Here are a few photos of some trips to Corfu and Athens over the past twenty five or so years. The trip in the TK was in 1988, the DAF 1991 and the drawbar and 3.5 ton 2009! It’s not a regular destination but I have been a few times over the years. I’ve always taken “the tourist” route via Italy and then by ferry. I was stuck in customs for a week in 1991 and had the lorry impounded. Happy Days!
That one looks very much like Glyfada beach
How many times did we park like that to find a Bubble parked about 2 inches from the front and another 2 inches from the back when you wanted to leave. I remember one Geordie driver with a MAN double drive tractor and 1/2 inch steel front bumper making enough room to get out after waiting 2 hrs for the driver to come back, impatient you might say but when the greek parked his car there were two empty spaces so he did’nt need to park right in front.
That one looks very much like Glyfada beach
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Nice pics Moonraker! Nice to see places as was some years ago!
Yes it’s Glyfada beach! Anyone remember Sussex Inn? It still exists.
Gr Diesels:
That one looks very much like Glyfada beach
Nice pics Moonraker! Nice to see places as was some years ago!
Yes it’s Glyfada beach! Anyone remember Sussex Inn? It still exists.
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Hullo,
I remember the Sussex very well, although I never walked round to the Square very much. I preferred to sit in Audrey’s (The Forge) and get thoroughly mellowed. Could’nt get too ■■■■■■ on Anglo Greeks money.
Cheers, Archie.
one of those pics looks like st nicks
Thanks for your comments guys - it is always good to get some feedback.
The trip in 1991 lasts long in the memory. It was in the good old days of T forms and customs clearance.
We left Salisbury on a Sunday night crossing the channel via Portsmouth to Le Havre and headed for Chambery in the Alps to clear customs and deliver a load of furniture to a wealthy client who owned a second home in a ski resort. We finished delivering on Tuesday evening and our client took us out for a meal. It was freezing and I remember being glad of the night heater in the DAF 2100 - I’d not had the luxury of one in my TK!
The next morning we headed into Italy via the Frejus tunnel and travelled the length of Italy to reach Brindisi for the Thursday night sailing to Patras. There were one or two British trucks on board and I met up with a decent chap called “Gentleman George” who worked for Aston Clinton Haulage. We played a few games of cards and I won five deutchmarks off him and still have the German note buried somewhere with his name and number on to this day. We arrived in Patras around lunchtime and headed for Athens, passing over the Korinthos Canal. I remember seeing an Edwin Shirley truck heading the opposite way.
Having never ventured as far as the Greek mainland (Corfu was the furthest before) I hadn’t expected to see so many British trucks but having arrived in Piraeus, they were parked all over the place. My colleague and I went into a bar where a few tractor units were parked up and made some enquiries about finding customs to clear our load of household effects and saloon car that we had on board. I hadn’t bothered to book an agent in advance because I thought I’d be able to do it myself as I did in France! Big mistake - I was told the name of an agent and we went off in search of him. As it was now late on Friday, there was nothing that could be done until Monday morning so we went back to the bar and tried to work out what to do for the weekend. This was probably the Sussex as mentioned above but I can’t remember. (If it was it would be the bar to the right of the picture of the DAF and Volvo in the second picture above). This was were we met up with Dave from Luton and he suggested we follow him to what I now know was Glyfada Beach (thanks to the above posters). There were GB tractor units all over the place and what struck me was how old they all were. If more than 1 in 10 were prefeixed with a letter, then I didn’t see them! I know my DAF was a Y reg but if I was doing Greek work regularly, I think I’d opt for something a bit newer. Most of the drivers that I spoke with were doing the jobs for next to nothing and either they or their bosses couldn’t afford anything better. The newest vehicle I saw was an F reg ERF driven by a 21 year old lad working for his father. You can just about make it out in the corner of one of the following photos.
We had a great weekend and visited countless bars and met quite a few drivers. I remember one young lad called Spence who told me a joke that i still recite to this day! There were British bars and even a fish and chip shop. Come Monday morning, Dave told us to follow him to the customs which we were duly doing until he came into contact with a low bridge. My mate was driving at the time as I was still trying to sleep off the excesses of the weekend in the sleeper pod. The noise of the crash woke me up with a start and I shouted down to find out what had happened. Poor old Dave - his trailer had concertinaed and he dragged it back to The Sussex(?) with us following. He phoned his boss (who sacked him when he got home) and told him the news. He told him to get it fixed and was advised by some other drivers to employ the services of “Ron the Con”!! We left Dave and went in search of the custom’s compound. What chaos! By the time we’d found the right office we were too late to do anything that day. Imports in the morning and exports in the afternoon. We said OK, we’ll come back tomorrow. No chance - Tuesday was a Bank Holiday! So back to the bar to meet up with Dave and a few others. I phoned our customer who was awaiting his furniture and car and explained the problems and we arranged to meet at customs on the Wednesday.
