grand Day Out in Istanbul .
After leaving The Blue Mosque we walked across the road to The Pudding Shop for something to eat and probably an Efes.
Three Turkish guys who were sat on another table kept staring across at us and The Plater reckoned that it was because Christine had blond hair. Eventually two of them came over and introduced themselves after showing us their business cards.
ALLEGEDGLY, they worked for an advertising company in Istanbul who were making a television advert for Lipton’s tea. They started talking to Peter who spoke good Turkish and asked if Christine, (The Mushroom Lady) would like to make an advert for them. We were having a bit of a laugh about it when the other guy came over and offered us his business card. According to his card he was a manager of something for Lipton’s Tea.
All they wanted her to do was to wear one of those white Arabian dresses and say, “ Hello, I am Christine from England and I always drink Lipton’s Tea ” .
Christine had never had a drink of Lipton’s tea in her life but for the two hundred Deutsch Marks ( about 50 quid ) that they were offering for four hours work she would have tried a cup. ( I don’t know why a vision of Barbara Eden in I Dream Of Jeannie flashed through my mind at the time ) .
If you remember John we were all invited to a studio somewhere the next morning to watch the filming but we declined as we wanted to do an early start the next day and we couldn’t really spend another day in Istanbul. We did leave early the next morning, Dennis and yourself went to reload in Bulgaria or Yugoslavia and Peter and I reloaded at The Honey Factory in Bucharest.
The strange thing was that when I arrived back after that trip I was doing my expenses with the boss and I told him about this story. He smiled and said that I should of taken the Sunday off and done it, as there was no way that I would make a hundred quid a day working for him.
After leaving The Pudding Shop John, we walked down to get the ferry over to The Harem where we then bought a fresh fish Egmek sarnie from these fellers on the way.
Turkey, by the majority of drivers was often described as a hole and a dump but for anybody who never made the time to have a look around Istanbul in those days then I.M.H.O. you missed out on one of the worlds most fascinating and amazing cities.
Steve, what you say is correct, Istanbul is one of the worlds most fascinating and amazing cities, I once went over to Buyukada (Princess Islands) It seemed a better option than just swilling Efes all day in the Londra, sadly unlike you, I was not in the company of John and Peter
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, It’s Lawrence Of ■■■■■■■ 
