keith the thief:
WELL LADS IM BACK firstly if your offended by missing full stops and capital letters dont read my driving is better than my writing to them lads who want to know how the trip went hear goes as you know the trailer was held for 10 days by customs but released in the end nothing wrong they said still had to pay £680 to dover harbour board proper liberty any way gets rolling thru france and italy and arrives in ancona to meet the lads gary lyons young phil daz nick bull wayne skinner john boy carrot and hamma our bahrain friend he was taking a stack of trailers down they had all loaded valves in italy for dammam we shipped on various boats and made our own ways to turkey i was told by astrans that because of the value i must not go via syria the others planned to. well about aksoray i heard on the world service that the turk syrian border had been over run by terrorists we now know because of u tube it was al quida 31 border guards dead and all the turk trucks burned and destroyed so it was straight to mersin phil had phoned and booked us in advance but all this did was get us in the gate of the port by this time every truck in turkey was trying the same route so very bizzy in the morning we tried to book 2 weeks they told us lol of to the gondol hotel for a sleep it was saturday then we got the ferry not the next thursday but the one after we have an arangement now where we can book and pay in advance saving the 2 weeks but we had to go there to sort this the first time to skip on we loaded about 5am it was very hot the boat was a night mare cabin temps of 34 all night unsleepeable after 60 hours of bobing along at 10 to 12 knots we hit port sied we had to wait half a day for 6 big container ships to exit the suez canal so we could use the shipping lane to enter port getting of by 6 pm it was then we learned that terorists had killed 20 egyptian border guards in th siannai desert very close to were we were so no convoy the next day to unstabled they said the day after we crossed egypt in convoy plenty of police cars and army trucks with us all armed 350 km later we hit port suez now lads if you want me to go on let me know but im knackered now and all this writing is stressing me so il finnish tommorow if you want
Apart from the adventure, the big question is, how viable is overland now, if it takes the same time as sea freight, why pay the extra money for overland. 
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Hello Fred don t think i ve had the pleasure of meeting you but i m glad you re a Howardphile. I first met him in Greece we were both tippingDTs groupage at Aspro something christ the memory is really going now they were DTs partners in Greece can t even remember their name, was it Omega or something no doubt some one on here will remember. I m off to the boozer Fred stay lucky regards Crow.
Hi Geoff - Bit late responding to your post but the lap-top has been poorly and I just got back on line today (Sun - 25) I did do a lot of Greece for DT when I had my own truck and I ran regularly with a chap from Tamworth (Hans Karima) and cleared by way of Viannelli, after which I went back on M/E with Pan Exp: and Grangewood, what a character was Howard Hughes (RIP) as previously mentioned - I could listen to him for hours - Part fact and part crap yeah ? but a good chap. keep up your post mate - Regards Fred
keith the thief:
WELL LADS IM BACK firstly if your offended by missing full stops and capital letters dont read my driving is better than my writing to them lads who want to know how the trip went hear goes as you know the trailer was held for 10 days by customs but released in the end nothing wrong they said still had to pay £680 to dover harbour board proper liberty any way gets rolling thru france and italy and arrives in ancona to meet the lads gary lyons young phil daz nick bull wayne skinner john boy carrot and hamma our bahrain friend he was taking a stack of trailers down they had all loaded valves in italy for dammam we shipped on various boats and made our own ways to turkey i was told by astrans that because of the value i must not go via syria the others planned to. well about aksoray i heard on the world service that the turk syrian border had been over run by terrorists we now know because of u tube it was al quida 31 border guards dead and all the turk trucks burned and destroyed so it was straight to mersin phil had phoned and booked us in advance but all this did was get us in the gate of the port by this time every truck in turkey was trying the same route so very bizzy in the morning we tried to book 2 weeks they told us lol of to the gondol hotel for a sleep it was saturday then we got the ferry not the next thursday but the one after we have an arangement now where we can book and pay in advance saving the 2 weeks but we had to go there to sort this the first time to skip on we loaded about 5am it was very hot the boat was a night mare cabin temps of 34 all night unsleepeable after 60 hours of bobing along at 10 to 12 knots we hit port sied we had to wait half a day for 6 big container ships to exit the suez canal so we could use the shipping lane to enter port getting of by 6 pm it was then we learned that terorists had killed 20 egyptian border guards in th siannai desert very close to were we were so no convoy the next day to unstabled they said the day after we crossed egypt in convoy plenty of police cars and army trucks with us all armed 350 km later we hit port suez now lads if you want me to go on let me know but im knackered now and all this writing is stressing me so il finnish tommorow if you want
how do we get on this job ive got left ■■■■■■ waiting
M&C Jamie:
newmercman:
I know there are a lot of people from the East up north, but seeing as how this is a middle east thread I thought I’d post something relevant 
Or maybe not 
Can anyone tell me if this is an ex Peterlea lorry, it comes from the right area and the colours look almost right to me
As an aside and to get back off topic, it was the first lorry Gold Star put on the road, humble beginnings…
As you were 
I dont think that Peterlea trucking had any Right hand drive F16’s. It does look very like peters colours. I’m sure that Steve Grey will put us right as he looked after peters fleet. Regards Jamie.
