By the way Steve I looked at your links and it’s quite a sobering thought that we used to drive through those areas without having any idea about what evil deeds had transpired there only 30 or 40 years previously as it all looked so peaceful and indeed what was to come in the nineties.
Charlie.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Steve youre correct that is not only the Loibl pass but also loibl tunnel. I ve done em both .They are reached from the Klagenfurt area of Ausria. First time I wnt was with a split load of satellite dishes for good old R J ,half for Klagenfurt the rest for Ljubjlana,light load over the pass. Second time deicing chemicals for the UN aircraft at Zagreb again R J .I was running with Rogers ex partners Carl Burgesses men Co. called JSM from stoke they were going to Split all with UN . gear there was alot of that sort of traffic in the early 90s.Second run was thru the tunnel.Have a nise day Geoff.
JSM or JSL? Were they the mob with the purple and silver F12s? If I remember right, they got bought out by Eddie Stobart for the KFOR work they were doing, Stobart started doing the NAAFI work at the same time too I think
Newmercman it could have been JSL even my memory is going now and Stobart did buy them . The only feller i really knew well who drove for them was Kevin Pike after he had finished his OD days ■■■■■ had married a Czech girl Irena who came from Dobzany near Pilsen, havent heard of him for years does anyone know where he is , Regards Crow.
There is someone on the forum who worked for them. Posted lots of stuff on running out to the yugo states after the war. Can’t think of his user name though.
Mushroomman morning Steve i notice on your passport page showing Loibl entry stamp that youve also got Dolga Vas, I used that border countless times Hungarian side Redics you could find some vicious queues there. I used to do a lot of Yugo for our friends RJ two alternatives Austria costing money and poxy super kraut controls or Le Tenya vicius queues there aswell those Hungarian Vam were one lazy bunch of gits. No further news on Corrie yet will let you know as soon as he is in touch .Sretan put Zele van Ina or something like that .Crow.
Also a Border crossing from now Slovenia at Gorna Radgona to Bad Radkersberg i used this border once on my short driving life to far flung places.
I use this border quite a lot when we go up to Graz only 45 minutes from my House quicker than the Avtocesta plus do not have to buy vignette
Jastrebsi never used that one never heard of it Le Tenye was good for Zagreb and Dolga Vas for Celje and Ljubljana.If we were going further south or east then either Tompa or Vamassabadi,then either stop at Nacional or Cacak motel going down the old back road. following day Tito Mitrovica Raska Pristina, Skopje Titov Veles the town with the iron bridge which Taffy Davis tried to demolish one night name ive forgot i think there were some old ruins nearby,Gevgelia,Evzoni and night out Polykastro at the Texaco far better restaurant there than the Shell at Evzoni.For Athens etc straight on or for Turkey and Iraq left atThessalonika etc etc.Nice dragging up these old memories regards Crow. Just remembered you could make your mind up at Varazdin onthe way back from Zagreb Dolga Vas or Gorican//Le Tenye.
Hi Geoff
It is not far from Maribor heading towards Murska Sobota ,I live near Ljutomer which is right on the Croation border in fact my house is about 200 metres from it no border post
Does anybody remember what happened to Chris ?
He was the tall white haired guy who worked in The Shell restaurant at Evzoni for years then about 1986 ish he moved down the road and started up himself. As he spoke English he used to look after the British driver very well and word got around that all the drivers were starting to stop at his new place. The couple of times that I stopped there it had breeze block walls, the toilets and showers were just being built and there was no fuel pumps. Is this the place at Polikastron that people have mentioned on here before .
Regards Steve.
Dont think so Steve,there were 2 at Polykastro the Park Hotel / Shell and next door Texaco across the road a Knocking shop ,Paris nights or somthing like that,never used it.About a click down the road towards the town of Polykastro is a WW 1 British war cemetary. Have not been round there since about 1992,The pointless Jugo wars stopped us transitting Yugo forcing Rumo Bulgaria adding a lot of time to what was fast becoming an uneconomic way to earn a living, I finished up doing Germany for 2 years not alot of fun and then France for a further 2 much much nicer. Then discovered I could earn as much in the UK.Regards Crow.
