I have just had Ian on the phone for an hour from Bulgaria telling me the tale.
I’ve lost track of the days of the week he said but basically, summing up :
Tried to get from Austria into Hungary and Hungary turned him around saying that he was overweight (Ian disagreed). Had to go back to British Embassy in Vienna to get the load re-distributed in the trailer and a stamp of some sort from Vienna to say it was okay.
Got to Hungary, okay was given. Through Hungary to Romanian border. Romanian officials said he needed an armed ■■■■■■ and he got one, but it cost a slab of cash. Ended up being taken up over a mountain pass with 8" inch of snow and eventually go to the border with Bulgaria.
Passport control at Ruse cleared them to enter but 20ft further down the road customs wanted to know what was in the back so broke seal and cracked open a pallet. Satisfied that all was okay they sent them on their way after re-sealing the trailer.
Ian and his co-driver Dave got horribly lost in Bulgaria because sign posts are non-existant but eventually they spied a sign for Istanbul saying 300km’s or something like that, so headed along there. Got to the border with Turkey and they were turned back because trucks can’t enter Turkey at that point, they must enter Turkey from Sofia, so they were sent allllllllllllll the way back to Burgas but the truck blew its turbo and head gasket at Vetren.
Long story cut short - snip - plod and customs came out after discovering that he didn’t have a special permit to transport ammunition across Bulgaria. Customs made it clear to him that it wasn’t his fault, he should have been given the special permit at the border at Ruse. However, they said they’d have to take the trailer off him and keep it for him until he could get one, so they did, and took it to a safe warehouse a few miles away, with Ian in the back of the car to see where it was going coz he’s responsible for the load. Happy that it was going to be looked after he went back to truck to meet the DAF mechanics who’d come up 300km from Sofia to look at his truck. Diagnosed that the engine was completely goosed and that it would take a week to fix and EUR 3500.
Ian then belled up DAF at Stoke who said they weren’t interested as Ian didn’t have any warantee. Turns out Ian bought the truck from Kelberg as it’s European spec so the warantee with DAF only covered up to £500. A lot of complications followed which Ian will detail when he gets back, but the outcome is that DAF have agreed to pay for the cost of the repairs.
Tomorrow (or today I should say), Ian and Dave - who are currently sleeping in a hotel in Sofia (got there in the back of the car that the DAF mechanics came from Sofia in) are going to get the special permit from Sofia that’s needed to move the trailer and are then hitching a ride in the DAF wrecker that’s coming up to Burgas from Sofia to pick up the unit. The wrecker is then pulling his unit to the safe warehouse to pick up his trailer - which he can now move because he’ll have the permit - and then take the whole shebang down to DAF at Sofia where repairs will start on his unit.
Ian and Dave are in high spirits despite everything that’s happened so far but do have concerns as to the security of the trailer at DAF at Sofia while the (estimated) week long repairs are carried out there. That will be tomorrow’s tale I’ve no doubt.
So far, they have been finding the British Embassy in the countries they’ve passed through nothing short of excellent and also the police/border control/custom authorities who have been most helpful and understanding.
They expect to be in Sofia until this time next week and then will hopefully be leaving for Istanbul and the far tip of Turkey to catch a ferry to Cyprus.
