Nice pictures and glad to know you are alive and kicking. Great Asda video on your web site 
First of all, condolences to the late driverâs family, even after twenty years.
On the othe hand, I , too am pleased to hear Mr. Keiley is still with us. One of his first articles I read was âBreakfast in Babylonâ, about a Children In Need Auction which one of the lots was a ride to anywhere, or somesuch, about the time the Fahzod Bazoft hoo-haa in Iraq was kicking off. I still have the T&D magazine somewhere, as I specifically retrieved it from a skip, amidst much grumbling. Glad I did too!
Laurence:
For all you guys out there, especially M&C steve, brookie, dreva + NZ Jamie, thanks for your compliments. Here are a few pix from long ago. This one is for M+C Steve. It is one of the trucks he kept going often at formidable odds for Mervyn King.
If you go to http://www.laurencekiely.co.uk you can click on any truck image and get a bigger version.This one was taken on the Abdaly Road, Kuwait about 1991. The Volvo F12 in the background is in fact D455JMU. It belonged to Mervynâs cousin, Peter King who ran Peterlea Trucking.
This was featured in T+D July 1991.
More will follow âŚ
Take care now, all of you
Laurence Kiely
Hi Laurence
We never met but our paths crossed on numerous occasions whilst I was subbing for Astran.
Best regards
Gavin Smith
GS OVERLAND
These were also taken by me on the âHighway of Deathâ Abdeli Road, around the same time that you took your photos.
The last photo was on the road into Kuwait City from Ruqi Border.
Sugar Ray:
Wheel Nut:
Are we all fired up to rebuild Libya chaps? It seems like Mr Gaddafi is coming to the end of his reign!He should have listened more to my Cousin Neville
In 1972 Neville Atkinson left a career as a night fighter pilot in the Royal Navy to take up a position as personal pilot to The President of Libya, Col Gadaffi. During the next ten years his role was to fly The President, Government Ministers and many world dignitaries around the Middle East and Africa. During the course of these flights his relaxed conversations and perceptive observation of his passengers gave him a rare insight into their personalities, and the politics and happenings of the time.
The turmoil of the Middle East meant almost constant uncertainty and danger. His Falcon 20 executive jet was fired on by anti-aircraft guns as he came into land in South Yemen; in Egypt the terrifying experience of surviving six SAM II missiles fired at the plane while conveying the Libyan Prime Minister to Egypt during the Arab-Israeli war. The crew was forced into taking Carlos The Jackal and his three fellow terrorists from Algiers to Mogadishu in Somalia after they had kidnapped the OPEC conference in Vienna - a thoroughly unnerving and obnoxious ordeal.
John Simpson CBE
Did he write a book about that?
He did, it was called âDeath on Small Wingsâ
newmercman:
Well then Laurence, glad youâre not dead after allRIP to Hal Rossco
Now, as youâve found this site and this thread in particular, would you please do us all the honour of sharing some of your tales with us, pictures too, as Iâm sure many will agree, M/E pictures are pure â â â rated truck â â â â
Iâm also one of the blokes who read your magazine articles and was inspired by them, not just to drive, but to write too, Iâm still doing both, so thanks for that
Thanks Newmercman. Read your site and story. Youâve got style! Well done.
bigr250:
M&C steve:
Harleys, well best we donât go down that roadâŚItâs reassuring to know that âgood tasteâ is alive & well and living in Thailand, who in their right mind would choose to ride an American pile of â â â that emits an exhaust note that shouts âpotato, potato, potatoâ as you ride down the roadâ â ?
Just an opinion
Ross.
With an echo 
I have asked it somewhere before but who remembers the bloke with the MAN from Norfolk called Robin?
Wiry bloke with a beard, he seemed to have been around a long time.
Endit:
First of all, condolences to the late driverâs family, even after twenty years.