Steve I’m trying get the old grey matter going and I remember Chris very well but I stopped doing Greece about 1990 when I sold the truck but I used to stop at his place on the way home and get the truck washed and steam cleaned in the garage then head over to Chris’s for a meal and depending on who else was there a beer or 20. As I remember where his restaurant was the land had been scraped down leaving mounds with telephone poles on top, was this the place you’re thinking about? I posted a pic on the Anglo Greek thread of my Transcon at the Polikastro Shell.
Chazzer, youre thinking of the Texaco at Polykastro they did have aproper truck wash the only one in the area they also had o bloke who used to make trailer boxes and do all sorts of repairs and fabrications. The Christoff youre all thinking about after the Evzoni Shell worked at a BP on the main road almost up to the border. I dont remember him at Polykastro, hope this helps or maybe stirs someone elses memory regards Crow.
Hi all.As Geoff says Chris worked at the BP at Evzoni just down the road from the Shell on the other side.When he left the Shell he went into a business arrangement with the owner of the BP.He built the restaurant on to the BP and Chris ran it as a business,the profit and loss being his responsibility.This was done with the drivers in mind as a regular,and hopefully increasing source of income based on Chris’s good name.
My wife and i spent many good evenings there.As with so many things on here we think ‘‘where is he now,what’s he doing’’.A very nice man.Mike
hutpik:
Hi all.As Geoff says Chris worked at the BP at Evzoni just down the road from the Shell on the other side.When he left the Shell he went into a business arrangement with the owner of the BP.He built the restaurant on to the BP and Chris ran it as a business,the profit and loss being his responsibility.This was done with the drivers in mind as a regular,and hopefully increasing source of income based on Chris’s good name.
My wife and i spent many good evenings there.As with so many things on here we think ‘‘where is he now,what’s he doing’’.A very nice man.Mike
I liked the BP and spent hours in the shop, they had bits for everything. I always used to get my lorry washed and greased and I too have had several beers and smashed plates in the upstairs restaurant. My first visit was quite weird when I went upstairs to find British drivers catching up on coronation street
I have eaten at Shell Polikastro but the last time I went it was closed, there were two Astran motors parked up whose drivers I presume had flown home for Christmas.
One of the most memorable nights must have been with Joe Toole on new years eve, we had already celebrated it at the border with the guards on the trip out and then in the BP it was a proper Greek party going off with locals and some drivers who had stayed out.
Geoff, they did have a good covered truckwash at the BP near the border which is where I was thinking of with a pit where the greek lads would get underneath with a steam cleaner and give it a good go which made it easier when you got back to the uk so it only needed a good hosepipe to clean it off and they would do an oil change as well if you wanted. This is where I remember Chris having his restaurant and as Mike says many a good evening was spent in there with plenty of Amstel and good food.
Chazzer, youre probably right about what you said about Chris and the BP however all of us used the Texaco o0n a regular basis so much so that Lakis yoused to give us credit there because we always bought our diesel there and he would say pay on the way back. we topped everything up there inc the belly tanks,this was of course when diesel was cheap in Greece,I like the phonetic spelling of used whoops.In those days that place used to be packed not many Anglos but plenty of Dutch and Danes,they also had a ramp for steam cleaning and i recall Ian Myatt parking on it because it was the only place left getting up for a sqirt in the middle of the night stepping out of his Magirus Deutz and nearly breaking his neck when he hit the deck. All so very sad the last time me and our Tony were there we were the only 2 in the place, restaurant closed the fabricator gone and a general air of despondency amongst the crew there. Blame that again on the stupid Yugo wars. The only Greek transiters then were either using Kulata out of Bulgy or ferries out of Italy.Ah well regards Crow.
Hi all! Dont let this thread die.Some stories and pictures guys:-)
What happend to the keith the thife?Did he finnaly get his load out of customs?
Reg Danne
Dirty Dan:
Hi all! Dont let this thread die.Some stories and pictures guys:-)
What happend to the keith the thife?Did he finnaly get his load out of customs?
Reg Danne
Probably stuck in Egypt trying to negotiate his transit tax!!
Ross.
Good group on facebook all to do with astran
He was stuck in turkey end of last week waiting for a ferry hasn’t been on there for a few days so he either got the ferry or the efes and kebabs have taken there toll.