ERF-Continental:
Wow, the time of your life!Who was Warden Hodges (greengrocer with green Bedford) in TransArabian life?
A-J , it must be ? !!! Don’t tell him Pike ! Ron
Permission to speak Sir!!!
Ron, do you have a clue how many ex-TA’s will attend the reunion?
I hope a lot of stories and pictures will be exchanged and posted!
I will keep the rope…who has the keys of the Bedford? Need to
deliver some onions and potatoes to Mrs. Mainwarring and grapes to
Mrs. Fox…shall I express your regards to her? 
Meanwhile back in Jeddah ! Looking forward to a well earned leave ? The gold suke had been frequently visited and the trInkliks where ready to be smuggled back to Blighty ? There had been a flood in Jeddah and some merchandise had came my way ?!! i carefully opened the 200 carton of cigies taking out the individuals packets I removed the ■■■■ and put the gold inside with cotton wool, with a tiny dot of biro !!! I new the packets that I had doctored !!! Put these back inside the carton This was impossible to detect !!!Landing back in Blighty I went through the ". Red ?“declaring some 800 cigarets and 2boxes of king Edwards cigars ■■? The custom guy question me ? looking at the soiled muddy brief case and the boxes of dirty tooth past and tooth brushes ?!! He said ?” Are you some sort of a collector ". ? I smiled at him !!! he then said will you follow me to the office Sir he asked me to remove my jacket and wallet he went through everything but he was STUMPED? Going back to the counter he took out a knife and opened the CIGAR BOXES ■■ By this time I though bloody hell He knows ■■ !!! He knows ■■ Don’t panic Mr Manering !!! He did not open the 200cartons of cigarets with the gold in , But I also had a gold bracelet for my Wife this was behind the cover hinge in the dirty Brief case ?the fact that this was to dirty to mess with he said right sir you have to pay so& so for the duty on the ■■■■ !!!his parting words where!!! by the time you have paid duty on the cigarets it’s not worth it ? I. Said ok osifcer I will remember that ? !! He did not know that they had fallen of the back of a ERF lorry Har Har , very very True. .Ron
A-J I will do my best
Living in a hut in Caravan’s yard, with an asthmatic petrol generator, to hopefully power lights, toaster, TV and maybe just, our one air conditioner, (the compressor would kick in and we would hold our breath to see if it kept going, or stalled under the load) our meals were sometimes less than appetising!
The standard fare was Nus Djaj wa ruz - half a chicken and rice, before you got back to the yard, eaten in a less than hygienic restaurant, listening to the rats playing in the roof!
We usually set off from Dammam at 6am, stopping at the restaurant (understand how loosely I use the term!) at Hofuf Corner. By 9.00am they had some sort of lamb and spaghetti mix on the go, so we would have that for breakfast. One trip with Johnny Longhorn, he had taken his brother in law, who worked for BAE and lived on an antiseptic camp in Khobar. Soon after, JDL had dropped off the back.
After I’d tipped in Riyadh, and was heading back to Dammam, I saw John coming the other way and pulled off into the desert. Brother in law had a severe dose of the squits about 10 minutes after breakfast and kept having to have John pull over every 15 minutes or so!
I usually stopped at lunchtime and had perhaps, a tin of Tuna (John West?) but most of the lads didn’t bother. The next meal would probably be 8pm, the inevitable chicken and rice, before getting back to Dammam between 10 or 11 at night.
It was there that I discovered Pringles! A tube could replace a meal, but of course a full tube made you hate the things - until next time! A bit like the dreaded drink! I knew that they would be a massive hit in England, where they’d never been seen. I took some home and served them as one of the snacks on a platter at a party that we held. They were the talk of the evening! I dreamed of setting up a company to import them to the UK, but of course I was always too busy driving to actually do anything like that.
I bought some this week £2.40 a tube! But they do take me back to those days.
John
John West:
Living in a hut in Caravan’s yard, with an asthmatic petrol generator, to hopefully power lights, toaster, TV and maybe just, our one air conditioner, (the compressor would kick in and we would hold our breath to see if it kept going, or stalled under the load) our meals were sometimes less than appetising!The standard fare was Nus Djaj wa ruz - half a chicken and rice, before you got back to the yard, eaten in a less than hygienic restaurant, listening to the rats playing in the roof!
