I remember Joe who worked for George Otipa for years .He was a Londoner ,met a Welsh girl in Athens & married her .Saw him about 4 yrs ago in Otipas yard in Enfield. He was well over 70 & working as security on the gate. He was now still married to the Welsh gal in Wales but had to commute once a week to London & sleep in the watchmans hut all week. Life at that time was not good to Joe .It was snowing & he hated Wales . Anyone know how he is getting on ?
[quote="Wheel Nut
I remember a Scouser who had a new red and white Iveco who I think was on for Assured Freight. Was it Joe? Anyone remember who I mean?[/quote]
Hi Malc, I once met a Joe 90 at The Shell Garage at Gevgelija one summer and we ran down to Istanbul together, it took us four days 
, but we had a great time 
.
How many Joe 90s were there ? ( dont tell me---------90 )
In the 80s he would of been in his early 50s and I.I.R.C. he had a red Daf or it could of been a Volvo F88.
He had a birth mark on his forehead, he was a good lad to run with and he was an owner driver from Hull.
Is this the same Joe 90 who you have mentioned on another thread some time ago. 
Best regards Steve.
mushroomman:
[quote="Wheel Nut
I remember a Scouser who had a new red and white Iveco who I think was on for Assured Freight. Was it Joe? Anyone remember who I mean?
Hi Malc, I once met a Joe 90 at The Shell Garage at Gevgelija one summer and we ran down to Istanbul together, it took us four days , but we had a great time .
How many Joe 90s were there ? ( dont tell me---------90 )
In the 80s he would of been in his early 50s and I.I.R.C. he had a red Daf or it could of been a Volvo F88.
He had a birth mark on his forehead, he was a good lad to run with and he was an owner driver from Hull.
Is this the same Joe 90 who you have mentioned on another thread some time ago.
Best regards Steve.
[/quote]
The Joe 90 was from near hull and had a Volvo supplied by John Hebb. John took an interest in him and helped him buy trucks by massaging deposits 
John Hebb tried to do it for me but the patient was beyond medical help. John’s son Jack got wind of it and stopped the sale. probably a good idea really as I would still have been paying for a truck 30 years later 
guys
The resturant in st nicks in Pireaus was Called the Harbur Inn was run by English couple who sold out to a greek who was a right geek put his prices up cooked lousey food looked after tourists better than the drivers so lost all his customers over to Panni,s bar Who was the guy who had the converted recovery wagon stiched all the drivers up with welding and repairs ,my brains a fog now.
Roger Haywood
sinbin31:
guysThe resturant in st nicks in Pireaus was Called the Harbur Inn was run by English couple who sold out to a greek who was a right geek put his prices up cooked lousey food looked after tourists better than the drivers so lost all his customers over to Panni,s bar Who was the guy who had the converted recovery wagon stiched all the drivers up with welding and repairs ,my brains a fog now.
Roger Haywood
Yes Roger, I remember something about a guy who was starting doing Middle East recovery work, that was about 1980 I think.
hi guys, just to clear a few things up, Roger the name of the chap who had the old recovery MAN was Ron the Con who was taking it down to the middle east with the idea of either selling it or doing recovery work and unluckily for some people Piraeus was as far as he got.
Harry, your thinking of Joe Taylor who used to drive for George and as you rightly say does as far as I know still do security at mondials warehouse.
Steve mushroomman, yes dave shirley is mick’s brother, mick is still going strong and I do the odd job moving vehicles about for him now and again but no I am not any of the other people you mentioned.
Chazzer
chazzer:
hi guys, just to clear a few things up, Roger the name of the chap who had the old recovery MAN was Ron the Con who was taking it down to the middle east with the idea of either selling it or doing recovery work and unluckily for some people Piraeus was as far as he got.
Harry, your thinking of Joe Taylor who used to drive for George and as you rightly say does as far as I know still do security at mondials warehouse.
Steve mushroomman, yes dave shirley is mick’s brother, mick is still going strong and I do the odd job moving vehicles about for him now and again but no I am not any of the other people you mentioned.
Chazzer
Yeah ,Joe Taylor. He used to drive American Eagle bus tours down to India ,then he went on for Kings ? from Brightlingsea doing Italy .Then Mondial for the rest of his life.
hey gavin eddie nixon was steady eddie,steve we must have crossed paths loads of times.i left blue dart shortley after you and went to work in berlin for f&n doing forces removals.after that i was with stuart jeffries ex dow subbing for r&j for about 9 months then for the next 17 years for roy bradford i did my last trip in 2001.
Are you Gery McGrath.
yes dave how are you doing? me i.m still driving for ttx only uk &n.ireland seen dave clark on ferry sometimes still on mercs.
Hi Gerry
I’ve got some photos with you in when we all used to go bowling at the Galleria in Istanbul, Brits v Swedes…what a laugh.
I’ll post them when I get a chance. What’s Stuart Jeffreys upto these days ?
If you see him, ask him about the nutmeg in Hungary !!
Regards
Gavin
GS OVERLAND
Hi Gerry, welcome, their is a few of us on here now, more the merrier, post your stories about working for Roy.
