As we know theres plenty of great stories on here regarding Italy, Spain, Middle East etc etc, but nothing about Scandinavia. Who used to do Sweden, Denmark Finland or Norway in the 60’s 70’s or even 80’s? or were you all just chasing the sun south? Obviously plenty of photos would be a bonus 
Theres gotta be some stories somewhere!
kindle530:
As we know theres plenty of great stories on here regarding Italy, Spain, Middle East etc etc, but nothing about Scandinavia. Who used to do Sweden, Denmark Finland or Norway in the 60’s 70’s or even 80’s? or were you all just chasing the sun south? Obviously plenty of photos would be a bonus
I moved to Sweden at the end of 76’ but had to wait 1 year before i could get my UK HGV licence transferred over to a Swedish one. Drove for a few transport firms. Max Magnussons Internationalla Transport, Stockholm was one and Fredens, Sundbyberg was another. I also started for a bloke who had a DAF 2800 (very unusual in Sweden at the time) wagon and drag. He expected two trips a week from Stockholm to the very north of Sweden (Malmberget, Kiruna etc.) That’s a 2,500 km round trip TWICE a week! He said that he would tip and reload the vehicle at the Stockholm end. I started the journey on the sunday and when I got back to Stockholm on the wednesday, he said that I was late and was supposed to be back on the tuesday. It being winter time most of the journey was on ice covered roads so to do two a week seemed a pretty unrealistic request so I told him where to stick the job!
I returned to the UK in 1981 but when I later worked for Ridgeway Int. used to be given any Scandinavian runs that came up. They had a yearly run up to near Kiruna (Jukkasjarvi) always at the beginning of winter where I would take rockets to the Swedish Space Agency. They would fire these rockets off in the wintertime when the lakes were frozen over so that they could recover parts for analysis after the launch. They apparently paid the local reindeer herders for any bits that they found.
Hi all.I think one of the problems in Scandinavia was that the distances were so long and the further north you go the less backloads there are so it was maybe not so interesting for UK companies.Added to this is the climate which puts an added strain on transport.I have a mate who was one of the first English to run regularly to Sweden in the late 60s,early 70s.He said there were only a handful of companies running Scandinavia among them R.K.Neal and Frigoscandia.He only went as far as Stockholm where his load,and more would be transferred to the local 25m trucks for onward delivery.This still seems to be the case in general.I see very few foreign trucks this far north.The only trucks that are regularly in the north are fridges going to North Norway with veg\fruit,and backloading fish.In the winter i see a few specialist car transporters,French,German,and Kentvale going to Jokmokk and other places for testing models in winter conditions.There are a few east block trucks delivering to the mining industry and thats about it.
Also if you look at the history you see that the scandinavian countries were well into shipping unaccompanied trailers over to the UK as early as the 60s.
I ran a truck down to Danmark last week for a mate and as far down as Sunsvall there were very few foreign trucks to be seen apart from the odd east block.You see the same in Finland and Norway past Tampere and Trondheim.Mike
when i was at sykes bulk liquids huddersfield one of the lads went up to northern sweden with a day cab crusader it would have been 70s as it was a M reg and he had not had it long and it was winter as he had to go over a frozen lake to get there as that was the only way in
gregs:
when i was at sykes bulk liquids huddersfield one of the lads went up to northern sweden with a day cab crusader it would have been 70s as it was a M reg and he had not had it long and it was winter as he had to go over a frozen lake to get there as that was the only way in
I can tell who was i know him very very well it was my dad Cabbie
in fact i have a photo of it here of it in sweden
flickr.com/photos/16563667@N … hotostream
][/img]
cabbie jr:
gregs:
when i was at sykes bulk liquids huddersfield one of the lads went up to northern sweden with a day cab crusader it would have been 70s as it was a M reg and he had not had it long and it was winter as he had to go over a frozen lake to get there as that was the only way inI can tell who was i know him very very well it was my dad Cabbie
in fact i have a photo of it here of it in sweden
I remember one of Tom and Jerry’s drivers a.k.a. Thompson Jewitt from Nottingham telling me that they often went somewhere in Skandinavia back in the 70/80’s.
Did nt red leader 1 Alan Woods drive for some Swedish outfit KG Trans or something like that ,not heard of him for years. Crow.
