Those of us who had the fortune or misfortune to work internal have loads of memories and I think we put our experience in UK transport of the time to good use and that was I think what helped us "fit in " …and being realistic it was a whole new ball game to which about 15 % of blokes found it hard to cope and consequently pulled the pin !!!1
One of my best memories was something that I will never likely experience again was with SARAMAT we had a compound in the Jeddah port which was chockablock full of trailers from our last 2 ferries but the customs would,nt release them for some unknown reason … anyway word came in during the day that we were going to get them so every available tractor and driver were ordered to stand by we all started to line up 3 abreast in front of the office where believe it or not were 53 units lined up like it was the grand pris then about 7.00 that evening just after dark we got the flag down it was like a well oiled VOLVO snake out of the depot down to the docks and get as many trailers back as quick as we could and to empty the compound it was an amazing sight of course as the night wore on it became a bit dis organised but we got it done in the end but… picture it lads 53 6x4 Volvo s in close convoy …
I just felt like sharing that
YES like it backsplice now re-wind and start from the beginning just like i did right from where ,and how you got the job , you may think who on earth wants to know that =well ido .it is not to compare it is knowing what other men did different from yourself, or myself.its social history…
Does anybody know if any of the 52 f89s still exist anywhere today. Now that would be a good project to import m8 
Didn’t know Saramat did tilts, Backsplice! Were they used for overland work, or just ‘internals’? Robert 
Hi Robert … the tilts I dragged or saw were brought in on the SARAMAT Ro-Ro ferries from Greece I .ve stripped a few in the heat not good but all part of the fun …it was all fun ■■?
backsplice:
Hi Robert … the tilts I dragged or saw were brought in on the SARAMAT Ro-Ro ferries from Greece I .ve stripped a few in the heat not good but all part of the fun …it was all fun ■■?
Ah yes! I had forgot the unaccompanied trailer freight option. I think Unispeed fridges came in like that too. Robert
Further to one of my previous Taseco posts regarding the writing of doggerels and rubbish insulting rhymes about each other, I attach here, another, written by the bearded fellow who wrote off the Senior Ops Manager’s car and appears beside said wreck in a previous posting.
Entilted : Dear John.
Here I sit, all alone, now my mates have all gone home. What the hell am I to do, working in this Saudi zoo?
I came out here to earn some bread. “A piece of cake” my mate Vic said.
I’ve done a year and had some fun, larking about in this land of sun. I’ve flown a car(!!) and watched some “blues” and filled my head with loads of booze.
I shared a drum with Mart’ and Ron. We somehow seemed to soldier on.
But now twelve months have nearly passed. They say it’s time to be “re classed!” Twice the work and half the pay. And ONLY 6 weeks holiday!!
The boss and I we don’t agree. The reasons plain for all to see. He calls the tune and thinks I’ll dance. Well as to that…There’s … all chance!
he sits up there in his Ivory Tower, playing at god with plenty of power.
I’ll bide my time for a few months more, just to keep from getting poor.
Then naff off home to good old Blighty and pray each night to god almighty-
Thank you god for delivering me, from that land of insanity. But before I die, just one small favour. To meet with M. A thing I’d savour.
To give him my true adulation, for all his time and consideration!
I’m going to kick 6 bags of … out of the old … really but it didn’t rhyme!!
To quote a well remembered Ron Hawkins saying…" It makes you think you don’t know what to think!!"
Salam Alykhum …When I went out at first it was on a Saudi Air DC10 …myself and another lad knocked off a bottle of scotch ( we took it aboard ) during the flight early in the morning about 4.00 am we were coming into land and while circling Jeddah thee neon lights were everywhere and shining on a big lake it looked great …Our reception committee was a no show and we had to get a couple of crates of spares cleared and muggins here got lumbered into sorting it out anyway dawn broke the crates arrived so we needed to sort out a Taxi to Mina Road and get the crates there too
on stepping out the heat (and “aroma” ) we sorted out that part headed off to the Depot well the "lake " in the colsd light of day was dirty… smellie car bodies and a couple of dead cattle etc that was first impression No1 …Into depot allocated room… Shower and breakfast of eggs sausage and breakfast beef ( no bacon !!!) …I remember in particular wandering around finding my bearings and selecting a tractor unit and I could hear soulful country western music drifting from behind the workshop it was a mechanic sitting in the morning sun looking as miserable as sin very unhappy full of doom and gloom …not a good start on day one !! anyway was told just to acclimatize myself for a few days Then it was face the Tonkas etc get used to left HD and start learning the lingo …and the perks it did,nt take long after numerous scares■■?
Mah Salam inshalah … wirrlinmerlin …only keeping the thread going hope you don,t mind its not a highjack !!!
No highjack worries. The more input the merrier that’s what I say.
When I first went out in 1980, it was in a 747, called, if I remember rightly, “Paddy Zulu”. Apparently it was British Airways most profitable aircraft, and had been going back and forward London to Dharan every day for as long as anybody could remember. It was so warn out that if you looked out of the window at the wings you could watch some of the rivets revolving with the vibration. My biggest impression about that flight was the absolute quiet and the misery on the faces of the lads going out, in complete contrast to the happy smiling exuberance of those on the return journey.
