sinbin31:
Thanks buddy I feel much better now but do you know how it started and who said it first free pint when I next meet the the guy who remembers .and why the name RitaRoger Haywood
I am sure that it was a term of affection Roger, just like Dutchie Holland, Timber Woods and Chalkey White. 
wrong answer try again no beer for you
Roger
sinbin31:
M c JamieInteresting story but how do you claim cash from Kombiverkehr when the booking is made and paid for in the UK, never knew of this when I used the Train.
Roger Haywood
The scam was when Oggy was driving for George & it was all cash .When Oggy took over he cut out the cash thing. But he didnât save anything because they went by train.
Hi Roger, when did i mention anything about Kombiverkehr.â â ?. regards Jamie.
A Scot lost in the Valleyâs.
I used that train a coupla times & was only told of the scam years later . I would done it gladly just to get off the train & drive down at my own sweet speed instead of working for the Deutsch Bundesbahn ,never mind the money .
M C Jamie
Sry Mate it was ment for Harry I traveled on that Puff Puff many times and was
on the train when it crashed in Koblenz three trucks came off the train and a electric support structure went down on the road crushing a volvo carb no one was hurt but all the germans got off and left us on the train 15 hrs later we got going with no food and drink one of the guys with us (sry forgot his name ) if he is still alive he will remember pulled the cord stopped the train the driver ran back shouting whats the problem in bavarian german essen we said ok 15 mins we stopped at a repair yard 1 hour he said of we went but when we got there the driver had telephoned ahead and everthing was free the next major problem was a munchen with only us brits no LKV Brummies a hand full of truck keys we had to unload all the other trucks then they said we couldnt drive till sunday night I couldnt go as I had dammage which was repaired at kombiâs expense on monday .
I still never heard of anyone doing that scam I know u could pay in ingelstade but not in Koln Sry if im wrong but from the UK you had to have an Acc with Kombi as I had other drivers use my Acc did you do it yourself if not I think this is story is BULLSHT
Roger Haywood
A) Why should I bother to make this up .I already said I didnât know any thing about it until a long time after the scam had finished.
B) I believe it was Oggy who told me.
C) I didnât realize there was a height limit so to create fiction would have to had considerable research on DB rules & regs .
D ) It was going on years before you ever got in the saddle .
E) If it was going on it would have made the whole crappy trip money worth it.
F) Donât get 'â â â â â â personal in your grim little world with grey skies & zero temps.Chill out FFS. you turn an informative bit of nostalgia into a grudge matchâŚ
G) Subject closed because its +26c here & I am going out with my girl to a decent restaurant & forget all about the Ghetto trains in the frost.
F) LOL
Harry
Dont get so worked up for a start I think you might be much younger than me so how long I have or have not been in the saddle is not relevent admit you have been told a story and anyone traveling on Kombi wether Koln munchen
ingelstadte Brenner knows there is a height limit You have made a statement
that is so stupid For your Bloody information I was driving in The Middle East in 1963 so my saddle sores are prob bigger than yours.Its good to hear stories of Ex drivers but get the facts right early days to Greece the trailer would have been on carni the trailer would have been sealed when did he stick up the board in dover I think not I at Koln no way so if you want to put statements on here remember who is reading them I will drop the subect now unless other drivers have comments
Roger Haywood
Hullo âMacâ, Wow! are you still at it? its been a long time since I last saw you. If I remember correctly it was at Farthing Corner, I was on my way home and you and Derek Rance and another bloke were on your way out. I never realised Graham, was on there for seven years, but of course I left there in 1984 or 85 and he was still there. I wonder what hes doing now eh? I dont suppose you are still on with J.G., but do you still get up to Warrington to collect your Yugo Permit? ( he! he! ) A few of the others that were there at that time were of course Glen Campbell, Big Ossie Macintosh, Pat Riley, John Collins, a couple of Mervynswere Noddy Bob, Manfred ? and John Latham, John Y Paxton did a couple of trips, Bob Crane, and just before I left I got John Fenwick on. Good to hear from you and I hope all is well with you.
Roger the reason you were called ââRitaââ is from rita heyward the american actress from the 20âs and 30âs as far as I know; any other similarities apart from the surname Iâm not familiar with, but its nice to hear from you again. It would be good to have a driverâs reunion but the chances of everyone agreeing to the same date are pretty slim. Was intending to go to Chinkyâs birthday bash last year work commitments didânt allow and from reports from Derek Garrard who did drop in my liver probably had a lucky escape, nothing changes in Chinky world. He did post a topic on here some time ago but I haveânt seen anything else recently. Mac I haveânt seen you since we met at didcot that day when I was doing a bit of agency for Goddard what are you up to.
Charlie
âA Good Idea Sonâ I think we spoke of this before Charlie, a Reunion, a â â â â â â â or whatever would be a fantastic thing. As we are all so far apart though it may not work. I was asked last year to attend an Italian Drivers Reunion. I never went but it turned out to be a load of old Don CollisonsĂ´drivers on a â â â â up, one of the drivers being the landlord of the Pub. However if you think it would be a good idea then lets go ahead with it, Im game. If not it could be you, Derek, Mac and I, you all owe me a beer so it would be fun. WE could of course invite Hoggy, but then weed have to buy his beer as well.