We usually set off from Dammam at 6am, stopping at the restaurant (understand how loosely I use the term!) at Hofuf Corner. By 9.00am they had some sort of lamb and spaghetti mix on the go, so we would have that for breakfast. One trip with Johnny Longhorn, he had taken his brother in law, who worked for BAE and lived on an antiseptic camp in Khobar. Soon after, JDL had dropped off the back.
After I’d tipped in Riyadh, and was heading back to Dammam, I saw John coming the other way and pulled off into the desert. Brother in law had a severe dose of the squits about 10 minutes after breakfast and kept having to have John pull over every 15 minutes or so!
I usually stopped at lunchtime and had perhaps, a tin of Tuna (John West?) but most of the lads didn’t bother. The next meal would probably be 8pm, the inevitable chicken and rice, before getting back to Dammam between 10 or 11 at night.
It was there that I discovered Pringles! A tube could replace a meal, but of course a full tube made you hate the things - until next time! A bit like the dreaded drink! I knew that they would be a massive hit in England, where they’d never been seen. I took some home and served them as one of the snacks on a platter at a party that we held. They were the talk of the evening! I dreamed of setting up a company to import them to the UK, but of course I was always too busy driving to actually do anything like that.
I bought some this week £2.40 a tube! But they do take me back to those days.
John
Love it that you remembered your Arabic! Nuss wa djaaj bi-ruz. Just right, old mate! Just try asking for that in your local M/E take-away - and yes, you’ll get it with a smile. 
Meanwhile back in Jeddah at SARAMAT loaded up for Al Ghat with stuff for the sports stadium head off way before daylight usually two of us in convoy we,d head off head for Medina wing round the Christian By pass after stopping for a brew there was a village which the name I can,t remember there was an eating place I used regular but would only order eggs bread and chai (served in a tumbler ) !!! I always referred to it as "Normans At Brotherton " there was always a friendly welcome and hand shake Salam Allykum kifhailk sediek (spelling ) Allykum salam kwoice al humdelalah
(spelling again ) on from there to the Swiss camp for a swim on arrival I celebrated my birthday (37) and was a bit melancholy but was cheered up with a present of a bottle of Balantines which had mysteriously appeared from some where in the cargo ■■? me and my mate had a long lie next morning needless to say … what times they were
Mah Salaam
@Ron, don’t be nervous for the reunion and Lizzy will not spoil your tuxedo
Attached your favourite ■■■■■■■ during GCC but now installed in the Le Tourneau-Westinghouse!
This gross 99tonnes (payload 65tonnes) HAULPACK was assembled in Belgium and had the VT 12-635
■■■■■■■ installed which did 635hp at 2.100revs and covered 60mph…pictured in front of the
ATOMIUM of Brussels, begin sixties. No the man with the tie is not my dad
Matermaco delivered the chassis to Compagnie des Ciments Belges…
What a fantastic photo. Promoting the brand name of ■■■■■■■ ,to have this engine in this monster and shouting out the name ■■■■■■■ it makes me proud to have have the memories associated with the VT 12/ 635 all those years ago !! It seems like only yesterday !!! thanks A-J you have taken me straight back to the Kings Bunker outside Damman Where I went with Roy Oakhill with special passes to go through the Air Force base and Into the bunker to commission the very same engines side by side , my shop floor working life has not been any great monetary reward , but the memories I have from the black hand gang , to driving and repairing the ■■■■■■■ engines has been exciting to say the least !!Frazer would say we are Doomed Dooooomed I tell ya!!! "stick with ■■■■■■■ and you will be fine " Ron
Backsplice the Christian by pass the best named Rd in saudi ?the very name makes you feel good ? I like your term wing round ? Sounds as if you where light loaded or light headed after your 37 th !
Forward observation ? At one time I was driving for Aldridge Steel Stockholders , I got loaded with 70ft lengths of large section H iron Beams,the trailer had goal post support fame at the front end ,these beams went over the cab for 15ft and trailed back over the 40 ft trailer the same amount ? The angel of the load meant the backend was nearly onthe deck , It was one hell of a load , I painted the over hang red and white ? Pulling out of the factory the clutch arm snapped so I had no clutch this I thought was an omen , you will have to get another unit ■■ "Marlene "the owner ? She was a cracker !! My mate Wirlin would have love her !! She said Ron this load has got to go !! The load must be in Hereford by 2 pm she was a charmer ,and I loved a challenge ? So I drove this artic from Aldridge to Hereford with no clutch at all ? This was morning !! Starting with the key in crawler I was off!! the first part was tricky and again through Worcester but I did it there and back no trouble, Getting back I took out the gear box and renewed the clutch arm , Ron , ps This is a true trucking story .