No its not Peterlea trucking F16 That Jimmy Readers from Maldon Essex The blue is lighter and peter had the silver stripe in the sleeper.
Peter did have a rhd F16 but was white.
That’s answered that question then, thanks
So Keith you ve finally made it back,was there any cash in the job and why 680 quid to DHB was it your bar bill, regards Crow.
Steve, Ken is suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis and so far even after taking acocktail of pills his health is going up and down like a whores drawyers. He says it could be several more weeks before he feels some real benefit. Have not had time to ask him about the Jimmy Dormouse episode yet but will do asap Crow.
Hello Mr Crow, I hope that it’s not got to the stage where Ken can’t lift a full pint of Boddingtons, now that would be serious 
.
When you do get to speak to him ask him if he ever got stuck crossing a river in Pakistan sometime in the seventies and if he did ask him if he can remember where abouts it was . Ken and I used to work with an older fellow called Ken Singleton R.I.P. who told me about Kens river crossing and Singo like Ken also enjoyed a good laugh and they ran with each other many times. We had many a good session in The Gardeners Arms in Moston on a Saturday lunch time if the three of us weren’t shipping out until the following day.
The two Kens used to have me in stitches with some of their tales on the road and I now wish that I would of payed more attention to what they were telling me all those years ago. The Gardeners Arms was Corries local which wasn’t far from The Crow Carrying Companies Manchester depot and I can remember meeting one of Crow’s drivers called Brian O’Grady in places like Dover, Lokeren or Carrisio and Brian saying I saw Corrigans motor parked up when I left the depot or Ken must be away.
Now a lot of drivers on this site have mentioned that they worked with Brian over the years and it was Ken Singleton who introduced me to Brian at Lokeren tank clean even before I started doing continental driving full time. Ken Singleton told me that he and Brian were in the same regiment in World War Two, The Paras. Now I do know for a fact that Singo was dropped at Arnham when he was eighteen and managed to get away but I always thought that Brian was younger than Singo and it has been bugging me for ages if Brian only joined The Paras after the war. As many of these old fellows never talked much about the war I wonder if O’Grady ever mentioned anything to you lads who knew him over the years. The sad thing is that characters like those mentioned above will never frequent transport watering holes again and their stories of how the job was in the early days will never be told.
Ken Singleton is the one on the left and the photo was taken by Ken’s mate Dave Shawcross.
Regards Steve.
It’s great to see The Red Desert Fox posting on here again 
now maybe he knows where this sticker is from as I haven’t a clue and can he tell us what all the squiggely writing says .
Regards Steve.
