I had nowt to do the the Herald but I was on the Spirit of Free Enterprise 2 yrs previously, Cairnryan to Larne , I had my7yr old daughter with me and we slept in the truck, 0100 sailing, I just couldn’t believe it when the H went over, i was in shock for months, I just couldn’t get that thought out of my head, yer know 'What if this had happened 2 yrs ago in a completely different part of the country to a different ferry It could have been me and my girl!! It took me a long time to get over that, think I had that PTSD thing but it wasn’t recognised then, and i’d told my boss I would never go on a ferry again so he used send his helicopter to pick me up, whether that was Cairnryan or Stranraer, and the truck went on the ferry and i met it at Larne. It was a good job that and I only left coz they stopped the free meal on the Helio: It was just a matter of principal
I would have been on the Herald of Free Enterprise but I was missed it because I was delayed by the King of Belgium giving me a medal for saving those people at the explosion at the Wally Stop.
Harry Monk:
I would have been on the Herald of Free Enterprise but I was missed it because I was delayed by the King of Belgium giving me a medal for saving those people at the explosion at the Wally Stop.
At last caught you out harry you little liar , the guy who did get the medal for saving people at the Wally stop was called Alan Sharpe, he sadly passed away in 2010,
kindle530:
isnt/wasnt there a driver about with a sticker above the drivers/passengers door saying ‘Herald of Free Enterprise survivor’ with the date it happened, or something similar?,i know im not imagining it as i saw him a couple of times, i think he was in Super Space Cab or Magnum. Sad, i thought, as he obviously wants attention so he can tell everyone about it.
It is on a Nexexco magnum … " this driver is a survivor of the 2008 channel tunnel disaster" what a no mark !!
cheers jimboy, wasnt sure if it was H.O.F.Enterprise, knew it was something similar if it wasnt that.
The biggest problem with that is the comedians old joke…
TIMING
The ship sank in 1987, the Magnum was introduced in 1990
Fallmonk:
Not me, but mate just missed the Locherbie disaster when parts fell on the M74 , he was on way up to Scotland when it happened
Not me either, but Alan Horner who is mentioned on these threads was caught up in that melee, imagine his embarrassment when he had to call in 2 weeks later to report he was stuck on the M1 at Kegworth by another plane crash. I know this is true because I took both phone calls and banned him from delivering to airports or anywhere close
I missed it due to a cockup with my passport. I was still on my mums at the time you see and having taken the passport for the trip the police insisted she had to be with me. Gaffer was having none of that as company policy didn’t allow passengers.
Not many people had their own passports back then, not when they’ were 3.
I nearly missed the car ferry at Folkstone once, sped through the docks, passport and tickets etc.
Drove down the ramp at speed as the ramp was virtually lifting up, inside the hull with the doors closing and the ferry was off before we got out of the Van.
Paul:
I missed it just because the Chinese took their time stamping my papers on exiting China after I had delievered chopsticks in Bejing.
I also just missed the fire in the Blanc, I was the last truck through, I saw the smoke in my mirrors but thought it was my smokey FH16 700 that I was testing for Volvo and yes youve guessed it I was the one who broke down in the desert in Saudi with the Michelin men on my mirror arms and when I came back to the truck everyone was praying to them thinking they where my Gods protecting my truck. I am sorry to say though that the rumours I was in the SAS for 7 years ARE NOT TRUE it was only 5 years the other two years I was in MI6 my code name was 008.
Sounds like most of the Murrfit Drivers that used to park at the pub in Bourge
No sorry mate I just used to watch them all fight each other in the pub and the BP Macon
One wouldn’t talk to a wagon and drag driver, one wouldn’t speak to the other because he had small wheels on a low mega! Hilarious
What happened to simon the transport manager? 1995 ish I think? Jail?
groovy greg:
been in a few RDCs over the years and overheard one or two what i’d call “old skool” drivers talking to another driver how they just missed the MS Herald of Free Enterprise on its fatefull trip, they’d gotten held up for some reason or another.
so just curious who on here just missed that (extremely over booked) ferry, and what was your reason for arriving late and not making the ferry crossing.
quite possible i know someone truck drivers may well of actually, ‘just missed it’ but to me there seems to be lots of them about.
and what reason have you heard why a driver missed it■■?
greg.
99% of them are full of s***, if everone I heard saying they had missed that ferry was telling the truth about 2,000 trucks were booked on it that night.
I did have a friend who died on it, quite upsetting really, he was sleeping in his cab on the car deck. This incident saw the ‘No admission to car decks when at sea’ rule.
Pat Hasler:
I did have a friend who died on it, quite upsetting really, he was sleeping in his cab on the car deck. This incident saw the ‘No admission to car decks when at sea’ rule.
Yes, it used to be the norm to sleep in the cab on the car decks when I started. I would still take my chances if it was allowed.
Pat Hasler:
I did have a friend who died on it, quite upsetting really, he was sleeping in his cab on the car deck. This incident saw the ‘No admission to car decks when at sea’ rule.
Yes, it used to be the norm to sleep in the cab on the car decks when I started. I would still take my chances if it was allowed.
Done it a few times on Dover Calais (especially if i could see loads of coaches full of kids in the lanes) P&O have 2 tannoy systems on their boats one for passengers and one for crew. I’d often be woken up approaching Dover with a tannoy announcement on the garage deck telling me how many frieght units, coaches and estimate of pax numbers were about to board on the next outbound trip.
Generally I used to sleep like a baby on the car deck.
skids:
I always stayed in the cab when on SeaFrance, I think it was probably safer there!
Not if you need to get in a lifeboat or jump overboard with water coming into the car decks.
While I wasn’t on the Herald when it sank I’ve probably got a record in having used it and two others which were all lost.The Koningen Juliana which ran from Harwich to Hook of Holland and became the Moby Prince when it was sold and the Boccaccio which ran from Genoa to Arbatax which was sold to the Egyptians.
the reason i missed it was some belgium truck had set fire to the mont blanc so had to do a detour then got held up @ wallystop when i called in to fuel up
joking aside im just glad i wasnt at any of them places at the time
skids:
I always stayed in the cab when on SeaFrance, I think it was probably safer there!
Yeah, I used to stay in the cab on the car deck a lot on the shorter crossings such as Calais, Dunkerque or Zebrugge and especially when they were busy with the tourist traffic.
