I have a typed up report of a trip to Tehran in one of the company’s Volvo F88’s written by a C.Davies,who I beleive worked for Ailsa Trucks.
The report was going to be made into a drivers TIR handbook compiled by Ailsa and is dated 16/7/1975.
There are no details of the driver who accompanied C.Davies,only an initial,but it tells of the trials and tribulations of the two week journey to Tehran,including Mr Davies having to return to Felixstowe by ferry to have the carnet stamped whilst the truck waited in Zeebrugge.
If I get time I will copy it here,if anyone is interested in reading it (it runs to several dozen pages)
My brother obtained the report when he worked as a mechanic at Heathrow Commercials,a Volvo dealer.
trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. … ht=#202486
Alec thats mentioned here used to work for mc neils he is now running between glasgow and arnhem for mtl ill send u his phone no but pm but ill have to ask him first ok (he did retire but after about two months the wife kicked him out to work again he,s now 70) klunk
klunk/■■■■■■■■ http://trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=202486&highlight=#202486
Alec thats mentioned here used to work for mc neils he is now running between glasgow and arnhem for mtl ill send u his phone no but pm but ill have to ask him first ok (he did retire but after about two months the wife kicked him out to work again he,s now 70) klunk
Don’t think it was Alec that was involved,the report mentions ‘F’ as the driver of the F88 and ‘W’ as the driver of an F89.
Hi Keith, I used to also work with Fred Archer, I think after you!. I took over ginger’s 112 c reg when it was 3 months old and drove it until his debacle with Glyn Davies. Regarding John Mc Neill of Glasgow they had a lot of trucks on the middle east run mainly to teheran in the early to mid seventies. They were owned by a company called Arbuckle Smith but the trucks were run as john mc neill they also hired trucks from Salford Van Hire and Heron truck rental. they even sent Guy big j day cabs to teheran. Some of their drivers were often drinking their running money and by the time someone brought out more money to them their tab was more than the money that had been sent out and so gave the firm quite a reputation. The company also done a lot of work for Kellogs the corn flakes company I think they stopped running to the middle east late 75 or early 76. regs Jamie.
M&C Jamie:
Hi Keith, I used to also work with Fred Archer, I think after you!. I took over ginger’s 112 c reg when it was 3 months old and drove it until his debacle with Glyn Davies.
That must have been long after I left,the X reg 112’s that Ollie Dickens and I had were the newest trucks on the fleet at the time.
I take it from your username that you probably worked for M&C out of Braintree,do you know a guy from Braintree called Roger (cant remember his surname) but he was driving Germany with a V10 Maggie for Trans UK just before they went down the pan,then started doing a bit of M/E for M&C.
He then went to work for Fred after I left and had a LHD Merc twin steer,haven’t seen him since.
Hi Keith, I do not recall a Roger with M&C, but then I was in an office job from mid 80 to mid 83 before returning to driving with Mervyn. which would be about the time that roger was there. Fred still had the left ■■■■■■ Merc when I was there it was the only lhd he had. Last I heard of Fred he was trading as Ultrahaul based in maningtree and running to Russia about 10 years ago. regds Jamie.
Hi jamie found a pic is this the same m&c this lads name i think was solicitor John the other guy on the right is called Mick from howell and taylors taken at the telex motel Ankara klunk
Hi klunk, the guy on the left is definately John Leighton who is a qualified lawyer. He gave up his practice where he and his wife were earning somewhere in the region of 35k each (this was in the early 80s) to buy a truck. He was in partnership witha guy called Kenny Lewis I think that was his surname? as he was known as " egg on legs "( not kenny who posts on here) they operated out of the lincoln area. Anyway there was a fall out over money going missing and they split up. John had an F12 globetrotter at the time that he was about to lose, so he asked Mervyn if he would take on the payments and he would come and drive it. As Mervyn had just got rid of his F10 and F12 after having major problems with them there was no way he would take on another. So John came to drive for M&C and drove various trucks until he ended up with 199X as in the picture. He could be away for months at a time as mervyn would keep turning him round as he loved the job. He told me one day that unless he went back to his profession within the next six months that he would lose his right to practice law (or something like that) so he left driving and went to work with a practice in Oxford and so ended the exploits of lawyer John as a middle east truck driver. regd’s Jamie.
Cheers Jamie for the info regarding john he was a gentleman its surprising what i can find now i have scanned most of my pics going back 32 years i have just sent a cd of pics to a man i did a trip with and he did not take any pics and he only did one trip plus he found me thru this website so cheers trucknetuk
Geoff:
M&C Transport had the first 3 19.321 MAN s in the country as they were a special order direct with factory.
They didnt come to the uk for another year
Where did Crisp Transport run from? Birmingham I presume because I came home on the ferry on Friday with a driver who worked for them and then went to LOBO and Falcongate.
Wheel Nut:
… I came home on the ferry on Friday with a driver who worked for them and then went to LOBO and Falcongate.
I think Kenny Bowkett AKA “egg on Legs” worked for LOBO…also drove for Lawrabian running out of a yard on the A13 and I believe Astran… He lives in Thailand now but still posts on here occasionaly…he is a mate of Truckyboy…who im sure will be along soon to explain a few things!!
M&C Jamie:
Last I heard of Fred he was trading as Ultrahaul based in maningtree and running to Russia about 10 years ago. regds Jamie.
I think Fred has been retired for some time now,but you’re right,he was trading under the name Ultrahaul and an old friend of mine from my day’s on Goodways was driving M/E for Fred right up until the early 90’s.
His name is Joe Richards,lived in Felixstowe,and had never driven abroad until he started with Fred.