Steve with the exception of Corrie never met any of the aforementioed have however have met so many of the I used to be in the SAS thats its a wonder we needed an army at all. Ken was in the Lancashire Fusilers stationed in Cyprus during the Makarios era and I was a long range sniper Royal Artillery for 6 years 2 years in Hong Kong followed by Malaya back to UK and finished my stint at Dortmund BFPO 20 in the fatherland. I passed my test in the army in 1960 at Barnard Casle I was just 18 different driving rules applied in the Army. It was an Austin K 9 obviously nicknamed a dog civvy equivalent Austin Loadstar.Hope this has entertained you. Rgards Crow.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Steve with the exception of Corrie never met any of the aforementioed have however have met so many of the I used to be in the SAS thats its a wonder we needed an army at all. Ken was in the Lancashire Fusilers stationed in Cyprus during the Makarios era and I was a long range sniper Royal Artillery for 6 years 2 years in Hong Kong followed by Malaya back to UK and finished my stint at Dortmund BFPO 20 in the fatherland. I passed my test in the army in 1960 at Barnard Casle I was just 18 different driving rules applied in the Army. It was an Austin K 9 obviously nicknamed a dog civvy equivalent Austin Loadstar.Hope this has entertained you. Rgards Crow.
Hi Geoff - Barnard Castle rings a bell, when I was at Catterick (Founder member) and we had finished our training the chaps that were going as drivers were posted to BC, and until you raised that point I thought that it was a R.Signals depot or was it just an army driver training depot OR was you with Signals ? Regards Fred
yes mr crow made it back all in one piece the £680 was for parking £50 a day i believe first 3 hours free kin outrage astrans paid it and still had a few quid out the job we got stuffed for 2 weeks in turkey but as chilviagazu got blown up 2 days before it was to be expected the ferries have been chartered by 3 large turkish hauliers so you aint never gona get priority even offered $150 each to speed the job but he could do nothing all the booked trucks are on an open web site for every one to see so no que jumping the boat from egypt was an old stenna leader used to run larne fleetwood still had lancs constabulary posters in the tea room etc once we arrived in saudi at a port called duba it all went quite well all trucks controlled and x rayed on the first day you will clear tommorow they told us 4 days later we was still there they made hadetha look efficient any way after we all cleared the other 6 were tipping nr kewait so they shot back to tabuk then across to arar and down the tap line i was routed cos i was transiting down the coast about 500 km to yanub then across to medine round the town on the non muslim rd then about 300 km to buraydah then down to ryadh then kharj then harod then straight to the emirates bordar on the new n10 2200km duba to silla about 300 more than haditha silla the rest of the trip was plain sailing no dramas down to al ain on the oman border then back to mr graham with the actos and euro liner gray phoned me yesterday the actros sold all ready happy days lol o and loose wire the border guards in port siad were a beige uniform and a red flat hat but you wouldnt know cos you aint been there lol this is the first time any one at astrans used a new route for about 20 year it might have eaten in to the profit tho i still made a good one inc the truck sale but we sorted it out for the future young phil is on his way back all ready nice to be the first to do some thing and not just a follower (like loose wire was) most poeple inc me only ever see the same towns in saudi every trip but crossing from the red sea opened my eyes big mountain ranges etc and very green in places all in all a good trip and an fh and curtain is sitting in my yard ready to go wether its viable to the freight forwarder considering the extra week it will take aint really my worry as long as the work keeps comming we will go
Hello all, great to see this thread is still going. Cant believe it was almost seven years ago when I first started it and now at 163 pages!!!
I see there are some new contributors, all the stories are still great reading!
Its good to know that the Brits are still getting down that way, enjoyed Keith the Thiefs tale of his latest jaunt.
cheers all, Bullitt.
