Love these Middle East tales…keep them coming chaps.
Look forward to your story Steve!! 
bullitt:
Love these Middle East tales…keep them coming chaps.Look forward to your story Steve!!
And you try telling the young folk…they’ll never believe you!!! (with northern accent):lol: 
… well but this 142 seems to be a 6x2 no 6x4.
Maybe I am wrong, but on the hubs, you can see the differences…
Are there any pics of the other 142´s and from this one 
Regards
Franz
Hi Jamie, your mention of somebody selling sand to the Arabs is on a par with delivering Swiss rolls to Switzerland but as we all know as drivers there were lots of things that to us didn’t quite make sense and often than not we didn’t ask too many questions and just got on with the job.
I can’t remember exactly which year it was but I have a feeling it was around about 1985 and I seem to think that it was September/ October ish. As I was coming up to the Turkish Customs at Kapicule I noticed a brand new Scania parked across the road from Yungturks office over on the left side of the road. Now you will have to bear with me that as it was a long time ago some of the finer details of this story might not be as exactly as I try and describe them.
For a start, I always thought that the truck was an orange coloured Scania 142, which is obviously different than the truck in the picture. I parked up and walked across to speak to the driver who I thought was wearing glasses and when Bestbooties mentioned that Alan Jones had been in contact with him a couple of years back I wondered if it was Alan that I met that day as I remember that Alan had worked for a few companies doing Middle East. It was the trailer that caught my eye as I had never seen a trailer like it before, believe me it will be hard to describe it but I shall try and have a go.
From what I can remember it looked like a piece of agricultural equipment, I think that it had a hopper on the back ( or it could have been the front end) and it had a series of conveyer belts going from back to front one of these appeared to be at an angle of 45 degrees which ended at the top and was presumable for loading tipper trucks. I can’t remember it being sheeted up so it must have been travelling open T.I.R. and there were lots of places that looked like they could have been potential hiding places so it was possible that the driver may have had one or two delays at certain borders. It would be great if somebody could find a photo of this trailer as it probably won’t fit my description but to see a trailer like this in Turkey at this time was certainly unusual. I seem to remember that it was on a step frame trailer chassis and might of even been over 40ft long.
I do remember that the driver said that he or the company was from the North East of England and that they were based somewhere in the Middle East and that when he was at their camp down there they always provided food and accommodation. Also, he had been promised that they would fly him home to the U.K. for three weeks after every two months that he spent down there.
I asked the driver what the trailer was for and when he told me that Middle East Minerals sold sand to the Arabs, I probably said something like pull the other one it plays Tubular Bells. When I said that I didn’t believe him he explained that there were many different types of sand and mentioned something about the silica content or something like that. He went on to say that to make good concrete it was important to have the right kind of sand and this trailer somehow sorted and sifted the different types. Without him going into the technicalities of how it worked they appeared to put sand in the hopper and by the time that it came off the end of the conveyer belt it had been sorted. Well basically that was the gist of the operation but I have a feeling that exactly how it worked was a bit more complicated than that.
After about a ten minute natter I went on my way and thought no more about it until the end of the following January when I was on my way back from Athens. I had made an early start that morning and it was already getting dark by the time that I had reached Belgrade. I pulled onto the car park at The National Hotel and I was a bit disappointed that there were no other trucks there. A couple of weeks earlier a new truck park had just opened north of Belgrade where they had also started doing customs. The old customs place was near the centre of Belgrade down by The Danube but I had heard of somebody who had cleared at this new place, so I thought that I would push on up there as it was next to the main road.
The new place was about the size of a soccer field with a bitumen surface and a tall chain link fence which surrounded the area. There were no security men, anybody could come and go when they pleased and there were no Western European trucks parked there although there were several from The Commie Block countries. After having a cook up in the cab I decided to have an early night so that I could do an early start the next morning. As I was washing the dishes on the catwalk I noticed a strange shape of a trailer parked next to the fence. I walked over and was surprised to see what looked like the trailer from Middle East Minerals that I had seen a few months before. On closer inspection you could see that the back end had been badly smashed and if I.I.R.C. the back axle looked well out of line. It also looked as though it had been there for sometime as it was covered in dirt, the back lights were missing and there was no sign of the tractor unit.
