Astran / Middle East Drivers

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
7881

Thanks to you all for the praise for the ‘My Mistake’ piece. Buying that Marathon in the first place most certainly was. But, I was only 24 at the time, too young for any haulier’s insurance to embark eastwards, unless I had my own of course.
Not sure if this Leyland Marathon was a prototype as many farm tractors had been built before. The engine was a 14 litre 330 bhp ■■■■■■■ NTC which was powerful enough in those days but the let down was only a 9 speed gearbox, the Fuller RTO 9509.
Good tough boxes with, I believe, twin layshafts. M+C Steve would know more about these I’ve no doubt. However the Fuller 9513 which as its model number suggests was a 13 speed was far superior. Very common in the Ford Transcontinentals. You needed those extra cogs going up any mountain.
The biggest fault with the Marathon I had, SLB344R, was the cab suspension, or total lack of it. It was LHD so BL got that right although they did not have a lot of capital to produce a new truck when the UK was invaded by Scania 110/140s plus Volvo F88s and the pokier F89.
There was only one bed which when lifted up revealed a stainless steel sink with water tap, cooker, and small fridge. The passenger seat swivelled through 180 degrees so one could then cook away creating whatever gastronomic delight or disaster one cared for.
It was late 1976 during this My Mistake Marathon trip to Tehran that after slithering up Mount Tahir, in the Agri region some 800 kms east of Ankara, the weather deteriorated into a roaring snow storm. Just made the top so decided to pull over and cook.
Round went the passenger seat, up went the bed, cooker on, frying pan hot, coffee cup in hand and some decent taped (CDs had not yet been invented) music roaring away. Think it was Dire Straits ‘Money For Nothing’! Yeah, right.
Suddenly a voice bellowed out,
‘Where do you think you are, on Daddy’s yacht?’
That was the first time I met the late Tony Baker. He had pulled up alongside in an OHS Mac. What a colourful bloke Tony turned out to be, always laughing in the face of adversity.
I can’t really print what he thought of BL Marathons but suffice to say there never was any disagreement!
RIP Tony, you were one of the best.

Laurence Kiely
laurencekiely.co.uk

I’m not inclined to steal or even borrow someone else’s photographs without their permission but to see what a PITA Tahir really was plenty of pics taken by drivers can be found on this link
tripmondo.com/turkey/agri/ta … -of-tahir/

7882

Laurence,
some good pic’s mate.

The one of VAR is, i think, in the latter days of M&C tpt. After i had started my own company Greyhound Commercials.It looks to be at the time when “Slippery” Mervyn was painting his remaining trucks in different colours in an attempt to make them less recogniseable to the local M.O.T who took great delight in pulling his trucks up knowing that they would have no road tax or at most a private ( car ) disc in the window. It is also back on the 12x20’s on which it came with when new. That is because Mervyn’s cheap supply of 14/80’s had dried up.

In spite of all his faults Mervyn is a chap that you could not help but like, he is one of lifes great characters, which explains in part why many of his emplyees where also not out of the “standard mould”. I feel honoured to of spent many years working for the chap. He looks very much like the late Oliver Reed, and shared his love of alcohol too, which was a major part of his downfall…He is now living out his retirement in Spain, confined to a wheelchair after a massive stroke a number of years ago which has left him pretty much fkd. I still send him a postcard every couple of months which i assume he gets, although i have never had any reply.

Steve.

7883

Good stuff thanks Laurence mate. I’d often wondererd what the old Marathon looked like after reading your stories.

Keep the pics and words coming mate.

Cheers Jamie

7884

Just remembering one small incident that occurred back around 75/76. I had tipped Teheran and was on my way back west. Having got through the border at Bazargan and it being late afternoon, a group of us decided to stop at a watering hole called “Hotel Kent” at Dogubayazit (Kent was a popular brand of cigarette in Turkey). It turned out to be a serious Efes control but we weren’t going any further that day.

During the course of the evening the girlfriend I had with me got up from the table and went to the loo. On her way back to our table she had to pass another table with a lone Turk sat there who stuck his leg out when she went by in an attempt to trip her (or at least get her attention!). I witnessed this and got up , went over to him and kicked him as hard as I could in his leg. Returning to my table the guys shouted “look out” and I felt a sharp pain to my shoulder blade. The Turk had thrown a beer bottle at me. The owner of the place had seen this and as he was enjoying a profitable evening with all the booze that we were drinking, didn’t want it to stop there so he went over to the Turk and threw him out!