ronhawk:
Forward observation ? At one time I was driving for Aldridge Steel Stockholders , I got loaded with 70ft lengths of large section H iron Beams,the trailer had goal post support fame at the front end ,these beams went over the cab for 15ft and trailed back over the 40 ft trailer the same amount ? The angel of the load meant the backend was nearly onthe deck , It was one hell of a load , I painted the over hang red and white ? Pulling out of the factory the clutch arm snapped so I had no clutch this I thought was an omen , you will have to get another unit ■■ "Marlene "the owner ? She was a cracker !! My mate Wirlin would have love her !! She said Ron this load has got to go !! The load must be in Hereford by 2 pm she was a charmer ,and I loved a challenge ? So I drove this artic from Aldridge to Hereford with no clutch at all ? This was morning !! Starting with the key in crawler I was off!! the first part was tricky and again through Worcester but I did it there and back no trouble, Getting back I took out the gear box and renewed the clutch arm , Ron , ps This is a true trucking story .
What I love about this site is the way that we all jog each other’s memories about individual events.
I had an Amtrak franchise for 20 years after returning from Saudi. One of the drivers rang in from Lancaster. 45 miles around Morecambe bay from Barrow. ‘Errr’ (I realised that all calls beginning ‘Errr’ were potential trouble) ‘the clutch has stopped working, the pedal is loose.’
This was a ford ■■■■■■ van. ‘Ok, if you put it in neutral does the engine start?’
‘Yes, no problem, but it won’t go into gear’ .
At this point I realised that the clutch cable had snapped.
Ok, how about starting it in gear and setting off?
Oh, I can’t do that!
So, I drove out in the car and I finished his round in the van, without a clutch, and he drove back to the depot in my car.
Back in 1979 or so, driving the 5 speed synchro Scania 110 that I bought from Paul Kerr, I also had clutch problems. It stopped working. I was pulling a car transporter trailer at the time. This was from Dammam to Riyadh.
I first met Pat Conway when he was a mechanic at Dunderdale and Yates in Preston. I bought 2 Mastiffs from them. Pat was a mechanic there, about the same age as me, 21, 1969.
‘Paddy ■■?’ Was the manager - Pat told me that the first question he asked any prospective employee was ‘which school did you go to?’ If it was Catholic, the interview continued…
Paddy was actually a great bloke, not sure how he viewed me as a Proddy dog! Pat said that if they saw a yellow mastiff coming into the yard there was a mass exit to the toilets - surely my brother Andy and I couldn’t have been that much bother!
9 years later, I was pulling trailers for SeaLand, from Dammam port to Riyadh, but the work was dying. SeaLand had imported units from New York and drivers from the Phillipines.
Pat meanwhile, had driven a 1418 merc, with a car transporter trailer overland from England. John Lancaster, director of Howlan International, had done a deal with Yussuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo, to transport a load a day of Toyota HiLux pick ups from Dammam to Riyadh.
JL, would only employ mechanics. ‘Anybody can drive, I need men who can fix it if it breaks down.’ Pat didn’t have an HGV, but a doctored photocopy Drove the rig from England to Saudi, worked for him, then for himself, and, indeed, until the Saudis insisted on an original to get a Saudi HGV in about 1982. That was when Pat took over the ‘Sweet water Company’ - but that’s another story.
John Lancaster sent another larger, Carrimore trailer out, so that they could carry an extra Hilux (or two, I can’t remember).
Pat came to see me on the patch outside SeaLand/Crescent, where we parked waiting for work and asked if I wanted to do 3 or 4 loads to Riyadh with the now spare trailer. The rate was less than SeaLand, but I could still earn nearly £1,000 per week, with diesel at coppers per gallon.
The other advantage was that I moved into their ‘flat’, minimal, but with air conditioning!
The job lasted for some months, before I eventually returned to the SeaLand park and we all started to subcontract to Caravan.
One day, carrying Toyotas to Riyadh, the clutch went ‘limp’, so I nursed it back to Dammam - the Scania had a 5 speed synchro box, but it wasn’t difficult to drive clutch less.
There was clutch fluid dripping from the slave cylinder. Obvious that the seals had gone. Unfortunately, at that time there was no Scania agent in Dammam. However, there was an abandoned Scania 80 on a patch of spare land. The 80 slave cylinder was the same as the 110. I stole it, replaced it and filled the reservoir - with tipper fluid! I know now!!! - but I didn’t then!