Wirlinmerlin:
No highjack worries. The more input the merrier that’s what I say.
When I first went out in 1980, it was in a 747, called, if I remember rightly, “Paddy Zulu”. Apparently it was British Airways most profitable aircraft, and had been going back and forward London to Dharan every day for as long as anybody could remember. It was so warn out that if you looked out of the window at the wings you could watch some of the rivets revolving with the vibration. My biggest impression about that flight was the absolute quiet and the misery on the faces of the lads going out, in complete contrast to the happy smiling exuberance of those on the return journey.
It was indeed Paddy Zulu, Merlin. Above the door (inside) was signwritten, ‘Paddy Zulu, Dhahran’s own 747’. it was at least 15 years old and had previously belonged to Aer Lingus. BA spent nothing on it in the cabin. I may be wrong but I’m not sure it even had in flight movies. (the VC10s that ran once or twice a week in addition certainly didn’t). I used it as an example to calm anyone’s fears about flying. It was in the air 14 hours a day, seven days a week. Much safer than the drive to the airport! Not sure that psychology actually worked.
You’re also right about the miserable faces. If you were next to - say - a Caribbean flight of holidaymakers in the departure lounge, the difference in the two groups of passengers would be palpable, Joy versus Misery, total silence in our group!
It must have been very profitable. there were no cheap seats - two or three times the price of a New York flight (the same distance). And if you booked ‘Club Class’, which was just ‘nobody in the centre seat’ in a row of 3, and they were busy, they filled the centre seats as well and you didn’t get a refund!
The Saudia alternative was the same price. You were less likely to be crushed, but of course, no drinks.
No use trying to go via Bahrain, prices there were fixed too. I once went on Quantas via Bahrain and I was paying 3 times what the lady next to me was - and she was going to Australia!
John
I remember my first trip home was with BA VC10 the drinks were served before the wheels were up ■■?.. I was sitting opposite a Saudi who ordered a large Scotch I said Allah Shouft !! he said he was down there I,m up here so make of that what you can !! we could go on for ages about stuff butv better to remember in small sections
attached a couple more pics from these days the first is L to R myself a lad from Grangemouth and a Cunard driver the next is desert a la carte on the gourmet kitchen ■■? and the last one is another tilt for robert52
Nice! Robert 
Nice pictures.
The one having dinner on the fuel tank with the gas bottle in evidence reminds me of a true story.
I was working for Royal Sluis, a Dutch young plant grower and distributor. We had a grizzled old git working for us who we had nicknamed “Doctor Shipman” because he was the spitting image of the mass murderer down to the glasses and scraggy, scruffy beard. He lived on chips, tea and ■■■■. I once said to him that it would be in his interests to smarten up a bit and trim or shave off his beard. He told me to … off! I eventually got my wish, but not in the manner that I would have wanted!
He decided to save a few bob and bought a gas bottle and single burner so he could make cheap brews whilst he was nighted out. One freezing cold morning, he woke up in some crappy layby and decided to lie in bed and have his first ■■■ of the day. He flashed his lighter and was promptly deafened, blinded and totally shocked by a god almighty explosion. When he gathered his senses, he had two black ringed eyes, lost half his beard and most of his hair. He looked like a demented Panda with bad case of alopecia! One second he was as hot as hell and the next second he was freezing cold!! It took him a minute or two to realise what had happened. He hadn’t switched off the bottle at the main tap when he had brewed up the night before. It must have been leaking all night. Hence the explosion. But his saving grace, and the reason why, as the dust settled, he was freezing cold, was because the explosion had blown the windscreen clean out!. A very lucky man indeed.
And yes, he looked much better with a neatly burned off beard!!
Well chap I can’t believe how black my hair was ,good looking sod. As to the comment re bridges and mobile homes , we measured the bridge clearances and then some helpful sorts tarmaced the road hence the large hole in the roof still it brightened up a same same day. As for the straight road yes it was but it was the bloody great boulders that the quarry trucks had left scattered ,
anyway it got Vic his range rover so it ended well (I think) I still smile at some of those nights in front of the telly with orkins lighting f!!!ts good times merlin
Great tbread and very interesting to read
gettin-on:
Great tbread and very interesting to read
Here-here! Robert
Here are some more Taseco pics of B & C-series LHD ERFs, that appeared on some of the ERf threads. Robert 
Is it my imagination, or does one of those ERFs have a sleeper cab? Don’t remember Chris Metz spoiling anyone like that!
John
John West:
Is it my imagination, or does one of those ERFs have a sleeper cab? Don’t remember Chris Metz spoiling anyone like that!John
According to someone (either Cookie or Saviem) on the Left-Hand-Drive ERF C-series thread, there was a mixture of day and sleeper cabbed ERFs supplied to Taseco. On the other hand, did they buy units from Star Commercials, Caravan Trucking or even Trans Arabia? There must have been some cross-over.
Meanwhile, on the ERF NGC (7MW) front, Falcon Freight of Dubai still remains a mystery. They had 5 NGCs (I have the photo - keeping it for the book!). Love to know more. Robert