We continued our ‘control’ and although there was blood all down the back of my shirt, I didn’t seem to feel any real pain. I put it down to the anaesthetic qualities that Efes seems to induce. There was a photo taken during the evening and I remember that one could hardly see the table for the amount of beer bottles on it. Unfortunately the photo was in my girlfriend’s camera and I haven’t seen her since 1981.

Must admit that I was a bit concerned that the drunken Turk might have tried to get his revenge on either us or our vehicles later that night but fortunately nothing more untoward happened. Bloomin’ women and the trouble they can cause!! :unamused: :laughing:

By the way, I only stopped there that once. Do any of you guys recall the place I’m on about?

7885

I can remember it well Ron, stopped there for a beer one night on the way home from Teheran and looked in the loo ( i use that term loosely) and decided that i would stand more chance of staying healthy by using the “spreader” under the trailer as the park was bursting with lorries from all over Europe and quite deserted of people apart from the dogs roaming round, whilst occupied in this latest act of international relations i noticed what i thought was a firefly not too far away and though to my self “that’s different” when all of a sudden the firefly stood up and waved at me it was a peeping arbie! and the firefly must have been a marlboro on the go! but i didnt notice him when first esconsed - Strange people about down there.

7886

M&C steve:
Laurence,
they would have no road tax or at most a private ( car ) disc in the window Steve.

Lot’s of folk had private car tax. The idea was, that they picked the trailer up at the docks, so never actually carried a load on the road. No idea what they did for real.

Anyway I found a much better way than this. I was fed up that I’d only used the truck in UK for a few weeks and paid 12 months tax. So I rang the local tax office in Preston.

We cant have that, they said, and put me onto a girl in a very small department. You can have a seven day tax, she said.
Theres only two others in our area with one!! Send me a cheque for £23 ? and I’ll fill in the form, it is very complicated.

I thought, well this is a good do and what a helpfull girl.

Police kept jumping on my bumper to look at the disk, none of them had seen anything like it.

So course, when I came back into Dover, the tax disc had run out of course and I got stopped by the police. No tax, they said. I know says I, but I’m allowed to drive to the first post office thats open, cos I’ve just come into the country.

So anyway I rang my girl and asked her for a tax disc. She said, it’s Friday, I 'll make it out from Monday.

So I said, no dont do that, I want to be honest, so make it out for last Wednesday. So she did.

After that, I never had a tax disc unless I got stopped. Then I’d ring the tax girl and get one back dated and send a copy off to the police or court… :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

1 Like
7887

Lawrence! Excellent to have you on the forum. Just to let you know you were a massive influence on me in your T&D days together with the late great Pat Kennet and got me into this game for real, shame things have gone the way they have with politicians buggering up europe and killing the job but we have to go on. Look forward to even more of your tales of adventures in the sand. Go steady.

7888

rondavies:
Just remembering one small incident that occurred back around 75/76. I had tipped Teheran and was on my way back west. Having got through the border at Bazargan and it being late afternoon, a group of us decided to stop at a watering hole called “Hotel Kent” at Dogubayazit (Kent was a popular brand of cigarette in Turkey). It turned out to be a serious Efes control but we weren’t going any further that day.

During the course of the evening the girlfriend I had with me got up from the table and went to the loo. On her way back to our table she had to pass another table with a lone Turk sat there who stuck his leg out when she went by in an attempt to trip her (or at least get her attention!). I witnessed this and got up , went over to him and kicked him as hard as I could in his leg. Returning to my table the guys shouted “look out” and I felt a sharp pain to my shoulder blade. The Turk had thrown a beer bottle at me. The owner of the place had seen this and as he was enjoying a profitable evening with all the booze that we were drinking, didn’t want it to stop there so he went over to the Turk and threw him out!

We continued our ‘control’ and although there was blood all down the back of my shirt, I didn’t seem to feel any real pain. I put it down to the anaesthetic qualities that Efes seems to induce. There was a photo taken during the evening and I remember that one could hardly see the table for the amount of beer bottles on it. Unfortunately the photo was in my girlfriend’s camera and I haven’t seen her since 1981.

