Endit:
Umm, Laurence, you mentioned that George Bennett (TRUCK editor) wasn’t an HGV driver.
I think you’ll find he used to worked for Carmens/Brit European on M/E work…
Cadwalladers too.
Laurence:
Endit:
Umm, Laurence, you mentioned that George Bennett (TRUCK editor) wasn’t an HGV driver.
I think you’ll find he used to worked for Carmens/Brit European on M/E work…I could be wrong …
Hi Laurence,
Ref. the trip George Bennett did to Turkey, that was the magazine’s reason for not thinking it necessary to cover your trip on that 1st part 
.I find this to be both narrow-minded & showing a huge mis-judgement of what their readers like! I remember the trip George Bennett did, he had a load of gas heaters in a step-frame tilt pulled by a red twin-steer F12 (not a Globetrotter), it was covered over 2 parts, nothing wrong with the story as Mr Bennett is obviously an accomplished journalist & I enjoyed it. But as any driver on here knows no 2 trips are ever exactly the same, & the further the distance, & certainly the more countries you travel through increases the chances of something different happening, & there is no doubt that having read your account of the 1st stage of your trip we are safe in saying that this proves my point as both trips were certainly shall we say, different 
. Your start to the trip with your personal life, which believe me I am not judging cos after 3 marriages & lets say a few indiscretions in between my halo slipped many years ago 
but because of our job etc this is a true reflection of a lot of drivers lives, this all contributed to what was going on in your mind while you were em-barking on your trip, which shows another side of a long-distance drivers life & how the solitude & many hours spent alone can increase the pressures of the job, which in a mag’ article like this, although it wasn’t pleasant for you would have made ■■■■ good reading. Also TRUCK also didn’t seem to realise the following/interest/fascination that any magazine article involving Middle East transport has, I have bought a mag’ that didn’t contain much else of interest to me just because it contained something about M.E. transport, & I bet there are a lot of others on here that have done the same, so I am sure that if they had covered the 1st part of your trip their sales that month would have been higher!
Regards Chris
adr:
Laurence:
Endit:
Umm, Laurence, you mentioned that George Bennett (TRUCK editor) wasn’t an HGV driver.
I think you’ll find he used to worked for Carmens/Brit European on M/E work…I could be wrong …
Hi Laurence,
Ref. the trip George Bennett did to Turkey, that was the magazine’s reason for not thinking it necessary to cover your trip on that 1st partRegards Chris
Hi Chris,
Just tripped over a halo. Can’t figure out whether it’s mine or yours! Oh well, us boys will be boys.
It was very difficult being a truck driver, writer and photographer all in one. People usually accept the lowest denominator i.e. driver whilst graciously considering the remaining two ‘abilities’ as nothing more than paying hobbies.
Fair enough but only because, as in this case, the publisher was paying the freelance fee. So, as in any business the supplier has to give a customer what it wants as opposed to what it thinks the client should have. You can try and persuade them otherwise but if they won’t bite, the freelance has to decide cheque or no cheque.
When that Kuwait story first appeared I was initially over the moon as my shot was on the front cover, something I had been trying to achieve for years. However, one of TRUCK’s staff (not George) commented ‘Yeah, but sales were down that month’.
Really?
In those days I can not recall any interest from publishers of the emotions drivers suffered or enjoyed. They were more interested in engine power, technical stuff, routes taken and dramatic photographs not the insane exploits in the driver’s, or anyone else’s, bedroom!
So from experience when one becomes constricted by a customer, there are three choices. Join their team, lead your own team or sod off in a truck somewhere and simply be your own team.
Maybe that is why TIR drivers on the M.E. run were a unique lonesome breed. And, still are!
Good luck
Laurence
http://www.laurencekiely.co.uk
"sales were down that month!!! " WTF fish do not swim in the sea the sun will not come up in the morning and we will never get another bad comment about Laurence on this thread. ( Laurance sorry mate i can not resist!) plenty of Kazack, russia, uzbeck boys on the site owe you plenty mate. they will speak up telling you they did cos of your tales. ps the tale about the LENOR fabric conditioner? MUST be and editor bit of fluff? yes/no? Brenics
Has a mag cover ever been better than the F12 on THAT front cover! Laurence i seem to remember seeing that truck at Lymm about 96/97? the whole front end was rusty from stone chips. whould this be correct? ish maybe? i hug around to see the driver but had to crack on (ex DUKES driver thanks.
knocked post in error.
