rocky 7:
mushroomman:
Hello mads065, I first met Ken Singleton on the 6th June 1973 on my second night of roaming in the Vitafoam factory in Maesteg. We, along with another five drivers were sleeping in the back of a thirty six foot trailer and I remember that Ken took me into the factory and asked one of the girls if she would cut me up a bed roll from one of the foam off cuts. We were all driving for Blue Dart Transport at the time and how I remember that day so well was because it was my 23rd birthday and it was also my demob day from the air force and the last day of my demobilisation leave. Ken took me under his wing so to speak and two years later when I was planning a trip overland through Africa Ken gave me his old machetti which he was issued with when he was in The Parachute Regiment. At that time Ken was driving for Portwood Drums in Oldham and he supplied me with all the Jerry cans that I needed for the trip.
I always kept in touch with Ken over the years and when I returned back to the U.K. some four and a half years later he was working for Dow and took me on a trip with him to Vienna. When we arrived back at Stockport he had a word with Roger and after an interview with Roger and then Carl I was offered a job with Dow.
I did write down the story about that trip to Vienna about three years ago and I sent a copy of it to Roy The Boy who said “it was a bit mundane” so I never bothered to put it on Trucknet, (after 43,000 words I realised that I wasn’t a good story teller).
As everybody knew Ken was a bit of a chain smoker and would often buy 400 cigarettes on the boat on the way out, 200 in Bucherest and 200 on the boat back into the U.K. It was very sad for me to see him with his oxygen mask on sat next to his oxygen bottle whenever I went round to see him. His daughter Jackie managed to get hold of me the night before Ken’s funeral and I remember that I was loaded for M.A.T. in M.I.F.T. in Trafford Park the following morning and then I had to reload at I.C.I. Macclesfield.
The funeral was at 9.30 a.m. at Wilmslow Cemetry so as soon as I was tipped I shot off down the A34 but I got stuck behind some slow moving traffic about three miles from the cemetry, much to my surprise it was Kens funeral cortege and I tagged on behind in my E.R.F. and forty foot empty flat trailer with my sheets over the back axles. I could see the hearse a couple of cars in front I had a strange feeling that Ken was smiling up at me 
.
It was great to see some of the other Dow lads who were there even though it was a working day and Dow had finished some seven years before although I can remember Alan Moss and Brian Ryder from the Air Freight office and young Hector Heathcote from the warehouse and I am not sure if Eric Etchells and Dave Shawcross were also there . Unfortunatly I couldn’t go to Kens wake which I think was in The Blue Bell Inn as I really did have to get back to work.
Good on yer Singo, R.I.P. Mate.
Just for the record, Singo was supposed to be the youngest Para to jump at Nijmegen, I ran with him a few times at dow and he was always good for a story or two, RIP Ken. 
Do you remember that pullover that Robbo was wearing in this pic Steve? My daughter Sharon made it, I got a few orders ,Carl burgess being the first one after me,it was in black with DOW in orange letters.
Hi Roy, yes I do remember those black pullovers with the orange Dow name on them they looked really smart didn’t they.
But that’s not Derick Robbo in the photo it’s Mick and Pam from Promotors along with a very young Robert Shawcross.
the flying foden:
picture courtesy of phil bunch . with a A1 for good measure
Hello Jeff, I hope that you and Mr Bunch are both very well and can you thank Phil for sharing that old photo with us all . I thought that I would show this photo of some of the Dow lads who I was lucky enough to meet up with a couple of years ago when I was last over there.
I am sure that you will both recognise your old work mate that ex Thor and Brit European fellow Alan Morrey and no daubt that Bob Lad will recognise his old work mate Eric Etchells.
Eric is still keeping them laughing after all these years . 
Regards Steve.
nice one steve i’l save that pic for him cheers mate
Hi,
I have attached some photos that may bring back some more memories. They are:
My mum and dad stood in front of an old Ford Transcon next to my dads truck (BED 727T), my dad showing off 1 of his knackers, my dad stood at the side of the road looking not so good bare chested with shorts socks and shoes,
mum and dad having a beer at a random bar, my dads MAN (BED 727T) next to an old Scania 111, me sat with Dracula in his brown Ford Transcon, me sat on Draculas knee in his truck (NOT IN A JIMMY SAVILE WAY)!
rocky 7:
rocky 7:
mushroomman:
Hello mads065, I first met Ken Singleton on the 6th June 1973 on my second night of roaming in the Vitafoam factory in Maesteg. We, along with another five drivers were sleeping in the back of a thirty six foot trailer and I remember that Ken took me into the factory and asked one of the girls if she would cut me up a bed roll from one of the foam off cuts. We were all driving for Blue Dart Transport at the time and how I remember that day so well was because it was my 23rd birthday and it was also my demob day from the air force and the last day of my demobilisation leave. Ken took me under his wing so to speak and two years later when I was planning a trip overland through Africa Ken gave me his old machetti which he was issued with when he was in The Parachute Regiment. At that time Ken was driving for Portwood Drums in Oldham and he supplied me with all the Jerry cans that I needed for the trip.
