Astran / Middle East Drivers

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
821

keith the thief:
well geoff and archie its cleared thank [zb] im in the office in the morning new carnet then away im meeting the others in italy im dreading it lol gary lyons daz phil mc kev carrot john webster and me it will be intresting gota go italy open tir no gv60 you know the story finish carnet in italy then go for it were you archie hear or brasil you lead a good life you old sod do you realise it was 25 year ago when we was doing italy lol i brought that 190 38 in 1986 when you had the daf were has it go mate i was a kid now me knees are gone and i dont stop moaning lol il keep ya updated

Hullo Kieth,
Iā€™m in England till October, no work at home for me this year, still Iā€™ve just renewed my Licence so Iā€™m available (or vacant :frowning: ). Off to Thailand in October, then Brasil and back in May '13. YOU HAVE A GOOD TRIP MATE> KEEP YER ELBOWS IN>
Cheers, Archie.

822

geoffthecrowtaylor:
Hello Wheelnut and the rest of you.We never set any records or even wanted to,fastest trip to Baghdad and return loaded back from Italy 23 days ,longest trip Falcongates grupage several drops in Iraq again backload Italy 33 days. Longest one hit Telex Ankara Londra camping Istanbul, thats plenty far enough for one day, anybody who has really done the job knows how dangerous Turkish roads were at night.Keep on trucking Crow.

Hello bruv,just read your post about driving times,the longest one hit we did was from orakā€™s in Adana to Londra camping in Istanbul.Me and Tony Bowden did it,we were on our way back from Bahgdad(empty),we left around 3 in the morning and arrived around midnight after having a load of problems from the nice Turkish policemen,my alternator packing up (which Tony was able to repair) and various other delays,I was knackered when I got to Istanbul.I donā€™t know how Andrew Wilson Young and others could keep that sort of pace up day after day.Maybe they werenā€™t human.I met AWY at cilvergazu and he said heā€™d be home to Carlise from there in 4 days.How is that possible??

823

Tony Taylor:

geoffthecrowtaylor:
Hello Wheelnut and the rest of you.We never set any records or even wanted to,fastest trip to Baghdad and return loaded back from Italy 23 days ,longest trip Falcongates grupage several drops in Iraq again backload Italy 33 days. Longest one hit Telex Ankara Londra camping Istanbul, thats plenty far enough for one day, anybody who has really done the job knows how dangerous Turkish roads were at night.Keep on trucking Crow.

Hello bruv,just read your post about driving times,the longest one hit we did was from orakā€™s in Adana to Londra camping in Istanbul.Me and Tony Bowden did it,we were on our way back from Bahgdad(empty),we left around 3 in the morning and arrived around midnight after having a load of problems from the nice Turkish policemen,my alternator packing up (which Tony was able to repair) and various other delays,I was knackered when I got to Istanbul.I donā€™t know how Andrew Wilson Young and others could keep that sort of pace up day after day.Maybe they werenā€™t human.I met AWY at cilvergazu and he said heā€™d be home to Carlise from there in 4 days.How is that possible??

It isnā€™t possible Tony, so when he looked down his nose at us for having an impromptu control in Istanbul or Belgrade while he didnā€™t have time to stop except to read a telex, the sad demise of AWY and we are still talking about him 25 years later.

824

[quote="Wheel Nut when he looked down his nose at us for having an impromptu control in Istanbul or Belgrade while he didnā€™t have time to stop except to read a telex

I donā€™t think Andrew would have looked down his nose at anyone, his priorities in life were just different to mostā€¦ :astonished: :astonished: and sadly we lost him far too early :frowning: :frowning: RIP

825

Tony I don t think i met AWY more than a couple of times. I do remember him coming into the Nacional one day carrying a tortoise that he was smuggling to the UK and the poor little thing dropped it s guts all over him . He was of course wearing his wellies. Without doubt a very strange man, He died not long after that.Jacko is out here at the moment,i seem to have a constant stream of visitors lately must have something to do with the weather in Britain. Crow.

826

Itā€™s all,about work/life balance. You either work to live or live to work.

Poor old AWY was one of the latter. Those who didnā€™t pace themselves unfortunately faced the consequences later.

I got into the stupidity of using ā€™ chemical assistanceā€™ at one time doing daft things like Naoussa in Greece to Calais in one hit stopping only for coffees. The downers afterwards were so bad that I quickly gave that up even though it was earning me good money.

