Does anyone on here remember Dai Boon who used to drive for J+m? transport from Stormy Down,South Wales or Ioan Rees from Church Village an o/d,used to have a handful of lorries including transcons.Another name for some of you is Dai Morris(Dai Chains)from Porth,didn,t do the m/e as far as i know but had a few F88s transporting anchor chains.
I remember Dai Bolical…ha ha
the only welshman that springs to mind is Alfie with the big beard, cant think of his other name…there are many welsh drivers who did middle east, but what with alzeimers on me back door, its hard to remember them.
Does anyone remember Jerry Whelan from Fordingbridge a real character by all accounts, I bought his old Scania 140 off him he used to work then sub for Astrans?
Regards Pat
There was quite a few welsh firms doing m/e CVH had a few transcons and even more characters, and there was a real gentleman on Hicks cant remember his name he had a large white beard a real character.
Then there was Lewellan Phil or Dai he resembled blackbeard he had a BRS truck rental down in Qatar and about twenty of us in a juice cafe and in comes a white man (not sunburnt like us) and says i am looking for Mr Lewellen we looked around to where he was sitting and he was doing a runner ,the man was from BRS 
and as Lewelen said later it alway pays to sit next to a window
Hi Trucky,The Alfie you are thinking about is Alfie Jones. He drove for CVH for many years and now runs a bed and breakfast. It is called Journeys End and is on the main road through Trethomas opposit the speed camera between Newport and Caerphilly. He has not changed one little bit.
Hi Pat, Gerry Weelan sadly died of cancer a couple of years ago, leaving a young son and his south american wife. He is buried in a Churchyard in Feering Essex, where his aunt lived. He certainly was a one off and very independent.
Hi Clunk, Kevin Lewellin was as you say another who was up to all the tricks. He was allways trying to keep one step ahead of thoughs who were trying to catch him. the last i heard of kevin he was living in Spain.
If ever I see the words Wales, Middle East or Hicks the name Peter The Plater always springs to mind. What ever happened to him ? Peter Wall was one of the great characters of the eighties. Can anybody remember going into a toilet between Zeebrugge and Ankara and seeing the words The Plater was here ?
The Hicks drivers, along with Alfie Jones were all a great bunch of guys in fact you could always rely on a Welshman if you needed help, I never met a bad one.
Who can remember the Welsh owner driver who used to deliver 2 Jaguars down to the Middle East in a box trailer ?
There was some body called Colin from Wales but can’t remember him clearly.
I hope Jamie can answer some of this.
there was twin brothers who worked out of Port Talbot who run Jaguars to Istanbul, can’t remenber their names, but they were identical twins, who originated from Inverness.
More names from S. Wales, Eddie Nixon, Dai & Darren Blunt, Billy Russell. & Billy Thomas.
Dave.
davemackie:
there was twin brothers who worked out of Port Talbot who run Jaguars to Istanbul, can’t remenber their names, but they were identical twins, who originated from Inverness.More names from S. Wales, Eddie Nixon, Dai & Darren Blunt, Billy Russell. & Billy Thomas.
Dave.
Were they the two that did the switch on the Saudi border…? Two identical trucks & Identical loads ,one clean the other with the bootleg Scotch .One brother would clear the clean truck. Then they would swap number plates & papers & 12yr old malted would drive thru with no probs. I don’t think they ever got caught.
ainacs:
Does anyone remember Jerry Whelan from Fordingbridge a real character by all accounts, I bought his old Scania 140 off him he used to work then sub for Astrans?Regards Pat
I knew Jerry quite well,we seemed to run into each other now and again.