I left there early the next morning and the following day I was driving up through Czechoslovakia when I saw a couple of British trucks parked up in a lay-by who were also on their way home. One of the drivers was Dave Hammond and while we were having a brew I mentioned about this Middle East Minerals trailer that I had seen parked up. Dave told me that on the second of January he and Jimmy Smethurst were shipping out of Dover when they met up with Barry and another driver. As the four of them were going to Turkey and beyond through The Commie Block they decided to run with each other. Barry had told Dave that just after he had taken the new trailer down to the Middle East they had started having teething troubles with it. Eventually, the problems stated getting bigger and it was decided that Barry would have to take the trailer back to the U.K. before Christmas where it would have to be repaired.
I remember Dave saying that the journey down had been a bad one with a lot of snow, rain and fog.
One morning while they were going down the Autoput somewhere in Yugoslavia with Jim leading, Dave second, the other British driver third and with Barry at the back they drove into thick fog. Apparently Jim wasn’t going very fast which was very lucky or he would of killed the policeman who was stood in the middle of the road holding his little lollypop. Jim did managed to stop but Dave said that Jim braked so hard the he had to swerve to avoid hitting him. The driver behind Dave managed to park up on the road behind Jim and Barry stopped behind him and put his hazard warning lights on. By this time Dave had stopped and was walking back towards Jim who giving the policeman a right load of obscene verbal.
Dave said that suddenly there was a loud screech of brakes and an almighty bang that came out of the fog as Barry’s truck lurched forward and they all ran back to see what had happened.
I.I.R.C. Barry was not hurt but was very badly shaken and the Yugoslavian truck was a complete write off. The Jughead driver was lucky to be alive and had managed to swerve but had smashed into the offside of Barry’s trailer.
The policeman stood there mesmerised for a couple of minutes at what had happened and then ran over to his car. Dave thought that he was going to radio for help and they were all shocked when he just drove off at a great speed.
I am fairly certain that Dave said they had spent half a day chaining up Barry’s back axle to get him to that new customs compound at Belgrade.
So there you have it, that’s the best that I can remember about it which now opens up a load of new questions which hopefully another Trucknet member might be able to answer now or sometime in the future.
Where did I take this photo ?, I haven’t a clue but I know that it couldn’t be in Belgium, if anything it looks a bit more like Czech. Is that Barry Bradshaw in the photo ?, I am sure that this fellow was driving the recovery vehicle. Did Barry ever wear glasses or was there another driver from Middle East Minerals who I met at Kapic and did they have an new orange coloured Scania.
Yes Ron, you try telling the young folk that in the seventies some men drove to Pakistan in a day cab Ford D Series or that you once worked with a guy who took a load of copper to India or that a British company sold sand to The Arabs and some of them might not believe you .
Jimmy Walker sent me this photo and I seem to think that this was the new customs compound north of Belgrade which was not too far from The National Hotel next to the E5.
Regards Steve.
Sorry to ■■■■ in on this fascinating thread, especially as I’ve never been near the M/E. Thought I’d just share this though. I was at Warwick services ,mid 90s I think when I saw an Astran tilt (pretty sure it wasn’t an Astran unit). As I didn’t think Astran were still going ,I wandered over for a chat. The driver told me he was on his way back from Oman (I think!) having taken out a load of sand.Like others,this cracked me up,until he explained that this was very special sand used for filtration in water treatment plants.
Super descriptive story Steve…I trust you had a fabulous holiday. 
I never transported sand but did once transport illumines golf balls to Qatar 
5thwheel:
davemackie:
Hi Steve Ken did a lot of work for RJ, he finished up with with a right cushy number, “The Diplomatic Bag” to Prague, only in this case it was a twenty foot container, once he crossed the D/CZ border it was non stop to The British Embassy in Prague, if for any reason the seal was tampered with, the complete container was turned round & returned to the UK.Dave.
Anyone know what happened to Ken Corrigan,John Roberts or Harry Savage? I drove with all three of them @ Humber McVeigh’s Salford,we all lived within a mile of each other,East Manchester,early/mid 70’s
Take it easy
David
I worked with Johnny Roberts on Chapman and Ball,would love to know what he’s up to these days.A great mate.
mushroomman:
M&C Jamie:
Hi Steve, regarding the middle east minerals 142, you are correct it was driven by Barry Bradshaw an ex Duncan McCrae driver from the Darlington area. Middle East Minerals was a company which had their head office on the Island of Arran where they had Quarry interests. They believe it or not, had a very succesful business selling Sand to the Arabs. A Scot Lost in the Valley’sBrilliant Jamie
, in fact for some reason I thought that the driver who I once met at the Turkish border was Alan Jones because I thought that he was wearing glasses. When Bestbooties mentioned Alan a couple of years back on Trucknet I was going to contact Ian and ask him if he knew if Alan had ever worked for Middle East Minerals but I never got around to it. There is a bit more to this story and if I get a bit of spare time this week I shall try and write it down and maybe you might of heard something similar
.
