Hullo Biffo,
If your real name is Hughie, then you must be Hughie Ashton ? The last time I saw you we ran home from Greece together, used the Ferry to Italy and ran up the national roads then over Mont Cenis. You were in one of TFs Volvoseither an F10 or F!2, I was in my old red DAF 2800. Good to see you`re still around. As a matter of interest the last time I saw Mickey Chinnock was also on Mont Cenis, I was on my way into Italy and he was on the Italian side on his way home in a green and yellow Volvo, broken down half way up the mountain, and parked up just down the road a bit, running with him, was that other old villain Ronnie Parrish, in an old ex Shell, six legger Scammel Handyman.
Cheers, Archie.
Hi Biffo
If u are Mr Ashton get in touch via a PM u know me
Roger ( Rita) Haywood
sinbin31:
Hi BiffoIf u are Mr Ashton get in touch via a PM u know me
And me, we loaded in Hungary for Ring on Gelderd Road.
adrian gray:
Hello Everyone, Just been speaking to Terry Tott (ex Middle East) and he asked if I could put on a post on here to see if any of you remember or know where Mick Chinnick is. Mick drove for Onyx Freight of the Middle East during the 70’s and he was a bit of a character. The last thing Terry heard about him was that he was in Turkey and had problems with the police over there - this was about 20 years ago. Terry and his wife Carol would like to get in touch with him, so any news good or bad would be very much appreciated.
It was Oryx freight.
I met Micky Chinnock on several occasions in between his trips to M/E for Fred Archer,I was driving Commie Bloc for Fred.
I remember Mick went missing for a few months on a trip to Saudi,Fred could find no trace of him and didn’t know whether he was alive or dead,or in prison.Then out of the blue Mick phoned up one day to say he’d sorted out a reload and told Fred to book the ferry,and that he’d be finishing when he got back.
It transpired that he’d been doing internals in Saudi,made himself a shed load of money (using Fred’s truck) and decided to come home.
Fred was not at all pleased!
RIP Mick.
Hi Biffo, Just had a chat with Totty and he remembers you well. He recalls that you used to drive a 6 wheel Volvo 89 and it was always cleaner than a brand new spanker - thats how you earned your nickname. Terry has pictures of if you would like me to post them. And, he has also said that I can forward his number to you if you want a chat about the good old days.
PS Does anyone know where Noel (Magpie) is?
The last I heard he was still on Funstons as yardman & occasional van driver but that was at least 4 yrs ago.
So my next question is for any of you Funstons ex drivers or anyone that still works for them, do any of you know Noel aka Magpie? As Totty would love to get in contact with him.
Got to know Noel quite well on the M/E.Last time I saw him was about 26 years ago when he helped me change a wheel at Irun on the way home from Spain.
I met him on swingin’ beef in Algeria.
hello this is tony yates ex euro route and whitetrux remember him well one of lives charctures. a good friend nasty man to upset but i found him always there for you if you needed help. while i am on does anyone know what robert and Alan Hobbs are up to last time i saw them they were both working for hicks of south wales
sorry to hear chinnock gone, never a dull moment with him around even if he was a bit nuts. ran home with him one time after bumping into him in hungary, he had loaded coffins in rumo. i think he was drivin for ian snodgrass at time. anyway he had extra coffin on the roof of his cab, when asked he said it was for snoddy when he got back if he did not pay him what he owed. when we arrived in dover the police would not let him out of the dock until he removed it from the top of his cab. he just fastened it under the trailer and carried on.
benny:
sorry to hear chinnock gone, never a dull moment with him around even if he was a bit nuts. ran home with him one time after bumping into him in hungary, he had loaded coffins in rumo. i think he was drivin for ian snodgrass at time. anyway he had extra coffin on the roof of his cab, when asked he said it was for snoddy when he got back if he did not pay him what he owed. when we arrived in dover the police would not let him out of the dock until he removed it from the top of his cab. he just fastened it under the trailer and carried on.
I am also sorry to hear Micky has passed away ,as you say 'One of life’s characters ’ he never did me any harm altho when I met him in Matashinos he had given up bashing up people who had missed the payments. I liked the man.
Hi everyone, great to see this post being looked at again. As you can remember it was Terry Tott (Totty or Jellytot) who originally asked me to put this post on (if you remember him let me know and I will put you in touch ex M/E Astran and also Totts International Transport). I have been keeping him up to date with everything that has been posted so far both good and bad. I am going to contact Terry sometime this week so that I can post some of his tales about him…Keep ya posted 
anthony yates:
hello this is tony yates ex euro route and whitetrux remember him well one of lives charctures. a good friend nasty man to upset but i found him always there for you if you needed help. while i am on does anyone know what robert and Alan Hobbs are up to last time i saw them they were both working for hicks of south wales
Hi Tony,
A couple of years ago I put a letter in T & D mentioning some of the old names I used to meet up with 30 odd years ago while on the M/E.
You know how it was,some people you met every trip,some people you heard about but never met no matter how many years you did the job.
I mentioned the Hobbs brothers in my letter to T & D,and lo and behold,a week or two later I gat a call from Bobby Hobbs who I knew better than Dai or Alan.(I was in the Londra Mocamp the night that Dai passed away).Bobby is now working for a firm in Gloucester I believe.Never got to ask what Alan was up to these days.
