Just like to echo all the previous submissions in thanking John McVey and Mushrooman for taking the time and trouble in putting this really interesting tale from the past on here, really enjoyed it. Cheers Ed Marshall
Well McVicar that had me blubbing in my Sanatogen. Nothing great ever happened without some danger. And if the road of life is long and painful remember you only travel it once. Unless you were doing 2 stoke trunks a night. (Harif, Persian philosopher). I’m making my way slowly by narrowboat towards your patch, and when I get there you can get the beers in for an impoverished pensioner, do you still frequent the Legion in Fleetwood as your hostelry of choice? See you late June, have your drinking boots on, and get the steam cleaner on the inside of that cab before I inspect it.
They always did think you were a Turk out east with that cmm you had on your top lip. Say hello to your bride for me, saintly that lass.
Very sorry to hear about Bryn Howells.
Still as bonkers as ever then Reidy, you did mid and far east for years!!! so get writing, I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately and it might just help.
I hope all well with you and yours, see you soon, Mackers
Actually John you get a mention in the hard copy but I removed names before putting it in the public domain.
Anybody remember Cantrells?
johnmcvey:
Anybody remember Cantrells or “Cantrells Raiders” as they were known?
This firm was mentioned on another thread not so long ago.
Try here:
Me and me Missus is goin to Italy on Friday, goin over Mont Cenis so weather permitting (still snowing up there) will get some pics of the old cafe etc.
Any requests?
Mont Cenis ferme, BOOOOOOO!!!, good trip though, called in at Feblands old place, it’s still the same after 30 years, actually I paid a visit to Via Bovio a few years ago and was very sad to see that Walter’s was not only closed but the building was propped up as it was falling down, well I’m happy to report that it has now been re-built, not a restaurant though.
Well done John, excellent read - keep em coming.
Dimo
Re. Cantrells.
I have heard of them by name only. My dad used to run to M/E back in the early '70’s & mentioned Mick Brown who was on Cantrells.
jm
johnmcvey:
I wait and wait but you M/E guys don’t comment, c’mon let’s hear your stories!
John,
I will say it again,check on this link that was on my earlier post!
mushroomman:
Brilliant John, absolutely bloody brilliant
A few people have mentioned on here that there is no way that you can leave Turkey with your truck registration still in your passport without going through miles of red tape and after parting with loads of money. You are the third person who got away with this that I know of, as two Thor drivers from Stoke did this on their way back from India one Christmas in the early seventies and Alan Morrey who told me this would not of made it up as he was one of them.
Dropping a trailer while on the move anywhere is bad enough but while you are going over Mont Cenis, well the thought of what could of happened is scary just thinking about it.
It’s not only Katherine that has been looking after you all these years John and it sounds like she has done a really great job of it, it sounds like the Roman Gods were also smiling down on you that day.
Thanks for taking the time to write down this story and for sharing it with us and I hope that Kathleen and the Gods will look after you for many years to come.
Best regards Steve.
great memories, i drove “victoria and then erfula” for the late john willie,for whom it was a pleasure to work,but previously while driving for rjv international we had to get a kiwi out of turkey on a dodgy passport. i had never been so glad to leave kepik before. are there any lads reading this who were involved in the “battle of bekescaba”. i’m afraid my memory is so bad i can only remember little dave an o/d who pulled for hogsped, but an event that gave me nightmares for several years
exmoor badger:
great memories, i drove “victoria and then erfula” for the late john willie,for whom it was a pleasure to work,but previously while driving for rjv international we had to get a kiwi out of turkey on a dodgy passport. i had never been so glad to leave kepik before. are there any lads reading this who were involved in the “battle of bekescaba”. i’m afraid my memory is so bad i can only remember little dave an o/d who pulled for hogsped, but an event that gave me nightmares for several years
Hi “exmoor badger”, welcome to the Trucknet site , it doesn’t matter if all your memories are not 100% correct, there might be somebody on here who can clarify the incident. Mentioning something that happened over thirty years ago often triggers off memories for other people about similar situations that they had decades ago and have never even thought about them since they happened.
The Battle Of Bekescaba, near Gyula ? no I have never heard of it before but I hope that you are going to share it with us .
( It was nothing to do with some Turks and a bunch of Finn Wheels drivers was it 
)
Regards Steve.
The battle at Bekeskaba, this came about when the Hungarians decided to park transit traffic off the main road, on the side road behind an old airfield.
The Turks were queue jumping & when some Brits objected fists started flying, along came the Hungarian Police who took the Turk side & started to beat the Brit Drivers up, before long all hell broke loose & they called for backup, the situation was rapidly going out of control when some senior officers turned up & calmed things down.
It was believed that the Turks were backhanding the Police to allow them to jump the queue.
The Dave you mentioned was Dave Richmond, he got a head injury from a Police Baton
Hope this helps.
Dave.
Is this you Exmoor Badger? Its a nice picture of “Victoria” anyway.
a good picture of the old girl, but not me driving. i started for john when dave paulton left. victoria pulled better the more weight you had on, i loaded out of derby with cigarette filters for plovdiv, when i went over the weighbridge in dover we were 45.5 ton, we were plated for 32 ton, slight overload. that trip i ran down with steady eddie, dai blunt and ithink dave chamberlain. they soon left me behind every morning but by the time the first kettle was boiled at the breakfast stop i would roll up. after victoria idrove the MAN for a while but hated it with a passion, so john swapped , he drove the MAN and i had erfula. B269 KLV , with the 14 litre big cam ■■■■■■■ and the eaton twin split . that truck never let me down to when i finished when john died. Victoria had changed colour when i drove her, she was either grey or dark blue, but i can’t remember which. my memory is terrible i blame the efes
exmoor badger:
i loaded out of derby with cigarette filters for plovdiv, when i went over the weighbridge in dover we were 45.5 ton, we were plated for 32 ton, slight overload.
what year would that have been? between about 94 and 97 I used to give that work out, and john willie did some of them, via hogsped iirc
it would have been about 18 months to 2 years before john died, i reloaded out of plovdiv as well ,when i left customs the man from the factory gave my papers to a youngster to give to me, he started demanding 50 dm and in the heated debate he pulled aknife and i ended up with a hole in my arm . i managed to hit him with my bat ,he dropped the knife and luckily all my papers and carnet and ran off. i cant remember what i had on but i know it wasnt shoes
jj72:
exmoor badger:
i loaded out of derby with cigarette filters for plovdiv, when i went over the weighbridge in dover we were 45.5 ton, we were plated for 32 ton, slight overload.what year would that have been? between about 94 and 97 I used to give that work out, and john willie did some of them, via hogsped iirc
what made those filters so heavy? iknow i would have had 3000 litres in my belly tank and 500 on the unit, but my food box wasn’t that heavy!!!