To clarify my statement on the Greeks 5000 ltr bellytanks this was a small tank some had bigger.they were not used for the ME only Greeks doing Europe the Tank was dropped in Hungary and collected on the way home , filled up and they took the back road to Nis where locals would wait with tractors and trailers loaded with 45 gallon oil drums and DMs (Not Doc Martins) now where they got them from I dont know,another reason why the backloads from Greece paid sht money
Roger Haywood
Hi Roger, now that you have mentioned it I do seem to remember seeing the Jughead farmers on the road between Nis and Gevgalia parked at the side of the road with their little tractors and trailers and a stack of jerry cans .
I posted this photo a couple of pages back hoping that somebody might recognise the Whittles driver as I thought that Archie Paice might know him but up to now he is still unknown, although it did cross my mind, could this be a very young Dave Clarke from Cornwall .
I thought that Routiers might of recognised the driver in the middle of the photo as a couple of years ago he asked me if I had ever ran with Don Gibson. Don I think had a connection with a company called Bryce Boyd from Liverpool, I think that he might of owned it and was running down to the Middle East in the early seventies I think that he did mention something about Iran at one time. He was a brilliant mechanic, not scared of getting his hands dirty and the couple of trips that I did with him seemed to turn out really well. I think that Don had a farm where the M62 and The M57 used to meet, ( is that in Prescott or Widnes now ? ) in the seventies and his unit and trailer could be seen parked up there whenever he was at home.
David asked me was Ken still around, I am glad to say yes but I missed seeing him at the reunion as Shelia wasnât to well at the time.
I hope that Corrigan isnât trying to sell some pegs to the Gypsies as I can remember some drivers buying look a like Benniton polo shirts for a quid each in The Bazaar in Istanbul and selling them on for a fiver each in the pubs back in the U.K⌠Who remembers the La Coste look a like polo shirts and socks with the little crocodile motif that used to come off after the first wash .
Here is another photo of Don Gibson with I think itâs Nobby Clarke from Mansfield, I wonder if Chazzer can remember doing these Portacabins down to Sinop on the Black Sea Coast in Turkey .
And a couple of old photos for Dreva , has anybody got any ideas where I took this photo .
There is a photo here that Jimmy Walker gave me but I am not so sure where this was taken although it looks familiar, south east of Adana maybe .
Thanks for posting up those pictures Steve, all good stuff. Im amazed that this thread is still running,it has certainly brought out alot of memories,info and pictures that may otherwise have stayed hidden away and given those of us who âmissed the busâ so to speak a chance to understand more of what the job was like!!
Any âlurkersâ out there feel free to contribute, the more the merrier!!
Bullitt, this thread has no need to die whilst ever we old hands breathe air and have our marbles. I have been more lax than most with regard to posting photos, but will rectify that, once I get out of this 50+ temperature and back to South Africa I will delve into those old shoe boxes. Steve is obvoiusly now working part time and filling his time, a bit like RogerâŚWith loads of money
You know the situationâŚwagon approaching in the distance, coming up a hill towards you.
First you see the headboard, then the rest of the cab,you strain to recognise the colour scheme etc,to see if you know the firmâŚ
Well approaching me is an ERF, familiar colour scheme, black and creamy yellowâŚyes its Northern Ireland Trailers, plenty of these around Preson and Liverpool⌠but in IRAN â â ?
This was 1974, my memory is not good now, but it was somewhere in the north, between the border and Tehran, he was heading back home.
I cant recall the trailer even, sorry.
Who was the brave pilot of this machine ? It would make me very happy to know he was still alive and kicking.
Just to keep the thread going couple of pics from Gaydon ,My thanks to Carl Jarman and his Son who looked after me at Gaydon letting me take refuge in his truck and rest from all the walking about what a great show , some fine trucks ,and the Models were out of this world ,Great to see Gordon Pierce ,I was also supprised how popular the book by Ashley would be ,Again due to my sitting in Carls truck a massive number of people came over for a chat I am so proud to have been part of this journey in transport history .Thanks to all who asked me to Autograph my page of the book, pitty more Astran drivers were not there,looking forward to this weekend
Roger Haywood
Roger Autographs his page for Carl Jarman
Carl Jarman and Son
Who Is this Ex ME Driver next to Roger only the Old codgers will know the Answer
bloody ell roger i spoke to ya and didnt realise it were you i asked you where carl was when you were sat in his truck i was the chap with the 2 nippers in tow,
Hi Roger
Thanks for putting the pictures on, they are excellent. Thanks for spending some time with us over the weekend,it was a pleasure to meet you which i hope will be repeated this weekend. Here are a couple more photos, one of you sat behind the wheel ,reminising!! And one of Gordon doing the same.!!
Carl
Roger Haywood behind the wheel.
Gordon Pearce remembers the good old days behind the wheel of a scania.
Codgers, oh dear thats what we are now. my sons have called me that for a few years now.
Its nice to have some of these memories down on paper, well done Ashley .
Good pictures of Roger and Gordon.
Klunk
Reddesertfox:
Bullitt, this thread has no need to die whilst ever we old hands breathe air and have our marbles. I have been more lax than most with regard to posting photos, but will rectify that, once I get out of this 50+ temperature and back to South Africa I will delve into those old shoe boxes. Steve is obvoiusly now working part time and filling his time, a bit like RogerâŚWith loads of money ALB - RDF
Hi Red, the reason that Roger could retire early with loads of money was because as he has stated on a previous post that he was getting five litres of black market diesel for 1 Deutsch Mark so the rest of us have to plod on to make an honest crust . I canât wait to see some of your old photos ( you havenât got one of a camel with a bandaged head have you ).
