TautlinerTerry:
Hi there Guys I’d like to ask a question ref. the “Destination Doha” docu- without being morbid but are the four drivers featured still with us? I certainly would hope so and where are they now what are they doing?
I’ve come to this thread quite late so please forgive me if it’s been discussed before but I couldn’t face trawling all 71 pages !
I remember back in the 1980’s my trips to the Middle East in my Mercedes 814 7.5 tonner, Kings Lynn, Ipswich that sort of area (!?)
If you look on the thread “ASTRAN BOOK LAUNCH & GRAND RE-UNION PARTY!”
there’s a photo of David Poulton and Frank Hook (two of the drivers in that film) at the launch of Ashley’s book in June - ‘The Long Haul Pioneers’. David’s still driving, but in the UK. Not sure what Frank’s up to!
mother trucker:
hi exmoor badger
it snows up shipka in the bloody summer one hell of a road, traffic not to bad now the other road from veliko tarnovo to stara zagora has been improved all the transit trucks go that way .is there a company in uk called animals express i was on the motorway coming from sofia this morning looked very much like a uk livestock vehicle heading towards sofia
hi Mother trucker
just looked on the internet and cant find an british firm called animal express but i will see a mate of mine who is a major livestock haulier in the uk and i will ask him.we used to use the other route around shipka sometimes, but if we were caught we had to pay a fine
TautlinerTerry:
Hi there Guys I’d like to ask a question ref. the “Destination Doha” docu- without being morbid but are the four drivers featured still with us? I certainly would hope so and where are they now what are they doing?
I’ve come to this thread quite late so please forgive me if it’s been discussed before but I couldn’t face trawling all 71 pages !
I remember back in the 1980’s my trips to the Middle East in my Mercedes 814 7.5 tonner, Kings Lynn, Ipswich that sort of area (!?)
If you get this months truck&driver Ashley has done a write up on the astran reunion with some great pictures including a then and now picture of Dave Poulton behind the wheel of a truck
TautlinerTerry:
Hi there Guys I’d like to ask a question ref. the “Destination Doha” docu- without being morbid but are the four drivers featured still with us? I certainly would hope so and where are they now what are they doing?
I’ve come to this thread quite late so please forgive me if it’s been discussed before but I couldn’t face trawling all 71 pages !
I remember back in the 1980’s my trips to the Middle East in my Mercedes 814 7.5 tonner, Kings Lynn, Ipswich that sort of area (!?)
Do a search on here for a member called Abraham Carshalton , he has written a bit of history about Astran and the Middle East.
Sadly many of these Gentleman have passed over but they are queuing at a border from where there is no return. There are several on these forums, but the book will be a good read so send Adrian a PM
josh:
Referring back to the air wipers on the F88 on the previous page, this is the old set-up on one I drove in 75 / 76 wipers still mounted on the top and they used to creep down all the time so had to try and park them at the side.
Good old bad old days.
As you know John i am far too handsome to be any of those ugly barstewards, but the guy in the blue Tshirt is the Bulgy driver of the orange Merc who was loading in Bristol when I was, and he arrived in Zahedan about 4 hrs after me, neither of us having noticed the other en-route.
The other 3 are Iranians who were wanting us to load for Karachi, but my map didn’t go that far.
For those who have never been privileged to travel to Salalah, I thought you may find this of interest.
To travel to Oman in the early 80’s required that the driver had clearance by Interpol; as Sinbin mentioned earlier.
All personnel clearance applications were sent to the Royal Omani Police in Muscat who in turn sent the clearance to the border of Wadi Jizi by radio, which left the whole procedure open to discrepancies often resulting in entry being refused.
When you passed the border and travelled to Muscat the customs clearance for the load was undertaken at the Port of Mina Qaboos.
However if you were destined for Salalah you cleared the load in Mina Qaboos but could only travel that next 1000km to Salalah after you had undergone a second security clearance and been issued with a Road Pass. This was due to the high security in the Salalah area following the Dhofar Rebellion that only ended in 1975.
From leaving Muscat, the only check point was at Thumrait which lies about 100 km from Salalah. If you arrived there without a pass and/ or a pass that wasn’t correct you were sent back 900km to Muscat.
Almost a week as passed and this thread has become dormant, so let me bring it back to the front page……
One of the most successful British transport companies to ever work in the Middle East was / is Heanor Haulage who created a Joint Venture with Zahid Industries who are the main Cat and GM agents in Saudi.
In 1977 Zahid Heanor was created for the transportation of heavy equipment and cars. They had the first 3 tier 70 foot car transporter trailers in Saudi. There was no better outfit working internally in Saudi at that time and they are still operating today, 33 years later. Their success is the result of their professionalism.
Reddesertfox:
Almost a week as passed and this thread has become dormant, so let me bring it back to the front page……
One of the most successful British transport companies to ever work in the Middle East was / is Heanor Haulage who created a Joint Venture with Zahid Industries who are the main Cat and GM agents in Saudi.
In 1977 Zahid Heanor was created for the transportation of heavy equipment and cars. They had the first 3 tier 70 foot car transporter trailers in Saudi. There was no better outfit working internally in Saudi at that time and they are still operating today, 33 years later. Their success is the result of their professionalism.
Id like to see photos about that reddesertfox if anyone out there has any?.
Unfortunately I do not have any pics of Zahid Heanor. If my memory serves me correct, Heanor was pretty much controlled by Peter Searson(I think it is Searson) and his brother Ian. Peter was the engineering wizard who did the famous conversion on the Scammel contractor with a Volvo Cab.
Their operation on the Zahid Heanor JV was started in Jeddah and they then opened up in Dammam in 1978, at that time they were running Kenworth or maybe Peterbilt and Volvo.
I do believe Peter had the 70 foot car transporter trailers built in Switzerland; however the end of the three tiers ended when the Saudi’s started building flyovers.
If you Google, Heanor Haulage and Zahid Heanor you will see how big their Middle East operation is now. I am sure someone will have some pics.
Reddesertfox:
If you Google, Heanor Haulage and Zahid Heanor you will see how big their Middle East operation is now. I am sure someone will have some pics.
SheepLady:
Thanks oakcake - have the DVD but haven’t watched it for a while, so good to have a reminder
Oh Ali; You really need to put it on! Have a good old giggle and see your old workmates in their former glory…side burns, flares, horn rimmed glasses and all!
Its 4 am here and I really should go to bed but Im watching it again because I aint seen it for years.
At the moment they are skiing in Austria…peeing myself watchin
oatcake1967:
Its 4 am here and I really should go to bed but Im watching it again because I aint seen it for years.
At the moment they are skiing in Austria…peeing myself watchin
this ones a bit of track, but was there any work to Libya in years gone by?, ive never seen a UK truck when ive been working here
And the Marathon in Destination Doha, had a split screen , was this standard on ME spec motor, or was it an earlier or later one?
excellent thread, i know of Duncan Mcrae, i used to see his motors parked in and around Darlington when i was a nipper
I never knew the doha programe was on you tube last time I saw it was when it aired in 77 I sat up till gone 2 this morning watching it great programme I did`nt remember the sking or the false teeth memory playing tricks ,it just shows how people rolled their sleeves up and mucked in to get things done not just in trucking but other jobs as well back then an atitude I find sadly lacking today some of the people I work with would not help anyone moan over great thread this I never did overseas work so find all this great stuff and put my hands together to all those that did all the best. fred
, he has written a bit of history about Astran and the Middle East.
a PM
so let me bring it back to the front page…… 