I can’t remember where we went for the next two nights but I think it was back to Glyfada. We were such regulars in one bar that I was asked if I wanted to play in their darts team on the Thursday night. I said thanks for the offer but I wouldn’t be around on Thursday - I’d be heading home!!!
We met out customer at the customs yard on Wednesday morning and for whatever reason, I can’t remember why, they impounded our vehicle! Not only did this mean more delays but also that we couldn’t sleep in it. I think we got a taxi back to the bar and again met up with Dave who wasn’t making much progress with his repairs. We booked into a hotel for the night, spent another night on the lash and the next morning Dave gave us a lift back to the customs. Alas, nothing happened by midday so that was it for another day. We went back to the bar and booked into the hotel again. We went back to Glyfada for the late afternoon and evening and lo and behold I was in the darts team playing against the US Service personnel that Thursday evening! We got a taxi back to the hotel and met up with Dave again who was also booked in.
We got a taxi from the hotel back to customs in the morning and met our client, who to be fair to him was being pretty patient throughout this ordeal. We were hanging around waiting when out of the blue Dave arrives in a taxi. He says to my colleague " Have you lost something?" He replies “No, I don’t think so”. So Dave then hands him his passport! Apparently it had been found by some refuse workers outside the hotel who handed it in to reception, who gave it Dave, who brought it to us. A very kind gesture by Dave despite all his problems - a top bloke. That was about our first lucky break since we arrived in Greece and a couple of hours later we had cleared customs and were free to leave. There had been some heavy rain since we left the van and unfortunately I had left the pod window slightly open so all my bedding was soaked! Anyway, we were at last on our way to deliver and such was my excitement at getting out of customs that I somehow caught the edge of a drawbar trailer on the roundabout outside and ripped a hole in the side of the van!
We eventually arrived at our destination about 50 miles south of Athens and unloaded the furniture (with the help of a local donkey) and car. Fortunately there were a coulpe of Greek handymen at the delivery address and they kindly patched up the hole in the side of the van. It was a small fishing village and the couple who we were moving said that the boat builder in the harbour was a busy man. Apparently he had the job of cutting fishing boats in half and then inserting a central section to make them longer. That way, the EU (EC as was) would pay the fishermen not to fish as their boats were over a certain length (or else they might deplete the fishing stocks!!!)
We headed back towards Patras that night, parking up in a quiet lay-by for the night - we couldn’t face any more alcohol - and caught a ferry back to Brindisi the next afternoon.
Although it was 22 years ago, a lot of that trip sticks in the memory. We met some really good people and had it been a holiday, I would have probably enjoyed it more at the time. However, financially the trip was a disaster and opened my eyes to the bureaucracy when dealing with the authorities in Greece. It is no wonder to me that they are in such a mess now!
That ‘‘Gentleman George’’ that you met up with would be George Ginn (RIP) who sadly died last year, a true middle east driver from the old days.
chazzer:
That ‘‘Gentleman George’’ that you met up with would be George Ginn (RIP) who sadly died last year, a true middle east driver from the old days.
I am wondering who Concertina Dave was, he seemed to have spent an awful lot of time in The Sussex fighting Americans 
I enjoyed that Moonraker ! sounded like a good old trip and an adventure… 
Nice pics and a good read.Was the sleeper on the Tk done by Locomotors (spolling) Andover?
Looks like the body has got landing legs but doesnt look like a de mount though.
Great memories and photos Moonraker please keep them coming. 
I seem to remember that there were two English bars in Glyfada in the mid 80’s, The Sussex Bar and The Essex Bar, somebody did say that they were owned by the same bloke. I can only remember the barmaid from Salford who might of been called Sue and a snotty cow called Rose from London who was married to an American corporal. Rose took an instant dislike to me when I fell about the floor laughing after she told me that if her husbands boss was away then The President Of The United States Of America would only speak to her husband because he was security cleared. 
Regards Steve.
Thanks for the comments.
I 'm sorry to read of the passing away of Gentleman George. I only met him the once but took an instant liking to him.