Have you ordered your Astran polo shirt yet ?, I think that Carl looks very smart in his and I hope that Roger offered to make him a belly tank for his trailer after having a Papa nap on Carls bunk.
Itâs good to see you on this thread Carl , I must admit that when I saw you a couple of months ago you looked a bit more a like a Simons driver whoâd had a bad day at the office , although to be fair you were steam cleaning underneath the motor, good on yer Carl .
Now does anybody know where I left my marbles ?.
dashman:
You know the situationâŚwagon approaching in the distance, coming up a hill towards you.
First you see the headboard, then the rest of the cab,you strain to recognise the colour scheme etc,to see if you know the firmâŚ
Well approaching me is an ERF, familiar colour scheme, black and creamy yellowâŚyes its Northern Ireland Trailers, plenty of these around Preson and Liverpool⌠but in IRAN â â ?
This was 1974, my memory is not good now, but it was somewhere in the north, between the border and Tehran, he was heading back home.
I cant recall the trailer even, sorry.
Who was the brave pilot of this machine ? It would make me very happy to know he was still alive and kicking.
Welcome to the site dashman , it would be great if you could put your photo of your ChetTrux Ford Transconti on here and I donât suppose that you have any photos of Chetâs Spanish Pagesoâs do you ?. Can you remember Big Jim Smethurst or Brian Cobb ( Petal ) doing Saudi for Chet in the early 70âs running out of Ostende or was it Zeebrugge ?.
Northern Ireland Trailers, it always made me smile whenever I met one of their drivers with the companyâs initials embroidered on their overall pocket
Hi Red, the reason that Roger could retire early with loads of money was because as he has stated on a previous post that he was getting five litres of black market diesel for 1 Deutsch Mark so the rest of us have to plod on to make an honest crust . I canât wait to see some of your old photos ( you havenât got one of a camel with a bandaged head have you ).
Regards Steve.
[/quote]
Hi SteveâŚ. No, I havenât seen any camels with bandaged heads, they are not allowed everyone should keep their faces exposed in Kuwait, like Holland and France
There was an article in todayâs paper where the Kuwaitiâs and their fellow GCC members are objecting to being called Rag Heads by most Westerners. For clarities sake, the Arab community would like make it clear once and for all that their head dress is not a Rag, it is a Sheet, and if they must have a nick name, they should be known as sheet heads
Hi Steve
Thanks for the welcome.
I only did traction from Zeebrugge to Europe with Chet,2 weeks at a time if I recall.
trying to remember some names
I did post the pic of the Ford already under "What happened to Chris Hudson "
I never seemed to stop, arriving at Ewels yard in the middle of the night to collect and drop off paperwork etc,like a bloody zombie.
Hi Everyone
What a great weekend Ashleyâs book launch was. It was great to meet you all.!
Thanks for making me and Paul welcome.
Hope you liked the 141.! We have still got work to do but it is getting there.
Here are some pictures⌠(just to get the site back to page 1!) ill post some more at a later date, after everyone else.!
Name these guys then⌠iâm sure you all know.!
I know the answers to who is in the pics but wont spoil it just to say Bob Paul is second from the right next to Gordon Pierce if u have no idea will post the names in a few days I am 4th from the left looking cool in the shades
over the last year or so Iâve been reading this topic. Being to young to ever been able to drive to the middle east without costing me money, I can only guess how it was really. Did my fare share of driving to Eastern Europe and Turkey for dutch companies Cargofoor (tankers) and Odev (garments) in the late ninties as far as Adana but can honestly say iâve never been to Middle east with a bigger truck then my Land Rover Defender. (went on a big trip 2006/2007 to India in it; also into Syria, Jordan, Iran, Pakistan; for people who are interested popadd.com/overlandy2006).
Just read truckerashâs book in 2 evenings straight and I must say it is quite an achievment! well done Ashley! Finally have copies of Baghdad Trucker and Cola Cowboys and hope that Ian Taylorâs book is soon outâŚ
When I did 4 years of Eastern Europe & Turkey in 1997/98/99/00 I met a couple of English drivers who I got very fond off. As I was only 22 years old at the time I was very impressed with the trips they had done and were doing. Was just wondering if any of you can help me and tell me what happenend to them and if they are actually (i hope for them) are retired. Mick Eckersley (sp?) was one of them and did regularly Istanbul groupage trip at that time. Also met Dave Sadler on a trip he did to Azerbadjan in 1997 (on my first trip to Istanbul) and had a good drink with him at Mariaâ s just before the Ipsala border. Iâve heard he was in jail for a while but donât know exactly the story. Bumped into Johnny Neville on the way back on that first trip I did on the Ipsala side of the border. Was wondering how he was doing as well. Got very fond of the Brits and actually married ( a female) one. Can remember for example the Dutch drivers always talking about horsepower and how bad their bosses were in Geiselwind or Carisio, as the English as soon as they closed their doors for the day and went for a nice drink (sometimes a bit more then oneâŚ) and would have a good chat about all kinds except trucks.
I know it is a bit off topic but hope thatâs OK.
Being âonâ topic;
Roger, the picture with drivers on the Gaydon show;
from left to right; John Frost, 2nd donât know, 3rd donât know, Roger Haywood, Frank Hook, 6th donât know, Dave Poulton (I think), Bob Paul, Gordon Pearce.
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I have been more lax than most with regard to posting photos, but will rectify that, once I get out of this 50+ temperature and back to South Africa I will delve into those old shoe boxes. Steve is obvoiusly now working part time and filling his time, a bit like RogerâŚWith loads of money 
my sons have called me that for a few years now.
. I canât wait to see some of your old photos ( you havenât got one of a camel with a bandaged head have you 
