Hello Mark and welcome to Trucknet.
It sounds like your dad is still alive which is great news for anybody like myself who met him some thirty odd years ago and hopefully he can answer some of the unsolved questions that are on this thread. So was Barry the driver of the Middle East Minerals orange Scania who I met at Kapicule on his way down and I mentioned on a post on here about four years ago. Maybe he can remember if he was travelling with Jim Smethurst and Dave Hammond when that Jughead drove into the back of him on that foggy January morning in Yugoslavia or was that another of the Middle East Minerals drivers.
This picture that I took and for years I thought that I had taken it somewhere in The Commie Block turned out to be Geoff Taylor and as Geoff said I must of taken it somewhere in Greece, Yugo, Italy or France as thatâs the way he brought The Middle East Scania back to the U.K. It turns out that I actually took it outside The Bakehouse near Macon.
B.T.W. did Barry ever keep in contact with Ned Kelly when they were working for Duncan Macrea.
Hi Mark, and welcome to trucknet. I am afraid that i must contradict you regarding the supply truck that your father drove for MEM. I was with him in dover docks when he had the problems with customs regarding the non payment of Vat and it was definately a cab over 142. He told me that his job was to take the plant and supplies overland to Iraq and this was his first load out. As the truck had been registered in the uk the customs were insisting that the vat had to be payed on it before they would allow it out of the country, that is what your father told me at the time.
The next time i met him was when i towed the bonneted 142 and tipper trailer across southern Turkey and Iraq to their depot near Bahgdad. This was after his accident in Yugo
regards Jamie.
hello fellas do any of you remember a friend of mine that did middle east for ken taylor t trans paul davis is his name he,s from burton on trent he drove a 2 tone transconti ive got a pic of one of astrans 111s pulling pauls transcon it pulled him all the way across the desert after his wiring loom burnt out
Carl:
hello fellas do any of you remember a friend of mine that did middle east for ken taylor t trans paul davis is his name he,s from burton on trent he drove a 2 tone transconti ive got a pic of one of astrans 111s pulling pauls transcon it pulled him all the way across the desert after his wiring loom burnt out
I knew of a Ken Taylor who had 3 Maggiâs and operated from Shepperton Middx: in the mid 70âs one of his drivers was a very close friend of mine
Chris Hardwick (RIP) in latter years he became domestic/overseas manager at Concorde and also Barry Longden also done a bit for him, the company did not survive very long on the Mideast circuit as many of the lads will agree that Maggiâs were never made for the terrain, Hope that bit of info may be of some help.
Fred
my friend paul davis in the late 70,s when working for taytran the wiring loom burnt out on his transcon and an astran motor pulled him on a straight bar a thousand kms
mack n transconti
paul n drivers in the desert anyone recognise some of these faces
cooling down during a 3 day que into iraq
Not sure but I think it Alan martison ? sure its Robert and Alan Hobbs and possibly Phil Evans all of Hicks Transport will try and find out more
Carl:
my friend paul davis in the late 70,s when working for taytran the wiring loom burnt out on his transcon and an astran motor pulled him on a straight bar a thousand kms
mack n transconti
paul n drivers in the desert anyone recognise some of these faces
cooling down during a 3 day que into iraq
chazzer:
Hello Keith, it was Strada int with Graham and his brother Mervyn, funny how a name jogs the memory but there were another pair of brothers who worked with them one of who was called Reg and had done time for the big M. I started doing Greece for Radclive Transport out of Faringdon in 79 then pretty much did nothing else but work for Mondial, Anglo Greek, Solar Marine and Intersped up until 1990 when I sold my Transcon to Dennis the rat and went to work in motor racing which is why I asked about the FH. I worked for Bernie in 07,08, and 09 until I moved to the States driving those Actrosâs so I probably drove that one youâve got; a bit gutless but immaculate inside, always highly maintained and polished every week. Heâs just bought about 15 new ones, supposedly the first of this particular model in the uk, biggest engine and every extra available. On another note I used to reload for Ferry Freighting if I returned from Greece via Italy, didânt know Billy Moore had died though, I must know you if you were a regular on Greek, did you do ferry or overland?