Hi Mushroomman ( Steve) That lass from Manchester? You would`nt be thinking of Audrey that ran the Sussex Bar would you? she was from just outside Sheffield. And I am most surprised at M&C Jamie, out through France and Italy, home again by the same route, why were you on a TIR carnet? Greece were accepting T Forms off the Ferry, even in those days. Not overland at Evzoni, but certainly Patras.
hello u good old boys,its really good news to hear so many of u about and fitaand well,i was lucky enough to grt back on greece last year, the ferries went skyhigh so tony started to send us overland i.e. D. A. HU. RO. BG, u can do it in 5days tip on the 6th, trouble is that CS, Che/rep, and hungary have longer wk/end bans but no probs.2/3 years i was doing sthern spain, bumped into Bob Crane working for Pulleyns,[seth armstong,thats what Soper calls billy reeder] billy is doing a covererd car transporter to sthern spain, grahame Soper is doing the EU for a removall firm,bumped into Ritchie thorn on the M1 about 8 yaers ago same as hoss,spent 3days inthe company of hooperman in Patras last august, i wish all you the very best and take care. mac mciver.
Hi Archie Paice, I stand corrected re carnets. Its the old grey matter not so sharp as it was,after all it was twenty five years ago. but you are right, for on reflection i used to sometimes hide the T form for the paint and just show the ones for the groupage in france to prevent problems with mr plod.
Noddy Bob was stopped one trip and the police went inside the trailer. they made him buy the complete hazardous kit including fire extinguishers and he got a couple of klicks up the road and the trailer went on fire. he maintained that they had dropped a lit cigarette when they were inside the trailer. regards Jamie.
A Scot Lost in the Valleyâs
M&C Jamie:
Hi Archie Paice, I stand corrected re carnets. Its the old grey matter not so sharp as it was,after all it was twenty five years ago. but you are right, for on reflection i used to sometimes hide the T form for the paint and just show the ones for the groupage in france to prevent problems with mr plod.
Noddy Bob was stopped one trip and the police went inside the trailer. they made him buy the complete hazardous kit including fire extinguishers and he got a couple of klicks up the road and the trailer went on fire. he maintained that they had dropped a lit cigarette when they were inside the trailer. regards Jamie.A Scot Lost in the Valleyâs
Hi Jamie,
That could only happen to somebody like Bob.
I used to envy the guys who went on an Adriatic Cruise on their way to Greece, I always wanted to go through the Corrinth Canal
but sadly I might never get the chance. 
I can remember one trip when I had to take a machine to Volos Docks the week that Greece joined the E.E.C. January 1981. For some reason I had no Carnet and used a T3. I had to bond the load through The Commie Block and after using The Calafat Ferry from Rumo into Bogy I then spent three days battling through the snow and ended up at a little border post in the mountains above Seres.
The Greeks said that they had never seen a T3 before but after making a telephone call to Salonika they decided to let me through.
I have tried looking for this border on Google Earth and the only one that I can find now has what looks like a decent road all the way to Sofia, no more winding your way through little villages in the middle of nowhere trying to follow the few cyrillic road signs that were there at the time. 
Best regards Steve.
Archie Paice:
Hi Mushroomman ( Steve) That lass from Manchester? You would`nt be thinking of Audrey that ran the Sussex Bar would you? she was from just outside Sheffield. And I am most surprised at M&C Jamie, out through France and Italy, home again by the same route, why were you on a TIR carnet? Greece were accepting T Forms off the Ferry, even in those days. Not overland at Evzoni, but certainly Patras.
Hi Archie, I canât remember an Audrey but sometimes I couldnât even remember if I was in The Sussex Bar or The Essex Bar 
.
I canât think of the name of the barmaid from Salford ( but Sue rings a distant bell ).
I can remember a barmaid called Rose from London who was full of â â â . She was going out with an American corporal and reckoned that when his officer was off duty and her boyfriend had a problem then he had to phone The White House to ask the President for advice. 
Regards Steve.
HI Mushroomman, If you had gone on a cruise to Greece you wouldnât unfortunately have gone the Corinth canal, You would have docked at either Patras or Igoumenitsa but you would have then driven over the canal. The ferries were too big for the canal These pics were taken from the old road bridge the bridge that you can see is the rail bridge which is the same construction as the road bridge. Before I stopped going to Greece they built a new road and I think put a weight limit on this one.If you look at the pic which doesnât show the rail bridge you can just see a line at water level this is the bridge in the last pic which sinks under water to let the ships pass the pic shows it being lifted up to normal height.I used to load copper to near Naples from a factory near here.
I too used the Calafat ferry some times I think the border you mean is Kulata/ Promakhon I also used it on occasion for Greece and Turkey if I remember correctly you had to be careful because you could run out of carnet pages if you had also travelled Eastern Bloc.
Gavin
Hi guys, as Archie says the woman from salford was called Audrey and the bar she ran was called the Forge , she was in partnership with a bubble ( and squeak ) and you could get good roast dinner on sundays. Gavin, nice pics of the canal Iâve got some very similar ones having loaded out of the same factory to Naples on several occasions, right by the sea with room to park overnight on the side of the road to it and wake up on a sunny day for a morning dip, then down to the customs which were by the road bridge which sank to allow ships to pass. Did go through the canal on the Orient Express ferry once which ran from Venice to Piraeus quite an experience.
charlie
Cracking photos Gavin.
That old bridge dont half wobble when you stand on it. It had a weight limit when i was there but went to do the tourist thing as i had heard so much about it by guys who used to go there. I think its amazing just to look down at the ships! Is it true it was all dug out by slaves? thats what another driver told me one trip there 
colin.f.whitetrans:
Cracking photos Gavin.That old bridge dont half wobble when you stand on it. It had a weight limit when i was there but went to do the tourist thing as i had heard so much about it by guys who used to go there. I think its amazing just to look down at the ships! Is it true it was all dug out by slaves? thats what another driver told me one trip there
Hi Colin I used to think it was one of the original 7 wonders of the world but I got put right by an indignant Greek one day! It was actually built by the French in the late 1800âs, according to him. You are right it does wobble -good job you couldnât feel it when driving over it!
I have some more Greek pics shall I put them on here?
Gavin