827

gtpaul,
Thanks for showing your photos of your dads 2 F89s. A little worse for wear after all the years of hard graft, I remember when your dad first got them they where 2 smart trucks. I did a couple of runs as a subbie for your dad down to Italy and Dave Mason took me under his wing and showed me the ropes and I enjoyed running with Dave and big John Howard, life was never dull when running with Dave and John but I learnt at lot from those two guys.
I only have a couple of photos from those runs which i have dug out and they bring back fond memories, the first one was taken i think at Aosta when Dave an I were parked up and the second was taken outside of where i was tipping somewhere on the outskirts of Milan and i think it was around November 1978 when they where taken.

Regards to your Dad and Tony.

Dave ( BigBear)


828

mushroomman:
This was posted in this very thread in 2008 after a mention of the fastest man. It deserves a new audience. It does ring true because my first meeting of the man involved me laying under his trailer with a spanner or a strap

THE FASTEST GUY TO THE MIDDLE EAST.

The fastest guy to the Middle East, it certainly was not me.
The fastest guy through Europe, often you did not see.
I remember the fastest guy although I do not know his name
He had to go as fast as he could, I played a different game.

He never stopped at the Windmill, for a bowl of Goulash Stew.
He always drove passed the National and missed a beer or two.
He never stopped at Kavala Beach and never had a swim.
He never had time to say hello for the race he had to win.

He never went to the Mocamp, where we all stopped, for showers.
To him what was a perfect day, was when he drove 24 hours.
He never stopped at the Black Sea and help the fishermen pull in their nets.
He was impatient to know his backload so, to Ankara he had to get.
He would not stay at the Telex, to have a decent meal.
A tin of beans he used to eat as he sat behind the wheel.

I saw him once in Romania, when he slipped off an icy road.
I helped him twice in Bulgaria, when he had a unstable load.
There were times at the Turkish border, where it always was quite manic.
because he had been there for two days, you should of seen him panic.
Once at Kapikule when, heā€™d been there for three days, this guy was so depressed he just, walked around in a haze.
He never walked round Istanbul, or went to the Pudding Shop.
He never strolled round Budapest for he didnā€™t like to stop.
Swimming in the Aegean near Izmir, now that was always a bliss. but he didnā€™t have time to do these things so he always gave it a miss.

I helped him once with a broken spring and I helped him change a wheel but when it was me he just drove past, now that wasnā€™t part of the deal.
Over taking a car in Yugo, he cut it up and gave it a jolt.
The Police were called to the accident but he said it wasnā€™t his fault.
He argued with the Policeman and said he would not pay,
but he did cough up in the end, and it lost him half a day.

We all knew that he took chances, he wasnā€™t cautious, not like me.
It would never of come as a big surprise if he had ended up round a tree.
Another driver met him, when he said he had no cash, the driver subbed him twenty pound but then he had to dash.

I remember when his diesel was frozen and his truck it would not start.
I thought, heā€™s going to blow a gasket, the one around his heart.
Sitting around some ones trailer box, we had made a Camion Stew, had he got time to join us, no, he had to push on through.
He was always flying around to make, an extra quid or two.
How much he spent on speeding fines, well that we never knew.

And now this guy is getting old and he thinks of those days a lot.
He dreams of doing that job again but he knows that he will not.
This time he would do it differently, knowing thereā€™s lots of things to see.
He might take a leaf out of my book and do it just like me.
He would take time to meet the people, see the countries and make some mates.
I feel sorry for the fastest guy because ,this time heā€™s just too late. :wink:

829

I have just realised something :- Having done M/E for many many years for Grangewood and Pan Express I often come across place names that I have never heard of - - - Ivā€™e sussed it out now, so please stop putting Arab destinations in bloody cryptic, Regards Phred

830

Andrew-Wilson-Yound died of cancer not overwork ,discovered after his Truck ran over his leg in Turkey ,which created a blood clot ,maybe his lack of sleep and poor diet didnt help ,but he was still a wonderful chap to know

831

Interesting post, Loose-wire but cancer is often caused by stress and truck driving is an extremely stressful occupation without pushing it to the limits as AWY did.

832

Jazzandy:
Itā€™s all,about work/life balance. You either work to live or live to work.

Poor old AWY was one of the latter. Those who didnā€™t pace themselves unfortunately faced the consequences later.

I got into the stupidity of using ā€™ chemical assistanceā€™ at one time doing daft things like Naoussa in Greece to Calais in one hit stopping only for coffees. The downers afterwards were so bad that I quickly gave that up even though it was earning me good money.