Charlie.
Hi chas how you doing you are correct me and Brian worked there all the best k jennings
chazzer:
Hello Keith, it was Strada int with Graham and his brother Mervyn, funny how a name jogs the memory but there were another pair of brothers who worked with them one of who was called Reg and had done time for the big M. I started doing Greece for Radclive Transport out of Faringdon in 79 then pretty much did nothing else but work for Mondial, Anglo Greek, Solar Marine and Intersped up until 1990 when I sold my Transcon to Dennis the rat and went to work in motor racing which is why I asked about the FH. I worked for Bernie in 07,08, and 09 until I moved to the States driving those Actrosâs so I probably drove that one youâve got; a bit gutless but immaculate inside, always highly maintained and polished every week. Heâs just bought about 15 new ones, supposedly the first of this particular model in the uk, biggest engine and every extra available. On another note I used to reload for Ferry Freighting if I returned from Greece via Italy, didânt know Billy Moore had died though, I must know you if you were a regular on Greek, did you do ferry or overland?
Charlie.
Hi chas how you doing you are correct me and Brian worked there all the best k jennings
Hullo Kev,
Good to see you on here mate. Are you still running over ? Or have you called it a day, and sitting on the Cliff Tops at Folkstone gazing out to Sea ? I do see Brian and Emma on Facebook sometimes. I hope you are keeping well whatever you are doing. All the Best,
Archie.
Hi Steve, where you been hiding ? quiet interesting picâs, I have got 23 diaries in my archives and I keep threatening to have a delve through them and have a tour down memory lane, they start in June 76 on my first trip to Teheran although there are not any photoâs therein I am sure that I will come across a few long forgotten names together with a bit of scandelous material - pity that the thread has gone a bit flat,it only needs a subject to be mentioned that will activate an interest and create some response. Regards Fred
Come on Fred get typing as you never know what response you might get on here when you start mentioning people and places. As I mentioned to you in an e-mail a few months ago I am still heavily involved in tracing my ancestors and I bet that I am not the only driver on here who drove past Gallipoli on his way to Izmir and thought one day I shall park up and have a good look around but of course we never did as were usually chasing to get on the Canakkale Ferry.
I do remember seeing the remains of several very old rusty boats as you drove along the road with the sea on the left hand side but it is only recently that I now realise that they were probably the tenders from the bigger ships from the first world war. If only we knew then what we know now then I think that we could of spared an hour or so on what sometimes became a three week trip.
I hope that your diaries are more believable than your old expense sheets Freddie.
Take care Fred.
I canât remember which thread I lifted these from so thanks go to the original poster who put them on and I think that they are still great to look at.
And finally, one of my all time favourite photos taken by Phil Bunch from Thor Transport courtesy of Jeff The Flying Foden.
Hi all.MM.Excellent pics,they really encapsulate the fun we had then.I Think we all have had nightmares about if we were going to end up like as the poor sod in Kapic as we struggled to park,or hoped we would not be in the same situation as the Hicks driver,we all lived in fear of accidents.I bet that almost everyone of us has an almost identical Picture of Tahir,usually 1 summer and 1 Winter just to prove to ourselves that we really had done it.
I remember the first time i Went to Gallipoli it made me feel really humble.My grandfather was there in the Gallipoli landings during the 1st WW,he was 16.As a Child i Heard the stories from him about ââJohnny Turkââ and all the hardships they suffered.He lost all his toes with frostbite and i could never understand as Turkey was a hot country ,but when i visited Gallipoli my Eyes were opened,i actually sat and cried for my grandfather.
I wonder how many of us have had relatives die in ââfar flung cornersââ of the Empire which we have visited in trucks,be it the fields of Flanders,North Africa,Middle East.Afghanistan,Balkans,etc.And how many of us have had a humbling moment of reflection.
Come on Fred,get searching soon those old arthritic fingers wonât be able to turn the pages or type. Take care all.Mike
- pity that the thread has gone a bit flat,it only needs a subject to be mentioned that will activate an interest and create some response. Regards Fred
,but when i visited Gallipoli my Eyes were opened,i actually sat and cried for my grandfather.