I always kept in touch with Ken over the years and when I returned back to the U.K. some four and a half years later he was working for Dow and took me on a trip with him to Vienna. When we arrived back at Stockport he had a word with Roger and after an interview with Roger and then Carl I was offered a job with Dow.
I did write down the story about that trip to Vienna about three years ago and I sent a copy of it to Roy The Boy who said “it was a bit mundane” so I never bothered to put it on Trucknet, (after 43,000 words I realised that I wasn’t a good story teller).
As everybody knew Ken was a bit of a chain smoker and would often buy 400 cigarettes on the boat on the way out, 200 in Bucherest and 200 on the boat back into the U.K. It was very sad for me to see him with his oxygen mask on sat next to his oxygen bottle whenever I went round to see him. His daughter Jackie managed to get hold of me the night before Ken’s funeral and I remember that I was loaded for M.A.T. in M.I.F.T. in Trafford Park the following morning and then I had to reload at I.C.I. Macclesfield.
The funeral was at 9.30 a.m. at Wilmslow Cemetry so as soon as I was tipped I shot off down the A34 but I got stuck behind some slow moving traffic about three miles from the cemetry, much to my surprise it was Kens funeral cortege and I tagged on behind in my E.R.F. and forty foot empty flat trailer with my sheets over the back axles. I could see the hearse a couple of cars in front I had a strange feeling that Ken was smiling up at me .
It was great to see some of the other Dow lads who were there even though it was a working day and Dow had finished some seven years before although I can remember Alan Moss and Brian Ryder from the Air Freight office and young Hector Heathcote from the warehouse and I am not sure if Eric Etchells and Dave Shawcross were also there . Unfortunatly I couldn’t go to Kens wake which I think was in The Blue Bell Inn as I really did have to get back to work.
Good on yer Singo, R.I.P. Mate.
Just for the record, Singo was supposed to be the youngest Para to jump at Nijmegen, I ran with him a few times at dow and he was always good for a story or two, RIP Ken.
Do you remember that pullover that Robbo was wearing in this pic Steve? My daughter Sharon made it, I got a few orders ,Carl burgess being the first one after me,it was in black with DOW in orange letters.
Are you sure thats not Robbo Steve■■?
I remember nearly 30 years ago getting a lift from a Dowfreight driver from Frankley services to Michaelwood services whilst on a dodgy night out (those were the days!). I seem to remember their were a number of bullet holes on the passenger side of the vehicle which was a MAN.
Their was also a sheepskin engine cover. If I remember rightly the driver hit and killed the sheep so he had to pay for it which he did and then asked them to sort the skin out for him and he picked it up on the way back.
rocky 7:
Are you sure thats not Robbo Steve■■?
Hello Roy, the Promotor driver was a guy called Mickey Twemelow from the Isle Of Sheppy who used to post on here using the name Tricky Mickey. Dave Jamieson, a.k.a. M.and C. Jamie remembers him when he was doing Russian when Mick was working for David Croomes.
This a photo of Derick Robbo sitting next to The Plater which I took at Londra camping sometime in the early eighties.
Hello Bristol Ron, I can’t remember seeing any vehicles with any bullet holes in the side, can you remember if the driver was ex S.A.S. Mind you I seem to remember that Rocky 7 used to have a sheepskin engine cover which you could buy at the side of the road in quite a few of the Turkish villages.
Funny enough, I was talking to Terry Smith on Skype a couple of months back and we were discussing an incident that happened about 1982 while crossing The Bospherous Bridge in Istanbul.
Dave Cooper, Terry and another driver who I think he said was Roy were crossing over to the Asian side when a car squeezed in between him and the crash barrier, all of a sudden several gunshots were heard and the back window of the car shattered and the car hit the barrier and stopped. Terry thought that they were making a film or something and that they were firing blanks, the reality of the situation just didn’t occure to him at the time. He stopped his truck and ran back to see what was happening and then noticed a blue light that somebody had just stuck on the roof of the black car which had parked behind the crashed vehicle. By now all the traffic had stopped and four armed Turkish men in suits had surrounded the car and fired another couple of shots into it. They shouted at Terry to get away and he said that he didn’t need telling twice as he could hear the sound of several police sirens screaming up from behind.
