Its July 1976, It all happened as I was a diesel fitter, Working on Artics ect ect, How do you Fancy Driving a truck to Iran was the question from a mate of mine, How much said I ■■? £500 for a couple of weeks work Graham replied, drive out, fly back, all expences paid, as many as you want to do… At that time I was working for the C.E.G.B at the new construction site for Grain power station, a good job taking home around £100 a week, did I really want to give it up, but £500 seemed to good to be true, so I agreed but only if I could get the time off work, so I went ahead and booked my 2 weeks holiday.
On the appointed Saturday, we met at East Peckham, Kent to pick up the truck, I arrived and found we were to deliver 12 new Ford D1000s, 6 chassis cabs and 6 tippers, now the guy who arranged it was a smart man, he had the Tippers mounted on the chassis cabs, welded RSJs across the chassis and fitted bottle screws on chains, It was not going to fall off, We were due to ship out Sunday afternoon, so off I went home with my truck, 1st time with a left ■■■■■■.
Ford D1000 Turbo at Aosta terminal taken July 1976 reg NHX785P
Sunday morning said my goodbyes and off to the blue yonder, well I was only 23 at the time, this was going to be the an adventure of a lifetime, arrived at Dover to find only 1 other of my new found buddies there, we waited and waited until at last they arrived. Our leader explained that when they came to go in the morning one of the trucks had,had the gearbox “nicked” overnight, They were aware who did it and it was returned and refitted, this was when I realised that these fellows did not mess around. On the ferry we went and off to Calais, we arrived and camped down for the night just outside the docks by the chemical plant, ( I can still remember the awfull smell. )
Not a good nights sleep, but I was ready to go, a quick brew on the Gaz burner and were away early the next morning, we got about 2ks down the road and were stopped, the dreaded French police, they wanted, documents, paperwork, permits, this I never knew about, but our leader seemed to pave the way with a handfull of Francs.
Now I was used to working an 8 hour day, with a couple of breaks and a lunch hour, we seemed to drive for ever Trucking now seemed not so rosy, We had no Tachos, no log books, and it seemed we ran on a wing and a prayer, apart from fuel stops and a couple of rolls and crappie French coffee, our first meal was to be at the “Bakehouse”., now memory fades with the years but I do recall leaving the Bakehouse after being fed and watered, the reason I recall this so clearly is I pulled out and drove of into the night, headlights coming in the opposite direction, They were heading straight for me, Stupid Frenchman I thought before realising I was on the wrong side of the road, ( only ever did this the one time ), We arrived at the Blonc, and for some reason I got seperated from the rest, not enough Francs to get through. as I was the “fitter” I was tail end charlie, where were the others for help, half way up the tunnel. I cabbed it on the French side and got some francs in the Morning and drove off to Italy, Arrived in Aosta ( told to give the customs man a carton of B&H ) where the 5 others had cleared customs, First shower in 2 days, this felt better, a good lunch, Irecall at Aosta one of the drivers was eating some canned Tuna, he said it tasted strange, I looked and noticed it was , wait for it, Tuna cat food, he had bought about 10 cans of it with him.he had eaten 2 before Aosta.
Again I can only write as remembered, We drove through northern Italy arrived just before the Italian/Yugo border near Trieste at the end of the Autostrada, I remember the truck in front being reversed into, this cracked his windscreen, small cracks all over the place. Into Yugo we went, more problems with customs, I was given £500 running money I think, how much “our leader” had was never known but he was always paying off someone, All I had to get was fuel and tolls, off we went to Zagrab, and again we were stopped, this time for driving at the wrong time of day, fined the the police, and told to stay until, whatever time, I do remember when the law left, there was a little fire where there car was, we looked and it was the copies of the fines receipts being burnt, another profitable back pocket days work for the Yugo police.
Across Yugoslavia I recall meeting a fellow brit with a TM Bedford with a swan neck low lowder and huge machine load, the swan neck had snapped from the floor of the trailer, he was stuck in a lay-by , we stopped at a Motel just before the Bulgi border, and walked to the local town that night, strange place, lots of young couples hand in hand, with both sets of parents in tow behind, they walked about 500 metres up main street crossed over and returned, this went on for about 3 hours, we drank very cheap beer and has some sort of stew, .
Next morning off to the border, cannot recall much, so assume not a problem, away we went, we arrived at the Bulgarian/ Turkish border at Kapicule, This is where the fun started, queues, more queues, then more queues, then onto a dirt compound, baking hot day, the customs post, this is where we were most of the day, Our leader went off in the morning and came back hours later,The Turks wanted some kind of huge bond paid for the tippers, big problems, we did not have enough cash. A deal was struck, when transiting Turkey the vehicle regisration number was written in your passport, when exiting, it was cancelled as transited through, we had to have another driver each for the tippers, If I remember correctly they were Albanians, they stayed with us to the Arch at Ararat, the Iranian border.
Into Turkey we went, and off to Istanbul, the end of Europe the beginning of Asia, I remember the terrible road on the Bosbrus bridge, it was full of ruts and potholes, on the Asian side of Istanbul the tarmac ended and the dust dirt road began, off we went direction Ankara, Ersiram, & Eriskan, and the dreaded
Tahir mountains, well we bounced, bumped, and found our way eastwards, met fallen brit trucks, ERFs, Ackkies, and a Guy warrior,.#
July at the Tahir pass was a scenic place, as long as you discounted the smashed up wrecks of various trucks, most been robbed of wheels and various other parts, over the top no problem, and down to Ararat, then head south to the Border, Through the border no problem, Tarmac roads on the Iranian side, drove through, down a slope and parked up in large lorry park on the left, customs was a 40ft container, by the border was large building and modern cafe,Twinings tea was had by all, back to the truck for the last leg to the compound at Tabriz, Small problem, truck broken into, my shoes stolen, on the floor was a very tatty old pair of shoes, mine were put into instant use.
We arrived at the compound that night, next morning we parked up “the fleet” and hung around for the next and only bus to Tehran that day, it was a night service, we arrived sometime in the morning, after a day in the Miami hotel we flew back to the UK via Pan Am.
I arrived back home 13 days 23 hours after leaving the UK.
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