Sure enough, on the way back from Riyadh, the clutch packed up again. I then did 3 trips to Riyadh and back, 600 miles round trip, clutch less, while I figured out what was wrong.
Eventually, someone explained that tipper oil and clutch fluid were not the same!
I flew to Jeddah for new slave cylinder rubbers from the agent there. I hired a car in Jeddah and found how frightening it was to be at floor level in the land of endless horns when you weren’t in a position to bully your way through the traffic!
After fitting the new seals and hydraulic fluid - instead of the similar looking ‘tipper oil’ I had no more problems. But, like RH, I have no problem driving without a clutch!
John.
Tell us about ’ The Sweetwater Company ’ John. Sounds as though there may be an interesting tale or two lurking there.
Eddie.
Hardly Dads army ? This was Falingbostle Germany 1954 ! 111 comp RASC ,on manoeuvres we caried 200 jerry cans of high octain fuel for the tank regiment ,and racks of shells for the guns about 3 ft in leanth , being the last but one in our platoon the convoy was like a peace of elastic one minuet you could be doing 50 the next 10 mph , we drove at night the rear light was on the diff case a white circle under the body with slots for side lights there where lots of accidents, driving far to long we went to sleep at the wheel my self included ? No damage done I just went down a ditch , the Scammal recovery pulled me out no trouble! sleeping on top of the canopy or in the truck ? Little did I know !! That I will be doing the same for Trans Arabia some 20 years later Ron. " Ain’t life grand "
Ah J W the tales we can tell and this is the thread to refresh the memories I like the term " Sweetwater " it was a life saver for me and a couple of mates … a tale I posted before about 3 of us taking tilts with diesel generators to Medina power station down in the gully where we unloaded it was must have been 40/50 degrees plus we had all run out of drinking water when we were taken underground in a cave where the water was running down the inside and caught in sort of troughs in the rock and pointing to it said "Sweetwater " so risking King Fisals revenge we all drank our fill and filled up the water jerry cans … headed back to Jeddah with the tilt frame and covers in a big heap on the front of the trailer … never ended up with the squirts though so that was good !!!.. how many times have you been parked up when some British bloke pulls in for company but has to dash at high speed and squat between the trailer axles don,t drink the water ■■? but sometimes it was unavoidable
Inshalah
@Ron, you’ve meanwhile receive an email…and I truly hope you’ll enjoy/experience a nice reunion
the end of this month! I also hope that you’ll meet Jerry Cooke and John Davies with somehow also
a register on TA’s fleet…it’s quite easy but impressive for thirty years of existence.
I hope to get some feedback from GCC/Olayan soon…perhaps a statue on Walsall’s market place?
The honourable RFH? Let’s laugh and enjoy or we are doomned…
An ode to my mate Martin, You started this thread of trucks and men , In the Deserts of Arabia , the stories told of men with bottle , driving trains with double bottom ,from coast to coast they had no fear , the rewards for this was a promise of beer , of cause this never came about ,but you made us smile Without a doubt ,12months on still going strong !! Wirlinmerlin you can’t go wrong ,on behalf of us all from far and near let’s give a toast ? And have a beer TO MARTIN Trans Arabia trucking stories
Merlin fitted right in didn’t he! Considerably less hair, and a different colour now!
So Eddie, ‘Sweetwater Patrick’. Patrick Conway.
As mentioned he drove John Lancaster’s car transporter empty from Lancashire to Dammam - 1977? The were 2 of them in the 1418 and his copilot kept listening to the harbingers of doom that they met who said they’d never be allowed into Saudi, in fact they’d never make it out of Europe. Pat just kept saying ‘we’ll keep going until we’re stopped, then we’ll phone in.’ Not sure if the co driver made it or if he flew home from Istanbul, but Pat kept going and the Saudis let him in. JL flew out to Dammam to meet him and arranged a flat to live in and a new Toyota pick up as a run about.
A second driver flew out (or maybe the original one made it all the way, I can’t remember) and they started doing 6 loads a week for Kanoo from Dammam to Riyadh. Effectively a three day week for each driver, but still covering 1800 miles each.
When I first met them out there, Pat (who I already knew from Dunderdale and Yates in Preston) was the senior driver and Dave ■■? From Clitheroe was the second driver. Dave was rather partial to a drink, which was ‘difficult’ in Dammam. I remember saying ‘Ah tea - the favourite beverage!’ - Dave looked at me as though I were nuts, his favourite beverage contained rather more alcohol! He later worked for AJA Smith at Clitheroe for several years.