Regards Steve.
When I was working for Expo Freight,(At the same time as Alan Jones),we did quite a few loads to the water treatment plant in Baghdad and I do remember seeing at least one motor of Middle East Minerals.Don’t offhand remember a drivers name,too long ago.
This would be about @82 or '83.
franzneufra:
… well but this 142 seems to be a 6x2 no 6x4.Maybe I am wrong, but on the hubs, you can see the differences…
Are there any pics of the other 142´s and from this one
Regards
Franz
Hi Franz, if you read my post properly you will see that i said that the three bonneted 142’s were double drives and not the one on the low loader. regards Jamie.
A Scot Lost in the Valley’s.
Hi Steve, i will try once more to send a reply. After about twenty minutes sitting here last night, typing with my one finger the bloody computer went down due to a power cut and the whole story was lost. Dont it P++s you off, trying to remember what you wrote: However another day and we will try again.
It does seem odd that Barry could be involved in two seperate accidents on the same stretch of road,in freezing fog and so the plot thickens.■■
I had known Barry Bradshaw from his day’s driving for Duncan McRae of Darlington Whilst running to Iran in the seventies. I later met him in Dover docks where he was having problems with the customs. It appears that Middle East Minerals had bought the 142 in Europe and there was some queery about unpaid VAT. This was when he told me about his new job which was to service the sand quarry in Iraq. Prior to this no-one seemed to know why the three bonneted 142’s were standing in a compound near Baghdad, they also had been re registered in Iraq. So it was a surprise on a later trip to bump into him again at Oryx’s near Adana. I had apparently past them earlier in the day south of Ankara whilst they were in one of the petrol stations removing the rear prop on the scania, and so that was when i found out about the unfolding escapade. I do remember something about towing screening plants that had been built with axles and fifth wheel plates so that they could be moved by a normal tractor unit, but i never actually saw one of theirs. The tipping trailer that i towed the 142 with, was about nine feet wide and around thirty five feet long. I later heard that they had a transport manager in Iraq and if i remember rightly it was either Jack Harrison or loyd of Lobo fame and he was floating around the middle east country’s trying to get permission to open up sand quarry’s to supply Glass Smelters. But it is a long time ago and the memory recall is not as sharp, may’be it is down to too many Effes Controls. regards Jamie.
A Scot Lost in the Valley’s.
M&C Jamie:
franzneufra:
… well but this 142 seems to be a 6x2 no 6x4.
Maybe I am wrong, but on the hubs, you can see the differences…
Are there any pics of the other 142´s and from this one
Regards
FranzHi Franz, if you read my post properly you will see that i said that the three bonneted 142’s were double drives and not the one on the low loader. regards Jamie.
A Scot Lost in the Valley’s.
Hi Jamie,
sorry 
, I just overread it 
I can not apologize with bad knowledge of the english speaking and reading 
As a little excuse, maybe the one or other here is interested about the story of a south german building company, building a power station in Lybia in the 1970´s:
If you need help for translation, do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards
Franz
Hi Guys
Have been taken by the dark side of the force ,and been sucked into the other truckers site ,middleeastdriversclub.yolasite,take a look and if you wonder I am scrummie,not for T Form Charlies the strain would be to much
Roger
5thwheel:
Does anyone recall the driver of a BLACK sleeper Scania 110,IIRC the lettering on the cab was in red and was something like Trans Arabian International Transport Services,B & W of Hyde,nr Manchester supplied it,I was there when it was in for spraying in the 70’s.
Steve,on further reflection,I DO think that the guy the other side of the female IS Harry Savage,I remember him with a full head of dark hair though,so its difficult to imagine after some 35 years!!..and as you have remembered,Ken,John,Stan and Harry all lived close to each other and drove together whenever possible,be good to meet up again,although I am aware of the sad demise of Stan, regards David
Hi David, Ken Corrigan is still alive and kicking but a friend of mine was unable to contact John Roberts a few weeks ago to see if he wanted to go to a reunion . Here is one of bullitts photos ( I hope that Rick won’t mind me showing it ) taken from another reunion in Blackpool. It’s Stan with his flat cap and John Roberts sharing a joke or a happy memory from way back. I can remember that when John was an owner driver in the early eighties, he used to park his unit and trailer in his uncles cash and carry yard near Grey Mare Lane around where the Eastlands Stadium is now ( what a waste of a good lorry park ). You might remember that at one time John’s uncle must of bought him a new tilt cover which had the words in big letters CHARLIE ROBERTS CASH AND CARRY, now if any Trucknet members had seen a tilt like that travelling through the Middle East they might of remembered it.