How I remember this was because the following week I had to go into our agents office who was Taci Kochman. Taci’s right hand man who was a really nice old gentleman was known as The Colonel who showed me a copy of a Turkish newspaper with a photo of a dead body on the front page. The story was that the Turkish police had assasinated a Kurdish Terrorist cell who were trying to get away from them.
Regards Steve.
mushroomman:
rocky 7:
Are you sure thats not Robbo Steve■■?
Hello Roy, the Promotor driver was a guy called Mickey Twemelow from the Isle Of Sheppy who used to post on here using the name Tricky Mickey. Dave Jamieson, a.k.a. M.and C. Jamie remembers him when he was doing Russian when Mick was working for David Croomes.
This a photo of Derick Robbo sitting next to The Plater which I took at Londra camping sometime in the early eighties.
Regards Steve.
Hi Steve, I remember some of the faces in this pic. but I can’t put names to them, It must be old age LOL
P.S. is that Billy (Bradford) Murry in front of the plater??
Correct Roy, it is Billy Murrey.
I still say thats Robbo stood with Singo in front of the ProMotor truck.
rocky 7:
I still say thats Robbo stood with Singo in front of the ProMotor truck.
Hi Roy just spoke to Dave shawcross who took the pic and he is certain it is the guy from Promotors.Do you remember the Dow tee shirts did you have one?
foden46:
rocky 7:
I still say thats Robbo stood with Singo in front of the ProMotor truck.
Hi Roy just spoke to Dave shawcross who took the pic and he is certain it is the guy from Promotors.Do you remember the Dow tee shirts did you have one?[/quote
Hi Foden,I certainly do remember them, it was my daughter Sharon who knitted them on her machine, she started with doing Initials up to 3 letters so DOW was just the right size she made one for me, Carl Burgess was the first one to order one and then quite a few of the lads ordered them after.
Hello Mads 065, I enjoyed seeing your photos . Brian Hurst a.k.a. Drax worked for a couple of companies doing Middle East work in the seventies and the eighties.
For some strange reason Brian always reminded me of Omar Sharif.
What do you think Omar.
Hiya Roy, didn’t Singo and Lee Marland buy one of those black vee neck jumpers with the orange Dow logo off your Sharon, I am fairly sure that they used to wear one.
Singo did give me a pair of those grey overalls which had the Dow badge embroidered on the top pocket, unfortunately after spilling a bit of battery acid on them they were unwearable after a couple of months 
.
But I did take the badge off them before I threw them away , in fact I have still got it here.
Regards Steve.
Tony Taylor:
Hi Steve,as you can see from the bottom picture,those side tanks were nothing but problems for us,one tank off the other one also being repaired.This was at Aksaray.Drivers were for ever losing the tank caps.The electric pump on the front of the trailer was always packing up,we had to change the rubber impeller many times.Do you know the reason why Dow fitted them instead of belly tanks?
Hiya Tony, getting back to those side tanks you mentioned on an earlier post reminded me of something that somebody posted on here a few years ago and never got any replies.
I wonder if you or The Crow or anybody else knew of this driver Sim Jones from Cheshire and I wonder if he had any trouble with his side tanks while he was crossing The Sahara. I must admit that the only British haulage company who I ever heard of who went to Nigeria was Wake Brothers from Hull and I can well imagine the problems that they encountered.
Regards Steve.
moomooland:
Hullo Steve,
Regarding your earlier discussions about the trailers with side tanks. Look at this photo that has just been put on by Moomooland . Could that have been D34, it certainly seems to begin with three.
Cheers, Archie.
Archie Paice:
moomooland:
Hullo Steve,
Regarding your earlier discussions about the trailers with side tanks. Look at this photo that has just been put on by Moomooland . Could that have been D34, it certainly seems to begin with three.
Cheers, Archie.
I think thats my old mate brian cobb in the transcom
Hi all i currently work at walkers with pete woody at the moment and used to work at ttx with roy the boy
before that i used to work at hindles transport with ken corrigan who on occasions used to be my second man, also the crow used to subbie for hindles too. Just been reading these posts and discovered that ken isnt well does anybody know how he is now??