Regards the TK, I bought it from Abels of Watton in 1986. It did have a demountable body but I never took it off - I don’t think I even understood the concept of it at the time!! I don’t know where the sleeper pod was added but it was a great addition to the cab, especially compared to the Pickfords TK’s that I had driven before!
The bars were great fun and there are far worse places in the world to be stuck for a week than Athens. I like the story about the USA President - you sometimes have to use the “filter” in the brain to separate truth from fantasy!!
I’ve got a few photos from the trip I did three years ago to Corfu so when I’ve got time next week, I’ll post some up and give a brief description of the trip. Although we had no hold ups due to bureaucracy, it did take us three days to load the roadtrain in Corfu. I will explain why next week. I’d do it today but all the photos are on my computer at work and I’m not venturing out in the snow today!
Hi Moonraker did’nt You meet Brian Askey on Your Greek travels He had a Bedford removals van & was ■■■■■■■ with Transeuro & Orphee Bienoglou?
It was good seeing pictures of St-Nicks & Glyfada, many a good man has wrecked a tilt coming back from Glyfada & bashing the bridge coming back into Piraeus. I don’t know the guy with The ERF but the DAF in the picture looks like John Dicks, He was a regular to Greece in the late 80’s early 90’s.
I have spent a bloody fortune around Glyfada over the years & being single dated one or two of the british girls from The Sussex & even ended up having a baby with one of them
Hiya John, about 1986ish I pulled on to The National in Belgrade and I was asked by a Dutch driver if I would give two English girls a lift to Athens. Well, being single like yourself I just couldn’t leave these two sisters from Much Hoole in Lancashire alone in such a unhospitable country. They were hoping to find bar work in Greece for the summer season and so I ended dropping them off at the Sussex Bar to see if there were any jobs going. I don’t know if they got a job there but I just wondered if anybody else on here might of met up with them.
Regards Steve.
Just a few pictures taken during the trip in November 2009. I’ll give a more detailed account later if anyone’s interested. The round trip took 11 days and was extremely hard work!! The driving was, as ever in removals, the easy part. We had three deliveries to carry out in France on the way down, one in Milan, Italy, one in Corfu and then a huge removal to collect in Corfu which filled the roadtrain and half the 3.5 ton van. The 3.5 ton van was a very useful vehilce on that trip - we used it to assist with every delivery (due to poor or restricted access) and for loading in Corfu due to the narrow roads.
I answer to an earlier post, I never met Brian Askey. In fact I never saw another removal van in Greece!
That carry distance for a complete house content is ridiculous. Did that happen often? I thought it was bad when they told me I needed 200 feet of delivery hose on a tanker job 
I agree with wheelnut, that walk is just daft!!. I would have been on the phone demanding more men from a local firm!. I cant remember who we used to load from in Milan, Fransozini rings a bell…looking at that pic, i now remember why I gave up removals!!
More Greek stuff please!
Moonraker:
Thanks for your comments guys - it is always good to get some feedback.The trip in 1991 lasts long in the memory. It was in the good old days of T forms and customs clearance.
We left Salisbury on a Sunday night crossing the channel via Portsmouth to Le Havre and headed for Chambery in the Alps to clear customs and deliver a load of furniture to a wealthy client who owned a second home in a ski resort. We finished delivering on Tuesday evening and our client took us out for a meal. It was freezing and I remember being glad of the night heater in the DAF 2100 - I’d not had the luxury of one in my TK!
The next morning we headed into Italy via the Frejus tunnel and travelled the length of Italy to reach Brindisi for the Thursday night sailing to Patras. There were one or two British trucks on board and I met up with a decent chap called “Gentleman George” who worked for Aston Clinton Haulage. We played a few games of cards and I won five deutchmarks off him and still have the German note buried somewhere with his name and number on to this day. We arrived in Patras around lunchtime and headed for Athens, passing over the Korinthos Canal. I remember seeing an Edwin Shirley truck heading the opposite way.
Having never ventured as far as the Greek mainland (Corfu was the furthest before) I hadn’t expected to see so many British trucks but having arrived in Piraeus, they were parked all over the place. My colleague and I went into a bar where a few tractor units were parked up and made some enquiries about finding customs to clear our load of household effects and saloon car that we had on board. I hadn’t bothered to book an agent in advance because I thought I’d be able to do it myself as I did in France! Big mistake - I was told the name of an agent and we went off in search of him. As it was now late on Friday, there was nothing that could be done until Monday morning so we went back to the bar and tried to work out what to do for the weekend. This was probably the Sussex as mentioned above but I can’t remember. (If it was it would be the bar to the right of the picture of the DAF and Volvo in the second picture above). This was were we met up with Dave from Luton and he suggested we follow him to what I now know was Glyfada Beach (thanks to the above posters). There were GB tractor units all over the place and what struck me was how old they all were. If more than 1 in 10 were prefeixed with a letter, then I didn’t see them! I know my DAF was a Y reg but if I was doing Greek work regularly, I think I’d opt for something a bit newer. Most of the drivers that I spoke with were doing the jobs for next to nothing and either they or their bosses couldn’t afford anything better. The newest vehicle I saw was an F reg ERF driven by a 21 year old lad working for his father. You can just about make it out in the corner of one of the following photos.