I also had calls from Alan Jones,(we followed each other from one firm to another),Alan Shaw from Expo Freight,and a letter of reply in T & D from Chris Hooper,we worked together on Expo Freight.
me and mickey go back a long way and we worked together for roy bradford on lawrabian freight…i wont go into all the details but he involved me in his escapades on more than one occasion but i told him i wouldnt help him fight his battles if i wasnt there to see it started…and most of the time it was him wanting to fight after hed had a few beers…
he was smuggling big time…and through him i got arrested and got a 6 year stretch…even though i was innocent…he set me up big time…and i took the rap alone…the drug squad was after him and mentioned him when i was arrested…but the turks wasnt very happy that he tried to double cross them…for greed…and set him up on his next trip to turkey after doing a runner from the uk police…and serves him right…he cost me big time…and made my family suffer big time…i say good riddance to a piece of scum,…a lot of people played up to him because of his reputation…but we got on well cos i often told him the truth…i spoke to an old m/e driver a short while ago and he knew chinnock, and told me he had seen him in our yard in crayford…working for an agency for sainsburys…how true that is i dont know…but the driver is reliable…dont hold your breath…he could still be around…
me and mickey go back a long way and we worked together for roy bradford on lawrabian freight…i wont go into all the details but he involved me in his escapades on more than one occasion but i told him i wouldnt help him fight his battles if i wasnt there to see it started…and most of the time it was him wanting to fight after hed had a few beers…
he was smuggling big time…and through him i got arrested and got a 6 year stretch…even though i was innocent…he set me up big time…and i took the rap alone…the drug squad was after him and mentioned him when i was arrested…but the turks wasnt very happy that he tried to double cross them…for greed…and set him up on his next trip to turkey after doing a runner from the uk police…and serves him right…he cost me big time…and made my family suffer big time…i say good riddance to a piece of scum,…a lot of people played up to him because of his reputation…but we got on well cos i often told him the truth…i spoke to an old m/e driver a short while ago and he knew chinnock, and told me he had seen him in our yard in crayford…working for an agency for sainsburys…how true that is i dont know…but the driver is reliable…dont hold your breath…he could still be around…
me and mickey go back a long way and we worked together for roy bradford on lawrabian freight…i wont go into all the details but he involved me in his escapades on more than one occasion but i told him i wouldnt help him fight his battles if i wasnt there to see it started…and most of the time it was him wanting to fight after hed had a few beers…
he was smuggling big time…and through him i got arrested and got a 6 year stretch…even though i was innocent…he set me up big time…and i took the rap alone…the drug squad was after him and mentioned him when i was arrested…but the turks wasnt very happy that he tried to double cross them…for greed…and set him up on his next trip to turkey after doing a runner from the uk police…and serves him right…he cost me big time…and made my family suffer big time…i say good riddance to a piece of scum,…a lot of people played up to him because of his reputation…but we got on well cos i often told him the truth…i spoke to an old m/e driver a short while ago and he knew chinnock, and told me he had seen him in our yard in crayford…working for an agency for sainsburys…how true that is i dont know…but the driver is reliable…dont hold your breath…he could still be around…
anthony yates:
hello this is tony yates ex euro route and whitetrux remember him well one of lives charctures. a good friend nasty man to upset but i found him always there for you if you needed help. while i am on does anyone know what robert and Alan Hobbs are up to last time i saw them they were both working for hicks of south wales
Hi Tony, been on the phone to Terry this morning and he seems to recall your name from the past. Will try and get a photo of Terry in his younger days to see if you recognise him.
truckyboy:
me and mickey go back a long way and we worked together for roy bradford on lawrabian freight…i wont go into all the details but he involved me in his escapades on more than one occasion but i told him i wouldnt help him fight his battles if i wasnt there to see it started…and most of the time it was him wanting to fight after hed had a few beers…
he was smuggling big time…and through him i got arrested and got a 6 year stretch…even though i was innocent…he set me up big time…and i took the rap alone…the drug squad was after him and mentioned him when i was arrested…but the turks wasnt very happy that he tried to double cross them…for greed…and set him up on his next trip to turkey after doing a runner from the uk police…and serves him right…he cost me big time…and made my family suffer big time…i say good riddance to a piece of scum,…a lot of people played up to him because of his reputation…but we got on well cos i often told him the truth…i spoke to an old m/e driver a short while ago and he knew chinnock, and told me he had seen him in our yard in crayford…working for an agency for sainsburys…how true that is i dont know…but the driver is reliable…dont hold your breath…he could still be around…
So ‘watch this space’ - he still may be around then. It sounds as if you had a bad time with him. Talking to Terry earlier Terry said that it was whenever he had a beer that there was trouble. He remembers going to a well known club in London for a night out and they very nearly got arrested as Mickey had had some beers. Funnily enough though as Terry recalls he always behaved himself with the customs officials !!!. Terry knew him in the late 60’s early 70’s and he did not think he was into drugs then, beer yes, but not drugs. So… My question now is…
Does anyone know if Mick Chinnick ex-middle east is dead or alive■■?