Must admit that I was a bit concerned that the drunken Turk might have tried to get his revenge on either us or our vehicles later that night but fortunately nothing more untoward happened. Bloomin’ women and the trouble they can cause!! :unamused: :laughing:

By the way, I only stopped there that once. Do any of you guys recall the place I’m on about?

Dogubayazet 1983.

7889

short walk:
Lawrence! Excellent to have you on the forum. Just to let you know you were a massive influence on me in your T&D days together with the late great Pat Kennet and got me into this game for real, shame things have gone the way they have with politicians buggering up europe and killing the job but we have to go on. Look forward to even more of your tales of adventures in the sand. Go steady.

Cheers mate. Will do.

7890

short walk:
Lawrence! Excellent to have you on the forum. Just to let you know you were a massive influence on me in your T&D days together with the late great Pat Kennet and got me into this game for real, shame things have gone the way they have with politicians buggering up europe and killing the job but we have to go on. Look forward to even more of your tales of adventures in the sand. Go steady.

Ditto that! :slight_smile:

Regards,

Mark.

7891

Laurence:

Thanks to you all for the praise for the ‘My Mistake’ piece. Buying that Marathon in the first place most certainly was. But, I was only 24 at the time, too young for any haulier’s insurance to embark eastwards, unless I had my own of course.
Not sure if this Leyland Marathon was a prototype as many farm tractors had been built before. The engine was a 14 litre 330 bhp ■■■■■■■ NTC which was powerful enough in those days but the let down was only a 9 speed gearbox, the Fuller RTO 9509.
Good tough boxes with, I believe, twin layshafts. M+C Steve would know more about these I’ve no doubt. However the Fuller 9513 which as its model number suggests was a 13 speed was far superior. Very common in the Ford Transcontinentals. You needed those extra cogs going up any mountain.
The biggest fault with the Marathon I had, SLB344R, was the cab suspension, or total lack of it. It was LHD so BL got that right although they did not have a lot of capital to produce a new truck when the UK was invaded by Scania 110/140s plus Volvo F88s and the pokier F89.
There was only one bed which when lifted up revealed a stainless steel sink with water tap, cooker, and small fridge. The passenger seat swivelled through 180 degrees so one could then cook away creating whatever gastronomic delight or disaster one cared for.
It was late 1976 during this My Mistake Marathon trip to Tehran that after slithering up Mount Tahir, in the Agri region some 800 kms east of Ankara, the weather deteriorated into a roaring snow storm. Just made the top so decided to pull over and cook.
Round went the passenger seat, up went the bed, cooker on, frying pan hot, coffee cup in hand and some decent taped (CDs had not yet been invented) music roaring away. Think it was Dire Straits ‘Money For Nothing’! Yeah, right.
Suddenly a voice bellowed out,
‘Where do you think you are, on Daddy’s yacht?’
That was the first time I met the late Tony Baker. He had pulled up alongside in an OHS Mac. What a colourful bloke Tony turned out to be, always laughing in the face of adversity.
I can’t really print what he thought of BL Marathons but suffice to say there never was any disagreement!
RIP Tony, you were one of the best.

So Good to hear of Mervyn and Tony Baker (Bunny) getting a mention. Baker was a true professional ME driver , and I think when working with M&C it was compulsory to have a beard. :smiley:
At the time when M&C were sub- contracting for Astran , they were actually running better equipment than Astran .
I may be wrong but if my memory serves me correct M& C were one of the first from the UK to run with super singles on their trailers to the ME… I am sure Steve will put me right …if I am wrong
ATVB …RDF

Laurence Kiely
laurencekiely.co.uk

I’m not inclined to steal or even borrow someone else’s photographs without their permission but to see what a PITA Tahir really was plenty of pics taken by drivers can be found on this link
tripmondo.com/turkey/agri/ta … -of-tahir/

7892

I was tipping in Leyton Thursday and got chatting to a bloke who used to drive for Astrans, Jock ‘Yellow Peril’ Newman, he had a few stories to tell :open_mouth: and what a top bloke he was/is! Hes driving for T.S.A (Transport Saint Arnould) France, based at Alconbury.
i told him about Trucknet, and the Astrans interest, he said he would pop in for a look soon.

7893

Comming back over Tarsus, I stopped at that last cafe, before the long straight run to the bottom.