When JL sent a bigger trailer Pat came to see me & ask if I wanted to sub from them with the old trailer. This I did for some months. My memories are mixed here. I didn’t keep a diary and Ted Thomas and another lad who looked like Alvin Stardust came out then for John Lancaster, but who drove what I can’t remember.
I think the work came to a standstill because the Arabs constructed 60’ 3 decker trailers (as shown in a Backsplice photo) and obviously they were able to undercut. This was about the time Caravan started up.
Ted Thomas and Dave went into business together. Ted bought Trevor Cooper’s Volvo 290, I can’t remember what Dave drove. Pat also bought a truck, but again, I can’t remember what. We moved into a hut in Caravans yard. This was at the time Jeff Litwin was going to put a fleet of Simon International trucks into Caravan’s yard, but for reasons explained elsewhere this didn’t happen. After many months of that we rented a villa in Dammam. Ginger Taylor, ex Trans Arabia driver joined us there. He bought an old MAN from Zahid Ketra, but it gave him no end of trouble and he gave up and went home.
As things became more organised, the Saudis introduced Saudi registration for all vehicles, then Saudi drivers licences. Nobody bothered too much at first, but then they started to not allow you onto the port without a Saudi licence. This was obviously a problem because most of our work was off the port at that time.
Ali Al Ghoson, who owned Caravan, had a share in ‘The Dammam Sweet Water Company’ which had about 12 ‘Fargo’ type 4 wheeler tankers, Philippino drivers, an American installed machine in the warehouse, from Ionics, which removed all the salt from the undrinkable tap water - but no manager! (Sorry, as usual I don’t have any photos).
Peter Best, who was by then transport manager at Caravan had been trying to persuade each of us in turn to take the job, but nobody was keen. Pat eventually realised that his doctored photocopy HGV licence wasn’t going to get him a Saudi licence and took the job.
He was very good at it. A natural salesman and organiser, he soon had the 12 trucks working full time to provide the various ‘camps’ with tanks and fresh water. They in turn made a massive saving from not having to buy bottled water.
KB will remember the donkeys and tanks in Jeddah, but Dammam was even less organised than that. We had a large blue plastic drum that we took into Dammam on a pick up most days to get our drinking water. How others managed I’m not sure.
Suddenly Patrick was making a fortune for Ali and the other owners! He was given a villa and allowed to bring his wife and children out and I lived with them for a couple of years before getting remarried and Julie, my wife coming out there. Pat was best man at the wedding.
As well as everything else, he was lucky!
The municipality of Dammam was complaining about the amount of water he was taking from the system, and also that he was returning his overflow water back in at a much higher salination level. He had a company drill a well and it came on line 3 days before the municipal water system packed up for about a month!
Pat left Saudi about a year after me in about 1988. He returned to Preston and sold cleaning chemicals to schools and firms for some years. He divorced and remarried. He used to call in at my Amtrak depot when he was in the area, but I haven’t seen him for some years. I understand that he and his wife retired to Ireland. If anyone knows him and has a number I’d love to contact him again.
John
John West:
Merlin fitted right in didn’t he! Considerably less hair, and a different colour now!So Eddie, ‘Sweetwater Patrick’. Patrick Conway.
As mentioned he drove John Lancaster’s car transporter empty from Lancashire to Dammam - 1977? The were 2 of them in the 1418 and his copilot kept listening to the harbingers of doom that they met who said they’d never be allowed into Saudi, in fact they’d never make it out of Europe. Pat just kept saying ‘we’ll keep going until we’re stopped, then we’ll phone in.’ Not sure if the co driver made it or if he flew home from Istanbul, but Pat kept going and the Saudis let him in. JL flew out to Dammam to meet him and arranged a flat to live in and a new Toyota pick up as a run about.
A second driver flew out (or maybe the original one made it all the way, I can’t remember) and they started doing 6 loads a week for Kanoo from Dammam to Riyadh. Effectively a three day week for each driver, but still covering 1800 miles each.
When I first met them out there, Pat (who I already knew from Dunderdale and Yates in Preston) was the senior driver and Dave ■■? From Clitheroe was the second driver. Dave was rather partial to a drink, which was ‘difficult’ in Dammam. I remember saying ‘Ah tea - the favourite beverage!’ - Dave looked at me as though I were nuts, his favourite beverage contained rather more alcohol! He later worked for AJA Smith at Clitheroe for several years.
