I hadn’t come across these Commercial Motor pieces before. They’re very informative and give some insight into life on the M/E run in 1975. It is quite clear from the remarks that the reporter had not come across an ERF NGC ‘European’! Robert
Davnic:
An excellent article and fascinating read.
In other parts of the forum ‘Destination Doha’ seems to have been criticised for exaggerating and over dramatising problems encountered by drivers on the ME run,howerver,this article seems to show that things weren’t that easy either.
No need to exaggerate anything, that’s just how it was!
Going through my collection of cuttings I came across these articles which were written by the then editor of Commercial Motor Mr Iain Sherriff.Although this went into the magazine 33 years ago it makes interesting reading especially to lorry drivers like myself who have never experienced a run to the Middle East.
The article was set out over 4 issues of the magazine with an introduction which is the first page.
I’ve read this lot loads of times and I still find it fasinating although I expect the many veterans of the run who are here on trucknet will find it a bit bland,anyway to those who wish to read it I hope you will enjoy it.
Cheers Marc.
Good wasn’t it !!!
Brilliant bubbleman , absolutely brilliant , have you got any more 
I like the bit about " the Iranian’s are our friend’s ". Didn’t our friends confiscate all the British trucks about four years later 
.
bubbleman:
This is the Volvo FB89 roadtrain of Simon International that I went out to Greece to recover when it had a trailer wheel bearing melt.The driver had done a bunk and the rig was in the customs compound at Gevgelia.
Not surprised the wheel bearing gave up.Most times the rig went out double loaded!
Thats a cracking read Marc keep up the good work.
absolutely brilliant Marc,I’ve read a lot of books and articles about M/E trucking but I think that was the best read yet,I was too young for M/E but did a lot of years cross border in Ireland and there is no comparison all our work was thro P&O and you were only ever a phone call away,they sorted everything,I remember sitting in Dundalk for three days waiting for original papers from England,but we were in civilisation and the pub at night,many thanks Marc,more please,regards derek
“the other neccesities are satisfied under the rear axle”
priceless, you wouldnt get aweay with printing that these days
yella:
“the other neccesities are satisfied under the rear axle”priceless, you wouldnt get aweay with printing that these days
Known in Middle East speak as a “Spread”!
on seeing the big j a crusader and a borderer a german driver said “now I know how you won the war” priceless! 
Just look at the price of the fuel and the difference between Germany and Holland 
I think i still have some Yugo permits like those 
Brilliant !!
I presume the NFC truck they were talking about as being the ideal for M/E was the soon to arrive Leyland Marathon with all the accoutremonts described, ie. wardrobe, wash basin, fitted cooker, housemaid, batman, etc. Perfect for the highways of Europe but not so perfect for the roughways of Eastern Turkey. The job was never going to be easy but as the ed said once drivers had built up a head of experience the job became less fraught and even on occasion quite enjoyable.
Apologies for dragging this onto page 1 but The Colonel mentioned in todays posting on the bus firm from Nottingham thread that he bumped into the then editor of Commercial motor on a trip to the M/E…this is what the reason for him being there.
Cheers Bubbs. 
I was happier then and I had nothin’. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.
And you try and tell the young people of today that … they won’t believe you.
An excellent article and fascinating read.
In other parts of the forum ‘Destination Doha’ seems to have been criticised for exaggerating and over dramatising problems encountered by drivers on the ME run,howerver,this article seems to show that things weren’t that easy either.
Wheel Nut:
I was happier then and I had nothin’. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.And you try and tell the young people of today that … they won’t believe you.
An old house with big holes in the roof? Luxury!
We lived in a shoebox in the middle of the road!
Thats nuffink!!
Our dad would thrash us in two with a carving knife and jump up and down on our graves singing Hallelujah !!
We had it hard !..
GS