As I set off again, there was a turk truck going passed very slowly, his brake lights were on all the time. I thought of pulling infront of him and stopping him. But then thought, your not in the movies now, so dont be so daft. He’s only doing ten miles an hour.

So I set off, empty of course, cruised passed him, doing about 60 on the three lane road.

It must have been half an hour or so later, I was approaching the bottom of the hill, I’d just passed some one and pulled in again. So I looked in my mirror., I could see a truck in the distance, looked to be going like hell. Half a second later, I looked again and it had halved the distance. Just then the coach in front, pulled out into the middle lane to pass some one.

Another second and the truck rushed by, it must have been doing 120mph. Having said that, it looked to be in slow motion and I’m sure i could see the whites of his eyes, as he hunched over the wheel and whizzed past.

I put the hazards on and pulled up on the hard shoulder, with another English truck behind.

Next second he hit the coach, the coach just reared up in the air and the truck just went straight under.

There were bodies and luggage hanging from trees and quite a few on the road, the truck stopped dead in a ditch, ironically, just at the bottom of the hill, where he was obviously aiming for.

There were lots of turks about, so thought, we cant do any good here, so just drove around the dead, then past the truck in the ditch, full to the brim with cement bags., a good 100 tons or more.

Had nightmares after this, for a few years, on and off. Bit like shell shock I suppose.

The thoughts, that I could have nipped this catastrophy in the bud, but then again I might have been blamed for smashing the blokes cab up, for no reason.

Mind better that than the carnage that followed.

No idea why the bloke did not just drive into the cliff when he realised his speed was increasing. Though he would have probably got sacked.

7894

hib, a sad story as it was you probably did the best thing by driving round the accident and carrying on as you and the other english driver would have undoubtably been incarcerated by the police purely by the fact that you had near the scene and by their logic may have had something to do with it and then it would have led to a prolonged wait while the british embassy got involved and an interpreter found to hear your side of the story.
You may have heard of their saying that ‘‘if you had’nt been there the accident would’nt have happened’’ and unfortunately it’s very difficult to dispute that logic especially without speaking Turkish so the best way is if possible to leave as quick as you can.
I remember a driver parking on the pavement outside the Mocamp one night well off the road because the truck park was full and unfortunately for him a car came off the road and ran under the back of the trailer killing the driver. Even though the driver was found to be drunk hence him driving on the pavement the police came into the restaurant and arrested the truck driver with the ‘‘if he had’nt been parked there the accident would’nt have happened’’, although the chances of the Turk making it home without hitting something were extremely slim.

7895

Chazzer.

Thats the other reason I did not hang about.

7896

Laurence:

Thanks to you all for the praise for the ‘My Mistake’ piece. Buying that Marathon in the first place most certainly was. But, I was only 24 at the time, too young for any haulier’s insurance to embark eastwards, unless I had my own of course.
Not sure if this Leyland Marathon was a prototype as many farm tractors had been built before. The engine was a 14 litre 330 bhp ■■■■■■■ NTC which was powerful enough in those days but the let down was only a 9 speed gearbox, the Fuller RTO 9509.
Good tough boxes with, I believe, twin layshafts. M+C Steve would know more about these I’ve no doubt. However the Fuller 9513 which as its model number suggests was a 13 speed was far superior. Very common in the Ford Transcontinentals. You needed those extra cogs going up any mountain.
The biggest fault with the Marathon I had, SLB344R, was the cab suspension, or total lack of it. It was LHD so BL got that right although they did not have a lot of capital to produce a new truck when the UK was invaded by Scania 110/140s plus Volvo F88s and the pokier F89.
There was only one bed which when lifted up revealed a stainless steel sink with water tap, cooker, and small fridge. The passenger seat swivelled through 180 degrees so one could then cook away creating whatever gastronomic delight or disaster one cared for.
It was late 1976 during this My Mistake Marathon trip to Tehran that after slithering up Mount Tahir, in the Agri region some 800 kms east of Ankara, the weather deteriorated into a roaring snow storm. Just made the top so decided to pull over and cook.
Round went the passenger seat, up went the bed, cooker on, frying pan hot, coffee cup in hand and some decent taped (CDs had not yet been invented) music roaring away. Think it was Dire Straits ‘Money For Nothing’! Yeah, right.
Suddenly a voice bellowed out,
‘Where do you think you are, on Daddy’s yacht?’
That was the first time I met the late Tony Baker. He had pulled up alongside in an OHS Mac. What a colourful bloke Tony turned out to be, always laughing in the face of adversity.
I can’t really print what he thought of BL Marathons but suffice to say there never was any disagreement!
RIP Tony, you were one of the best.