Well done to you guys Keith, good old British spirit…You certainly passed through the best part of Saudi that historicaly was part of the Yemen. Provided you guys still made money and the customer was happy with the service, then keep going and enjoy the experience…ATVB…RDF
keith the thief:
yes mr crow made it back all in one piece the £680 was for parking £50 a day i believe first 3 hours free kin outrage astrans paid it and still had a few quid out the job we got stuffed for 2 weeks in turkey but as chilviagazu got blown up 2 days before it was to be expected the ferries have been chartered by 3 large turkish hauliers so you aint never gona get priority even offered $150 each to speed the job but he could do nothing all the booked trucks are on an open web site for every one to see so no que jumping the boat from egypt was an old stenna leader used to run larne fleetwood still had lancs constabulary posters in the tea room etc once we arrived in saudi at a port called duba it all went quite well all trucks controlled and x rayed on the first day you will clear tommorow they told us 4 days later we was still there they made hadetha look efficient any way after we all cleared the other 6 were tipping nr kewait so they shot back to tabuk then across to arar and down the tap line i was routed cos i was transiting down the coast about 500 km to yanub then across to medine round the town on the non muslim rd then about 300 km to buraydah then down to ryadh then kharj then harod then straight to the emirates bordar on the new n10 2200km duba to silla about 300 more than haditha silla the rest of the trip was plain sailing no dramas down to al ain on the oman border then back to mr graham with the actos and euro liner gray phoned me yesterday the actros sold all ready happy days lol o and loose wire the border guards in port siad were a beige uniform and a red flat hat but you wouldnt know cos you aint been there lol this is the first time any one at astrans used a new route for about 20 year it might have eaten in to the profit tho i still made a good one inc the truck sale but we sorted it out for the future young phil is on his way back all ready nice to be the first to do some thing and not just a follower (like loose wire was) most poeple inc me only ever see the same towns in saudi every trip but crossing from the red sea opened my eyes big mountain ranges etc and very green in places all in all a good trip and an fh and curtain is sitting in my yard ready to go wether its viable to the freight forwarder considering the extra week it will take aint really my worry as long as the work keeps comming we will go
Fred in 1960 there were about 8 army camps in the Barnard Castle area no specific driver training mob lets call it in house believe it or not the best drivers in the Regt taught the newcomers ,a Sgt. in charge, we left there July 1960 entrained for Southampton on route the officers blew up one of the ■■■■ houses with thunderflashes high jinks had that been us hooliganism and charged.We set sail for Hong Kong the following day on the SS Nevasa that was my introduction to what is nowadays called cruising after 26 days of that plus the return several years later on the Oxfordshire I won t be doing any more cruises.Nice to hear about Howard again wonder how many other people remember him. Regards Crow.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
aHello everybody i ve just found out via this site about the sad passing of Jimmy Hacking . Jimmy and I were good mates and go back along way .At one time he had neither an Hgv OR an O licence and ran on GLP s .After a falling out with GLP he ran on ours and worked out of our yard at Radcliffe near Bury my wife Susan found his loads and did his paperwork. Popularly known as Jimmy the Wig amongst his mates this is a tragedy not only have we lost Susan but now Jimmy as well life can be cruel .Ah well just keep going with your head down regards Crow
Hi all, here is a pic of one of Jimmy`s F89s, think he ran this one before he got the ex Sunters 6x4. I bought this one off Jimmy around 2001.
RIP Jim, a proper nice bloke!!
sad news that about jimmy me and nick bull was only talking about him last week last time i seen him was in barri about 15 years ago in the 6x4 with the welded up hub reductions lol could fly that old truck rip mate
keith the thief:
sad news that about jimmy me and nick bull was only talking about him last week last time i seen him was in barri about 15 years ago in the 6x4 with the welded up hub reductions lol could fly that old truck rip mate
Keith, that 6x4 was sold on ebay recently for 7k!!
Ps, a bloke on here once said you used to run a left ■■■■■■ Foden 4000 series, if so I dont suppose you would have any pics would you?? I`m restoring an export one at the minute and trying to find out about different specs, and weather mine has any sisters so to speak.
Regards, Jimbo.
I have an email or PM from a Dutch bloke who was a good mate of Jims, he told me the trucks would be sold and told me some details of the tragic circumstances.
It is quite timely is this thread as I called in at my mates pub last night, he worked for GLP whilst I worked for Landcrab and Jim came to us for some work. We were laughing about Jim and some of the tales we had with him. I helped him rebuild his 89 in the Windmill after getting some bits from Hungarocamion.
He was a great bloke. 
Hi,
We had our annual bash yesterday of old Southampton area International drivers and this Ex Astrans driver came, hadn’t seen him for 30 years !
Anyone recognise him ?
Regards
Richard