Big shift that, sadly chemical downers have scarred Fly sheet too :open_mouth:

833

gtpaul:
I will be uploading more pictures in the future when I find them, T.C all the best Paul.

Great pictures them lot Young Crow nice oneā€¦

834

keith the thief:
did any one do both ? fred noble used to fasinate me with storys of going to pakistan in a scania 80 he used to get the running money buy an old [zb] and still have enough to do the job

I think my favourite Fred tale was him turning up for night trunk at Lyons Cakes & heading off to middle east in there Atki & ending up working it out of Bandrabbas for months before getting arrested in Dover after having the cheek to ship back in with it :smiley:

He used to talk about a guy called Tony Rolack?? a lot, Fred & Him used to get up to all kinds, Freds a real life story teller & wasā€™nt a bragger or a boaster about His travels, everything was told for fun & I think thats why I think Heā€™s ace & love Him to bits. Still at it with a lorry too bless Himā€¦

835

Bigbear or Honey Monster as you were once known, we did have 4 89s SVT 953 N which was ex Comart and is the one with the Middle East Minerals on its back and UNF 497S which is the one stuck in the snow in Turkey ex Transcontinental Freight Heywood.They had already left us,the trouble with F88s and F89s was the cab no proper rust protection similar to early 142s which later benefitted from galvanised cab panels. You can keep any thing brand new it depends on how much cash you want to spend. These were working motors not show specials. The ERFs you can see in the pics were also ours much more reliable than the Volvos more power ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  M11 ZF 16 SPEED box you could say that ZF and Eaton had virtually copied volvos 16 speed which was the first on the market,the ERF cab although not perfect was a ā– ā– ā– ā–  sight bigger than Volvos shoebox.I did however enjoy driving both .Hope this has entertained you regards Crow.Steve I see youre on line lets go back to Loose Wire Loose Lips or Loose Bowels ,Istill reckon its Rita but hes not coming clean what do you think .Crow.

836

Hello Crow, now there is another name from the past :slight_smile: .

Transcontinental Freight F88 taken outside the Vitafoam plant in Middleton.

837

Well Steve as I said UNF 497s was ex Tanscontinental Freight ,they went skint about 1981 and we bought it from an auction there was another a P reg but it wasnt as good as UNF. We also had 2 88s which contrary to what every one says are 230 HP not 240 .Without the 16 speed box they were a waste of space marginally better than an 86. Running with John Willy with his wagon and drag Violet and his artic Victoria he caused nearly as many queues on the autobahns as F Troop. Still no comment from Rita stay lucky Crow.

838

Loose-wire:
You realy dont beleive this do u ,and yes I have been close to a gun being fired the hole in my leg is testiment to that, and the person who shot me was 2 mtr away ,and sadly they are in small pieces now ,oh well what a sad forum ,I thought the stories were quiet good up to that point, bye bye keep posting the BULL

I can only remember talking to Roger once while we were parked up near The Runway lay-by in Czecho one Friday afternoon while we were waiting for the driving ban to finish. I canā€™t remember him walking with a limp but who knows, maybe if he is Loose Wheel thats what prevented him playing rugby for England. Although it was over thirty years ago I do remember seeing Roger on a couple of occasions coming the other way but as he never stopped for a chat I didnā€™t notice any bullitt holes in his tilt so they might not be the same guy :wink:
.

B.T.W. Geoff, do you or anybody else remember a guy called from the Moston area of Manchester called Peter Kline who used to do Middle East in the seventies and Italy in the eighties.

Regards Steve.

839

Steve just come back from the boozer where ive stopped afew from going sour the bloke youre on about Kline i dont know but Kline sounds distinctly Jewish so he would never have got past the ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā– ā–  control into muslim land, will ask around but dont hold out much hope. Catch you later Crow.

840

bullitt:

sinbin31:
Hi Gavin

J Y P and another driver cant rember his name maybe u will know.

rgds Roger

That chap sitting on the left in the black shortsā€¦is / was his name Ben?

Was he slightly deaf in one ear??

A shortish bloke but a real jack the lad comedian type, from london way??

As Roger hasnā€™t posted on here for some time now I hope he wonā€™t mind me reposting this photo of his that he put on the Kenworth thread along time ago.
A lot of the lads will remember John Yorkstone Paxton from Scotland but as Bullitt asked who was the other guy with the
black hair :confused: .
I remember seeing him on a number of occasions and I am sure that he was from the London area, was he a Pan Express driver or a Grangewood driver, maybe Fred remembers him.

Regards Steve.