Laurence Kiely
laurencekiely.co.uk

I’m not inclined to steal or even borrow someone else’s photographs without their permission but to see what a PITA Tahir really was plenty of pics taken by drivers can be found on this link
tripmondo.com/turkey/agri/ta … -of-tahir/

So Good to hear of Mervyn and Tony Baker (Bunny) getting a mention. Baker was a true professional ME driver , and I think when working with M&C it was compulsory to have a beard.
At the time when M&C were sub- contracting for Astran , they were actually running better equipment than Astran .
I may be wrong but if my memory serves me correct M& C were one of the first from the UK to run with super singles on their trailers to the ME… I am sure Steve will put me right …if I am wrong
ATVB …RDF

7897

Laurence could you please post some photos of the trips that made it into the mags? im guessing you took 100 for every 1 that made the mags and must have 100’s if not 1000’s of trucking pics never to have made the press. The trip just after the 1st gulf war Man O Man that was epic. Many thanks Brenics77

7898

Obviously I never met mervyn king and Roy Bradford or many of the M/E bosses but I worked for lots of the wheeler dealers in the muck away and waste game including jeff lytwin of simon int and docklands waste :astonished: and they were probally all true geniuss in there day. Sadly all them men are history and we see stuck with graduates who think why ain’t you there it’s only 3 inches on map. :imp:

7899

kr79:
Obviously I never met mervyn king and Roy Bradford or many of the M/E bosses but I worked for lots of the wheeler dealers in the muck away and waste game including jeff lytwin of simon int and docklands waste :astonished: and they were probally all true geniuss in there day. Sadly all them men are history and we see stuck with graduates who think why ain’t you there it’s only 3 inches on map. :imp:

I am always amused by graduates in transport management. There will never be a degree course that can really be equal to actually DOING the job hands on.
Degrees? I’ve got a potractor that has 180 of them. Still knows sod all about reality and tachographs…

7900

So Good to hear of Mervyn and Tony Baker (Bunny) getting a mention. Baker was a true professional ME driver , and I think when working with M&C it was compulsory to have a beard.
At the time when M&C were sub- contracting for Astran , they were actually running better equipment than Astran .
I may be wrong but if my memory serves me correct M& C were one of the first from the UK to run with super singles on their trailers to the ME… I am sure Steve will put me right …if I am wrong
ATVB …RDF

RDF,

You are not wrong mate, it was often mentioned at the time the quality of the kit that Mervyn supplied his drivers with. It was that way for many years until the drink / divorce / downturn in rates / more drink etc took it’s toll and the money became tighter.

Not all of his trailers were new or equiped with SS’s, but the tri-axle ones were, plus they were all 12.7 mtrs long which is one reason Mr. Paul and Peter Cannon loved to make use of them whenever possible, that extra .7 mtr was always exploited to the full both on the outward leg and the reload.

Also his trucks, in the days that Mervyn was still buying new, were always spec’d as if he was driving them himself ( which was sometimes the case ) They were always LHD, including the MAN’s, which is why he had to have them imported, the BEHR a/c units fitted to 199X + 200X cost a fortune, but were most appreciated my Mr. Baker (200X), Bob Cowie and John Latham (199X)

One other thing which many drivers were envious of M&C employees of were the tyres, Mervyn always insisted on new Bridgestones all round, VSX M+S tyres on the drive and always fitted at the start of winter, they were a great tyre to have.

Alas how things changed in the latter years…

And no, it was not a company rule to have a beard, but thinking about it, most all of us did have one !!!

By the way, you must also remember John McClung, worked for Mervyn for many years at the same time as Bunny, not much mention of him on here ■■ I expect he has many stories he could tell, but then John always was a man of few words. He comes here on holiday twice a year, maybe move here one day in the not to distant ? We have a good slurp and talk about old times when he is here, we sometimes go to Graham Balls establishment which is on the outskirts of town.

Steve.