Dave.
Come on Mary, Ray tells me he has a few pics so get them posted on here!!!
Hi All,
Ive been away for a couple of weeks , visiting the South of Brasil. The Corinth Canal was built in the mid 1800s it was as Roger said, A French company that started it. But they only opened up the two enda of the canal, then went broke, the Canal was actually mostly built and finished by the Greeks. And like you Charlie I was lucky enogh to transit it once by ship, That was in 1962 when I was 2nd Cook/ Baker on a Cargo Passenger ship a Furness Withy/Prince Line ship the “mv. Sycamore” A few more names of the lads doing Greece when I was, were, Dave Wilson, Alan Piner,Derek Rance,Nick the Greek , Pat Riley, Roger Haywood, Kenny Hooper, Noddy?, Graham Murray, Joe Taylor, Russel Emptage, Ray Emptage, Dave Burlingson, Hamish (RIP) David Hogg, Dave Johnston, Chinky Nev, Roly Long, Dennis Newley, Bill Lorrenti (RIP) Charlie Gethin, Mac Mciver, John Gaskell, Bob Pearson (Wor Bob). There were loads of us on it, I wonder where they all are now?
hi ya archie, blimey you got a memory for names,stll got an active brain unlike me.all the best to you old chum.mac.
GERRY MAC:
hey gavin eddie nixon was steady eddie,steve we must have crossed paths loads of times.i left blue dart shortley after you and went to work in berlin for f&n doing forces removals.after that i was with stuart jeffries ex dow subbing for r&j for about 9 months then for the next 17 years for roy bradford i did my last trip in 2001.
Hi Eddie Nixon was called ‘steady eddie’ but after he bought that Scania some were calling him ‘Edsped’ because it appeared to be a Turk truck until you looked at the number plate. I never heard Keith Headley refered to as ‘edsped’ but I am not going to argue as so many drivers were known by different names by different people.
In 76 I met Joe Newsome who was called Joe 90 and a chap who lived the by A12 near where it joined the A406 who was called ‘Budgie’ ( I can’t remember his real name) but since then I have met many who used those nicknames.
The Cafe Of The Tall Stories! One evening Ty Jarvis and I were sitting in Pieters later Harry’s at Keratsini? (the cafe out side the customs at the beginning of Pireaus) We were the only Brits in there probably the only customers when in strode a Mack driver ( I’m mentioning no names- people get upset) wellknown in Greece. Ty and I had been chatting away quietly but this chap had grabbed his beer from Nan came across slammed it on the table and without as much as hello or can I join you started to tell us about the ********** trip he had just had. I am quite deaf and when the b******* starts I can just switch off, but as there were only 3 of us it was impossible. Mack man told us that he was driving through Germany when he heard a banging on his cab door and a German policeman shouting ‘wakeup ***** wakeup’ . He said he had fallen asleep on the autobahn and this policeman had jumped on to the step of the Mack and was trying to wake him up!!! Ty and I looked at one another and couldn’t let it pass, this was roughly the conversation:-
Us - where did he come from?
Him - He jumped off of his motorbike.
Us- Why?
Him to - stop me from having an accident!
Us - How fast were you going?
Him - About 80 k’s
Us - How did he get his bike on to the stand and then jump on to your step? He must have been able to run pretty fast.
Him - No he just jumped off of the bike and let it go.
Us - wasn’t that a bit dangerous letting a motorbike loose at 80k’s? It would also cause an accident.
Him - You two are taking the p***!!
Us - As if
He threw his beer glass on to the table and stormed out
Gavin
The Cafe Of Tall Stories 2.
Another night in the same cafe a crowd of us (maybe 8 or 10 were sitting around a table when some one started talking about his S,A,S exploits, (time to switch off) the stories got more and more wilder as every driver seemed to be ex S,A,S except me and some one else who was saying nothing, just siting there quietly. Some one turned to this other guy and asked him if he had been in the forces? Yes he said , I was in a very secret experimental department, the table went quiet and someone asked what it was. He replied The Airborne Cavalry. The other guy said how does that work. He replied with a dead straight face, well the problem with normal parachutists is that the take so long to get any where after they have landed cause they are on foot. So they started training us they attached a parachute to a horses saddle, we rode them out of the plane and pulled the cord, when the horses hooves were a few feet off of the ground we gave them a kick to get them running and then swung our swords above our heads to cut the cords, immediately we were off and could be along ways away quickly! I was sitting there trying not to laugh when the first guy said ‘Wow I’ve never heard of them’ No said the story teller I told you it was secret.
Topped all their b******* stories and then some.
Priceless almost worth listening to the other rubbish for. Gavin
Excellent Gavin keep them coming
Ah mr mcardle, great story. many times i sat in the forge or the shell at evsoni and the crap you used to hear was getting on my ■■■■, so i cut out 2 bits of cardboard that i could hang off my ears, i had written BULL S**T DEFLECTOR goes without saying that i had a few rows over that, why is it that when some sad person has to make up stories and you tell them “your talking b****cks mate”,that you are the one who is in the wrong,srange, macsdaff.