Hi all.I vaguely remember someone posting on here some time ago about Alan Woods[don’t call me red leader] 
As far as i know he is [or was]living in the southern part of Sweden, i think round Gothenbourg.Mike
Hi all!Just have had a look in an old swedish truckmagasin from june 2000 there was a englisch guy called Allan wood who worked for a company called Autofrakt in a town called Kristianstad in the southeast of sweden.
They did trips to the eastblock and evan Azerbadjan,Kaszakstan,Russia and they had about 10 trucks.
But this was 12 years ago,and i dont evan know if the company exist annymore…
Regards Danne
hutpik:
Hi all.I vaguely remember someone posting on here some time ago about Alan Woods[don’t call me red leader]
cabbie jr:
gregs:
when i was at sykes bulk liquids huddersfield one of the lads went up to northern sweden with a day cab crusader it would have been 70s as it was a M reg and he had not had it long and it was winter as he had to go over a frozen lake to get there as that was the only way inI can tell who was i know him very very well it was my dad Cabbie
in fact i have a photo of it here of it in sweden
Hi cabbie jr does your dad come on here as I worked with him at Sykes for around 10 years
cheers Johnnie 
On the other side of the coin ,my long gone Dad was in Bolton Abattoir one Saturday at the back end of 1968-I was 12 then- and he said there was an artic from Finland with a 6 wheel unit it must have been Scania or Volvo I presume,delivering sides of pork and I can recall him saying it had two men on it ,a bed in the cab and strangely the back axle lifted up and thinking that surely these blokes must need double drive in that climate but this one seemed not to be.In the late 80’s I ocasionally saw an F12 wagon and drag fridge parked in Skelmersdale possibly delivering cheese, from Norway or Sweden and one Saturday in 1991 I was on the M1 running into Leeds and a DAF 16tonner fridge from Narvik was heading south.
I used to do Scandinavia pretty regularly a few years ago.I used to load fruit and veg on Friday in Holland and then run up to Rostock(not a lot of sleep) and catch the 0500hrs boat to Hanko in Finland 26hrs sail (plenty of sleep).Unload Helsinki Sunday morning,park up and go to the pub.Load Monday morning with flat pack milk cartons for Drammen in Norway and run to Naantali and take the boat to Kappelskar in Sweden.Drive across Sweden to Norway,unload Drammen run to Oslo and load fruit for Trondheim,unload Trondheim and load fish back for Demark, Holland or France. I really enjoyed working up there,I found the people in all the Scandinavian countries very easy to get along with.It was a bit difficult in the winter but more than compensated for in the beautiful summers.
Hi all.Tony,was that for a Dutch company 
as i used to do the same sort of work when i worked for A.P Rodenburg out of Waddinxveen.Just being curious. 
Mike
In the early 70s i used to deliver ship engines to Kockums shipyard at Malmo from WH Allen at Bedford. This was when i worked for E Hull Ltd from Bedford. Went in either a KM Bedford 6 wheel flatbed or an S39 Foden artic. Caught the Tor Line ferry from Immingham to Gothenburg then drove down to Malmo.Took about 4 days round trip if my memory serves me well
Hi all.Eric,coincidence but an old mate of mine who also lived in Holland used to do Scandinavia in the 70s for Frigoscandia Kings Lynn.He was also from Lincs,Conningsby.Mike
hutpik:
Hi all.Tony,was that for a Dutch company
Hi hutpic,yes, I worked for a few Dutch companies.I worked for a small company in Tiel, Arjan van Toorn who is a friend of mine,his main work was containers and flowers but as he knew I didn’t like that work too much he subbed me out to S.T.International from Poeldijk who did the Scandinavian work.I had done some Swedish work before when I worked for Harry Vos (dirty harry).We used to load tyres from Clermont Ferrand and deliver to Michelin at Kungalv,then run across to Oskarsham and load Scania cabs for their plant in Angers.As I wrote before I really enjoyed working with the Scandinavian people.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Did nt red leader 1 Alan Woods drive for some Swedish outfit KG Trans or something like that ,not heard of him for years. Crow.
Hi Geoff, Alan Woods is now living in Milton Keynes, spoke with him last year.
Dave.
I worked 9 year’s for a Belgian fridge company doing mainly France-Scandinavia.
We ran regularly upto Trondheim,Namsos,Bergen,Tromso & Oslo.
Also Göteborg,Jönköping,Uppsala,Varberg, Stockholm & of course all of Denmark…
I even had a job offer from a company In Halden (Norway,but only just).
Great days.