newmercman:
Thanks Dreva, you’re correct, I am an ex TRUCK mag man, but that only means that I can string a sentence about lorries together, oh and I must be a half decent driver too or they wouldn’t have let me do Test Matches or Trans Euro TestsI can’t write about the M/E though, so I have to rely on the tales I hear on this forum, that’s where Saint Laurence comes in, he has the ability to tell a good story, he also has photographs, that’s what a lot of us want to see, it’s a bit silly when people we have a great deal of respect for start gobbing off saying that he ain’t all that, that many others have done more trips etc, well so [zb]ing what? Most of us on this forum haven’t been to the M/E, so if some of the so called M/E heroes think that one of their own is being held in too high a regard, what do they think of mere mortals like the rest of us
I just don’t get why anyone would try and shoot the man down, especially someone who knows exactly what goes on during a trip out east
but then again is that what really happened here, a few people, who by their own admission are not the best at putting their thoughts into words said a few things and now we’ve got up to five pages and most of it is bickering and ■■■■■■■■, so how about we all kiss and make up and let’s have some more stories and pictures of Laurence Kiely breaking down from Abu Dhabi to Zeebrugge
well said nmm i do feel some are slightly jeoulous so they have a dig. but never mind
Hi Laurence,
I can see what you are saying, it’s their ball so they pick the teams! Maybe they need a few more drivers/ex-drivers on their team to give them a more balanced out-look!
Regards Chris
more stories please 
Hello Lads, after ‘PRICKED’ part 1 of Long Distance Diary, Back To Kuwait part 2 is now on line.
http://www.laurencekiely.co.uk
Hope you enjoy
Best wishes
Laurence
So is Part 3. ‘A Long Way Home’
http://www.laurencekiely.co.uk
Please feel free to post your own stuff.
Hope you enjoy
Best wishes
Laurence
adr:
Hi Laurence,
I can see what you are saying, it’s their ball so they pick the teams! Maybe they need a few more drivers/ex-drivers on their team to give them a more balanced out-look!
Regards Chris
The team at TRUCK always had drivers on it AFAIK, during my time there the team, Andy Salter, Craig Sheer and myself had all come off the road to start at the magazine, you can’t get much more balanced than that
hello laurence just been reading back to kuwait really enjoyed it so please keep writing very interesting reading regards rward
rward:
hello laurence just been reading back to kuwait really enjoyed it so please keep writing very interesting reading regards rward
Cheers mate
Good luck
Laurence
http://www.laurencekiely.co.uk
Laurence:
I wouldn’t mind 10 Baht for every time i have serviced / repaired / MOT’d that truck and trailer !!
Just read your latest two instalments on your website Laurence, a most interesting read mate with some great pic’s too, thanks alot pal…
Steve.
newmercman:
adr:
Hi Laurence,
I can see what you are saying, it’s their ball so they pick the teams! Maybe they need a few more drivers/ex-drivers on their team to give them a more balanced out-look!
Regards ChrisThe team at TRUCK always had drivers on it AFAIK, during my time there the team, Andy Salter, Craig Sheer and myself had all come off the road to start at the magazine, you can’t get much more balanced than that
So did you three have any input into the stories or where you just sent where you were told?
I remember a journalist job being advertised many years ago, and thought, what a great crack, one of you must have got it!
As we have an aggregation of learned scribblers here, does anyone recall the article about Colin Johnson and a trip he did? At the time he had a white F12 Globetrotter and a red flat top F12 in Sea-Land livery. I drove the flat top for him for a couple or three trips soon after that but have mislaid my copy of the magazine. 
Laurence, I have just read ‘Back to Kuwait’ and ‘Good bye, Saudi, Hello Tunisia’, and it was interesting to see the difference between the magazine articles and your true version of events. By far It is better without the magazine slant!
Great reading, thank you!
Endit:
Laurence, I have just read ‘Back to Kuwait’ and ‘Good bye, Saudi, Hello Tunisia’, and it was interesting to see the difference between the magazine articles and your true version of events. By far It is better without the magazine slant!
Great reading, thank you!
Thank you Endit, I quite agree. The mag piece implied that ‘we’ went to Kuwait, ‘we’ shot the pix meaning the mag staff went with me! Heaven forbid. It was a solo operation as always.
Glad you enjoyed the latest duo.
Kind regards
Laurence
http://www.laurencekiely.co.uk
Great stuff Laurence, I remember the mag article first-time around. Excellent pics too.
Regards,
Mark.
brookie:
Great stuff Laurence, I remember the mag article first-time around. Excellent pics too.Regards,
Mark.
Cheers Mark, you are more than welcome
Regards
Laurence