When JL sent a bigger trailer Pat came to see me & ask if I wanted to sub from them with the old trailer. This I did for some months. My memories are mixed here. I didn’t keep a diary and Ted Thomas and another lad who looked like Alvin Stardust came out then for John Lancaster, but who drove what I can’t remember.
I think the work came to a standstill because the Arabs constructed 60’ 3 decker trailers (as shown in a Backsplice photo) and obviously they were able to undercut. This was about the time Caravan started up.
Ted Thomas and Dave went into business together. Ted bought Trevor Cooper’s Volvo 290, I can’t remember what Dave drove. Pat also bought a truck, but again, I can’t remember what. We moved into a hut in Caravans yard. This was at the time Jeff Litwin was going to put a fleet of Simon International trucks into Caravan’s yard, but for reasons explained elsewhere this didn’t happen. After many months of that we rented a villa in Dammam. Ginger Taylor, ex Trans Arabia driver joined us there. He bought an old MAN from Zahid Ketra, but it gave him no end of trouble and he gave up and went home.
As things became more organised, the Saudis introduced Saudi registration for all vehicles, then Saudi drivers licences. Nobody bothered too much at first, but then they started to not allow you onto the port without a Saudi licence. This was obviously a problem because most of our work was off the port at that time.
Ali Al Ghoson, who owned Caravan, had a share in ‘The Dammam Sweet Water Company’ which had about 12 ‘Fargo’ type 4 wheeler tankers, Philippino drivers, an American installed machine in the warehouse, from Ionics, which removed all the salt from the undrinkable tap water - but no manager! (Sorry, as usual I don’t have any photos).
Peter Best, who was by then transport manager at Caravan had been trying to persuade each of us in turn to take the job, but nobody was keen. Pat eventually realised that his doctored photocopy HGV licence wasn’t going to get him a Saudi licence and took the job.
He was very good at it. A natural salesman and organiser, he soon had the 12 trucks working full time to provide the various ‘camps’ with tanks and fresh water. They in turn made a massive saving from not having to buy bottled water.
KB will remember the donkeys and tanks in Jeddah, but Dammam was even less organised than that. We had a large blue plastic drum that we took into Dammam on a pick up most days to get our drinking water. How others managed I’m not sure.
Suddenly Patrick was making a fortune for Ali and the other owners! He was given a villa and allowed to bring his wife and children out and I lived with them for a couple of years before getting remarried and Julie, my wife coming out there. Pat was best man at the wedding.
As well as everything else, he was lucky!
The municipality of Dammam was complaining about the amount of water he was taking from the system, and also that he was returning his overflow water back in at a much higher salination level. He had a company drill a well and it came on line 3 days before the municipal water system packed up for about a month!
Pat left Saudi about a year after me in about 1988. He returned to Preston and sold cleaning chemicals to schools and firms for some years. He divorced and remarried. He used to call in at my Amtrak depot when he was in the area, but I haven’t seen him for some years. I understand that he and his wife retired to Ireland. If anyone knows him and has a number I’d love to contact him again.
John
John - most interesting
Tell me - how much did Kanno pay per trailer load Dammam - Riyhad ■■
Ken b
Kenb:
John - most interesting
Tell me - how much did Kanno pay per trailer load Dammam - Riyhad ■■Ken b
Hi Ken,
Sorry, of course, that should have been Abdul Latif Jameel (servant of the the most beautiful? Robert will remember!) not YBA Kanoo.
I don’t remember the rates exactly. I don’t know what John Lancaster was getting.
At SeaLand, we started off at 2200 riyals per trip (this was down from the original 3,000 when they were desperate! Then they reduced it to 2000, plus you had to tip the trailer instead of running ‘line haul’.
At this point, ‘Ernie’, the tightest Brummie you’ve ever met (he wired his UJ together after it split, to get one extra trip in before going home) was complaining to me about the new rate. I said to him ‘Ernie, you miserable bast*** you can still easily earn £1,000 a week (lorry drivers in England would be lucky to clear £150 at the time!)’
‘You’m gettin’ a bit thin at a thousand a wik John!’
Then I think it dropped to 1800 and we were doing some sitting around!
I think Pat offered me 1600 riyals with their trailer. I figured I could do 4 per week, 2,400 hot dirty miles! I usually did, so with a conversion rate around 6 - I was still earning about £1,000 per week, with minimal expenses. Diesel was so cheap! What was it? 2p per gallon?
Happy days!
John