On the othe hand, I , too am pleased to hear Mr. Keiley is still with us. One of his first articles I read was âBreakfast in Babylonâ, about a Children In Need Auction which one of the lots was a ride to anywhere, or somesuch, about the time the Fahzod Bazoft hoo-haa in Iraq was kicking off. I still have the T&D magazine somewhere, as I specifically retrieved it from a skip, amidst much grumbling. Glad I did too!
Thanks Endit. Iâll put that B+B feature on the kiely web site some time. That trip, I must admit, was a little nerve wracking simply because I had a passenger to worry about!
Cheers for now
Laurence
M&C steve:
Great picâs Laurence, keep them coming mate.
The MAN was either NMT 199X or 200X, i think the latter ?
I also done most of the maintenance for Peter too.
Looking forward to reading your tales of old pal.Regards Steve.
Cheers mate. VAR will follow when I can find it
Laurence
M&C steve:
Great picâs Laurence, keep them coming mate.
The MAN was either NMT 199X or 200X, i think the latter ?
I also done most of the maintenance for Peter too.
Looking forward to reading your tales of old pal.Regards Steve.
Steve, it was 200X. 199X was driven for a long time by a guy called Latham I think. He was a solicitor who liked driving and never going home. He was âchilling outâ he said. Something to do with a divorce I recall.
Cheers for now
Laurence
jsutherland:
Nice pictures and glad to know you are alive and kicking. Great Asda video on your web site
Why thank you kind Sir.
Good luck
Laurence
Laurence,
VAR 854W was the first 19-321 MAN that Mervyn bought, in fact it was the first one in the UK at the time, especially imported in LHD. The 2 line braking system caused many a discussion down at the testing station !! It was driven from new by Ray Usher, more commonly know as âNormanâ. It is also the truck that i took to Iraq whilst Norman was recovering from a broken foot acquired when he lost an argument with a forktruck.
NMT 199X and 200X both arrived some 8 months later. 199X was driven for many trips by John Latham, who indeed was a soliciter specialising in industrial injuries ( he would make a fortune now i expect ). 200X was driven for many years by the late and great Tony Baker, AKA Bunny / Poison Dwarf. Man did he like to drink, no wonder that he worked for Mervyn !!!
Regards Steve.
adr:
These pics might have been posted before, but just trawelling through some old mags & found them!
There is a separate thread for Athol somewhere and his son was interested in any photos anyone may have had.
Those are great pics of the 142
Hi Wheel Nut, forgot about that thread, I try & find it & re-post them, cheers!
R.I.P. hal
AS BEFORE see i flipping well told you all he aint dead!!! 
Laurence i for one did keep shouting long and loud it was not you!!! Any chance of pics and tales that didnt make the mags? Something tell me you will be spending some time reading all the old posts and as said by others you were the one guy i loved to read.
P.S. glad youâre not dead or i would have looked a rite prat!
Know Cantrells has been mentioned before, but iâm not sure if this picture has been posted previously.
Another one of Cantrellâs for you, with Whitetrux thrown in for good measure.
Hy folks. I used to do ME from 76 till about 81âsh. Much of the time doing internal in Saudi.
Did a fair bit for Whittles (Thats Michael Whittle in Abby village near Bolton).
Cant remember many names of folk, dont think we hardly used them much.
Anyway I had a good mate called Trever, his girl friend was Penny, who was Michael Whittles secretary.
My names Haydn, I had a blue Daf 2800. Later sign written Hall To Arabia.
Besides the internal work, usually with stupid heavy loads. I did about 25 trips down, mostly Saudi, but some to Iraq and Kuwait.
Think I posted a bit on here a few years ago, but got slagged off, so have not been back till today.
[quote="hlb"Think I posted a bit on here a few years ago, but got slagged off, so have not been back till today.[/quote]
Well welcome back anyway Haydn. Ignore the trolls, there is always someone getting slagged off!! 
Did you post up any pic sof your travels last time you were here?? Have you got any pics from your travels to M/E?? Post em up if you have Haydn, you will always have an audience that is interested here.