I can’t remember a Harry Savage or a Trans Arabian Transport Service David, are you sure that he didn’t have a sticker on his doors like these ?.
Regards Steve.
T.A.F trailers.
I remember Joe 90 used to pull those trailers down to Adana in the late eighties, wheres Joe now ?
GS
truck4sale.co.uk/a/index.php?opt … 5&Itemid=2
Looks familiar? Has Jeff Huddert packed it in or just selling his trailer?
Regards,
Mark.
By the way, was there a company from Dover (I think) called TAF, probably late 80’s early 90’s?
Regards,
Mark.
GS OVERLAND:
T.A.F trailers.
I remember Joe 90 used to pull those trailers down to Adana in the late eighties, wheres Joe now ?
GS
That’s right Gavin, when Jo was doing that run John Kemp was with TAF, I did 3 or 4 traction only trips for them. We use to change over in Iskenderun, and the Turks used to take the trailers through to Baghdad. The problem was when you collected the empty invariably the trailer was wrecked or the Turks had sold the tyres. So it was an easy job but with inherent problems. Not heard of or see Jo for years, but again a ■■■■ decent bloke.
mushroomman:
5thwheel:
Does anyone recall the driver of a BLACK sleeper Scania 110,IIRC the lettering on the cab was in red and was something like Trans Arabian International Transport Services,B & W of Hyde,nr Manchester supplied it,I was there when it was in for spraying in the 70’s.
Steve,on further reflection,I DO think that the guy the other side of the female IS Harry Savage,I remember him with a full head of dark hair though,so its difficult to imagine after some 35 years!!..and as you have remembered,Ken,John,Stan and Harry all lived close to each other and drove together whenever possible,be good to meet up again,although I am aware of the sad demise of Stan, regards DavidHi David, Ken Corrigan is still alive and kicking
I can’t remember a Harry Savage or a Trans Arabian Transport Service David, are you sure that he didn’t have a sticker on his doors like these ?.
Regards Steve.
Hi Steve,
No stickers on doors,I saw the black scania actually in the workshop @ B & W,Hyde,not to worry.
You say that Ken is still about,are you in contact with him?
Thanks for the pic of John and Stan,you kindly sent this one to me last year.
Take it easy,
Rgds,
David
mushroomman:
I can’t remember a Harry Savage or a Trans Arabian Transport Service David, are you sure that he didn’t have a sticker on his doors like these ?.
Regards Steve.
Colin Johnson and Bob Westwell both worked for Trans Arabian Freight. Colin is working up in Hull now, and Bob was on for Laser doing France Groupage
HI guys
Here is some info about TAF. It has Knights of Old origins.
GS
KNIGHTS OF OLD.
Company History
William Knight began transporting goods for the local community back in 1865, using a horse and cart. With family members soon entering the business, more work could be taken on and a strong and reliable reputation soon developed. In 1918 the company began to use motorised vehicles and ‘A’ licenses were granted for three trucks on inauguration of the Road Traffic Act in 1933. The company, which became Knights of Old Limited in 1957, was making steady progress, mainly in the agricultural industry until the decision was made to focus on general haulage in 1968. This resulted in the need for a change of location and the company moved to Cherry Hill in the village of Old, Northamptonshire. The new site enabled the company to expand by introducing warehouse facilities.
In 1978 Donald Knight saw the opportunities the Middle East was offering and started a Freight Forwarding and haulage company, Trans Arabian Freight (TAF). TAF quickly became recognised as a creative and practical Forwarder and began to get pressure from satisfied customers to handle their consignments to other parts of the globe. The Packing Division was opened in 1990 which manufactures cases, crates and pallets.
In order to continue the successful progression of the company the decision was made to move to a ten acre purpose built site adjacent to the A14, Kettering which included 100,000 sq ft of warehousing facility. The new site was not only practical with its central location and links to major motorways, it also advertised to the outside world we wanted to progress beyond the image of a traditional family haulage business and move into the world of supply chain logistics.
Since moving to the new site in 2000, we have become a multi-functional distribution company which handles more shipments in two days than in did in one month when we first moved to Kettering. The transport turnover has quadrupled and the warehousing turnover has doubled. We have doubled the number of staff and have added a further 20,000 sq ft to the site.