The last time I saw him,we were waiting to get on a ferry home from Z/brugge and we were sat in my cab having a brew and chewing the fat.When the call came to board,he leapt out of my motor,we went on board,crossed to Dover,and it wasn’t until I was driving out of Dover,I found Jerry’s wallet he’d left in my cab.Someone couriered it over to Astran to him,unfortunately I never saw him again,a great lad,sadly missed.RIP
mushroomman:
If ever I see the words Wales, Middle East or Hicks the name Peter The Plater always springs to mind. What ever happened to him ? Peter Wall was one of the great characters of the eighties. Can anybody remember going into a toilet between Zeebrugge and Ankara and seeing the words The Plater was here ?The Hicks drivers, along with Alfie Jones were all a great bunch of guys in fact you could always rely on a Welshman if you needed help, I never met a bad one.
Who can remember the Welsh owner driver who used to deliver 2 Jaguars down to the Middle East in a box trailer ?
There was some body called Colin from Wales but can’t remember him clearly.
I hope Jamie can answer some of this.
The only Hicks drivers I really got to know were the Hobbs brothers.The eldest was Dai,unfortunately he died in the Mocamp after a drinking session.Alan was the big quiet one with the beard,and the youngest was Bobby.
Bobby and I met up on the way to Baghdad one trip,delivering to a trade fair.We had to tip at the fair,then wait all week for the fair to finish,then bring all the gear back.We had a supply of whiskey so we spent a week sunbathing and drinking.
I put a letter in T&D about 12 months ago with my phone number for anyone who remembered me to ring.
I had a call from Bobby,as well as Alan Jones,and lan Shaw who I used to work with on Expo Freight.
Funny,I also got a call from some guy in Ireland who had never done M/E but wanted to talk about it!
It’s possible it could be the same two, they did pull some stunts, I could not tell the differance between them, when I asked which one are you, answer, I am the other one.
Beat That.
Dave.
The Terrible Twins from port talbot were called Hugh and George McLennan.
I spoke to George a few weeks ago, he was just home after a few months in hospital and is not in good health. Hugh is still living in port talbot. They certainly pulled some strokes over the years and sometimes it was really difficult to get them out of the east cliff hotel in dover to get them on a boat.
The Colin could have been Colin Jenkins from Chepstow who is still a good mate of Dave Clark from Cornwall.
Peter the plater married Maggie who worked behind the bar in the truck stop at dover docks. The last i heard they were living on the coast south of Izmir in Turkey. Apparently if you deposit around twenty grand sterling you can get about eighty pounds a week interest which allows you to live quite well in turkey.
Steady Eddie Nixon was working for Birds the last time i heard
Dai Blunt is working in the garage for his son Darren who trades as Dawn and Dusk at Risca
I have not seen or heard of Billy Russell since he collected Andrew Wilson Youngs Merc in Germany when Andrew took ill, I met him at Marria’s in greece and that was when i heard about andrews terminal illness, Billy was around sixty eight at that time.
Billy Thomas of Hafod Farm is still on the go although he also has not been to well lately. He has a Volvo FH12 and pulls a tipper trailer for a dover company running as far as france and benelux.
By the way Gavin, your old mucker dave chamberlain went to Bermuda last year for a holiday just think if you had met you woud not have got much work done.
If you want to Know any more useless info feel free to ask.
Ps Nick Garlick also has a load of my photo’s.
Regards Jamie
A Scot lost in the Valley’s.
I remember tales of Jerry with a chair called Loxlley that finally got run over by a Rumo!!!
Regards Pat
Useless info Jamie I think not 
Colin Jenkins, that name certainly rings a bell and Dave Clark from Cornwall .
I met Dave I.I.R.C. on his first trip on the continent when we were both week ending at Prater Vienna. He had a green Berliet then and after that he had a white Fiat/Iveco with a Cornish flag on the wind deflecter. He did Middle East for over 8 years and was another great guy to run with.
I was really pleased to hear the news about The Plater , I hope he is a very happy trainee Turk. I wonder if he has got a fleet of Tonkas 
.
Prater eh? that big wheel was fun, but not as much as the nightclubs on the Nordwestbahnhoffe Strasse 
Loved transitting Austria, loads of hitch hikers heading for the sun, funnily enough I never picked a bloke up