We had a great weekend and visited countless bars and met quite a few drivers. I remember one young lad called Spence who told me a joke that i still recite to this day! There were British bars and even a fish and chip shop. Come Monday morning, Dave told us to follow him to the customs which we were duly doing until he came into contact with a low bridge. My mate was driving at the time as I was still trying to sleep off the excesses of the weekend in the sleeper pod. The noise of the crash woke me up with a start and I shouted down to find out what had happened. Poor old Dave - his trailer had concertinaed and he dragged it back to The Sussex(?) with us following. He phoned his boss (who sacked him when he got home) and told him the news. He told him to get it fixed and was advised by some other drivers to employ the services of “Ron the Con”!! We left Dave and went in search of the custom’s compound. What chaos! By the time we’d found the right office we were too late to do anything that day. Imports in the morning and exports in the afternoon. We said OK, we’ll come back tomorrow. No chance - Tuesday was a Bank Holiday! So back to the bar to meet up with Dave and a few others. I phoned our customer who was awaiting his furniture and car and explained the problems and we arranged to meet at customs on the Wednesday.
I can’t remember where we went for the next two nights but I think it was back to Glyfada. We were such regulars in one bar that I was asked if I wanted to play in their darts team on the Thursday night. I said thanks for the offer but I wouldn’t be around on Thursday - I’d be heading home!!!
We met out customer at the customs yard on Wednesday morning and for whatever reason, I can’t remember why, they impounded our vehicle! Not only did this mean more delays but also that we couldn’t sleep in it. I think we got a taxi back to the bar and again met up with Dave who wasn’t making much progress with his repairs. We booked into a hotel for the night, spent another night on the lash and the next morning Dave gave us a lift back to the customs. Alas, nothing happened by midday so that was it for another day. We went back to the bar and booked into the hotel again. We went back to Glyfada for the late afternoon and evening and lo and behold I was in the darts team playing against the US Service personnel that Thursday evening! We got a taxi back to the hotel and met up with Dave again who was also booked in.
We got a taxi from the hotel back to customs in the morning and met our client, who to be fair to him was being pretty patient throughout this ordeal. We were hanging around waiting when out of the blue Dave arrives in a taxi. He says to my colleague " Have you lost something?" He replies “No, I don’t think so”. So Dave then hands him his passport! Apparently it had been found by some refuse workers outside the hotel who handed it in to reception, who gave it Dave, who brought it to us. A very kind gesture by Dave despite all his problems - a top bloke. That was about our first lucky break since we arrived in Greece and a couple of hours later we had cleared customs and were free to leave. There had been some heavy rain since we left the van and unfortunately I had left the pod window slightly open so all my bedding was soaked! Anyway, we were at last on our way to deliver and such was my excitement at getting out of customs that I somehow caught the edge of a drawbar trailer on the roundabout outside and ripped a hole in the side of the van!
We eventually arrived at our destination about 50 miles south of Athens and unloaded the furniture (with the help of a local donkey) and car. Fortunately there were a coulpe of Greek handymen at the delivery address and they kindly patched up the hole in the side of the van. It was a small fishing village and the couple who we were moving said that the boat builder in the harbour was a busy man. Apparently he had the job of cutting fishing boats in half and then inserting a central section to make them longer. That way, the EU (EC as was) would pay the fishermen not to fish as their boats were over a certain length (or else they might deplete the fishing stocks!!!)
We headed back towards Patras that night, parking up in a quiet lay-by for the night - we couldn’t face any more alcohol - and caught a ferry back to Brindisi the next afternoon.
Although it was 22 years ago, a lot of that trip sticks in the memory. We met some really good people and had it been a holiday, I would have probably enjoyed it more at the time. However, financially the trip was a disaster and opened my eyes to the bureaucracy when dealing with the authorities in Greece. It is no wonder to me that they are in such a mess now!
3
wonder who’s the erf was ■■? looks like a hoship ■■?
