Sandway.
Thanks for the info regarding posting photos.
Here’s one for every M/E driver in the 70s to 80s my old mate Alan Kendall from Tintern in Wales in his Transcon, he sadly passed away a few years ago.
Last I heard from him was he was running to Baku in Azerbaijan, he had a terrible experience on one of these trips when his truck froze up crossing the Russian Desert, he got frostbite, was towed to Moscow by a Finnish truck then from hospital was flown home where he lost all of his toes to the surgeons knife, but he recovered enough to carry on doing it.
Last couple of posts we have talked about photos and how to post them. What narks me most is when people play around (photoshop) them and then present them as real. One photo that has done the rounds on various F/B lorry sites over the years is the one I have downloaded here. If you look closely it doesn’t sit right at all and to my eyes has been superimposed onto an existing photo.
The next couple of photos are of the same lorry, OJD 454K. Its a 6 wheel lorry and drag operated by ‘Kestral Freighters’ from Barking I believe. One of the photos was taken by Ray Scutts in France or Italy. Now what we do know is that Ray worked for Astran, picture one, and Kestral Freighters, pictures 2 and 3, as well as Promotor and quite a few other companies.
Ray was also into photography. Now I’m not saying Ray photoshopped the first photo but it was certainly done by someone who was into photography and no doubt had an intimate knowledge of Astran, Kestral and the middle east.
Hi Brian, I hope that you are well and that you are looking forward to having a brilliant Easter holiday.
I came across this photo of a Promotors truck on I.I.R.C. a French website and I didn’t think that I had seen it on this thread before. I am afraid that I haven’t had time to scroll back through all the pages to see if it is somewhere on here but it’s great to see an old photo without the words ‘Photobucket’ scrawled across the picture.
Unfortunately, I have just tried to download it on here and a message comes up saying ‘The extension webp is not allowed’. Sorry about that.
As regards photoshopping, my old workmate John gave me this Leyland colour photo several years ago. It’s an old wagon of his when he drove for Distillers. I posted it on Trucknet shortly afterwards and it turned up on here a couple of months ago, in monochrome.
mushroomman:
Hi Brian, I hope that you are well and that you are looking forward to having a brilliant Easter holiday.
I came across this photo of a Promotors truck on I.I.R.C. a French website and I didn’t think that I had seen it on this thread before. I am afraid that I haven’t had time to scroll back through all the pages to see if it is somewhere on here but it’s great to see an old photo without the words ‘Photobucket’ scrawled across the picture.
Unfortunately, I have just tried to download it on here and a message comes up saying ‘The extension webp is not allowed’. Sorry about that.
As regards photoshopping, my old workmate John gave me this Leyland colour photo several years ago. It’s an old wagon of his when he drove for Distillers. I posted it on Trucknet shortly afterwards and it turned up on here a couple of months ago, in monochrome.
Morning mushroomman. Unfortunately we’re not going to have a great Easter. Reason is we have to leave here, our winter quarters, in southern Spain and make our way back to the UK. We leave on Saturday. As you may know we are allowed 90 days in Europe before we have to return home. We could of course go to Morocco but its to late to organise that for this year.
Whats galls me is that the Spanish can come to the uk for 180 days at any one time. Doesn’t seem fair.
Can’t you go to Gibraltar for the day and then get your British passport stamped when you re-enter Spain. They have got a great Morrisons there so it’s well worth a visit.
This is the best that I can come up with at the moment Brian.
Morning mushroomman. I have seen that photo before. It was never a very clear one but I am fairly sure it was Ronnie Harts lorry and that he called it Lottie. I think his number plate started with FOO but of course can’t tell from the photo.
As far as going to Gibraltar is concerned, unfortunately that’s a no no. One reason is that our 90 days is on a rolling basis. Its all part of the ‘Schengan Agreement’ set up many years ago. We can do 90 days in any 180 days buts its on a sliding scale. So I can do 14 days here in Spain then 14 days in the UK then back to France or Spain or anywhere in the EU, then back to the UK for the rest of my life. Just so long as I don’t do more than 90 days in a 180 day period. It can be difficult to get your head around it but of course it doesn’t apply to lorry drivers. They’ve got other rules to worry about.
I’ve attached a couple of photos taken yesterday in the lettuce fields nearby here. Wont be many days before they are on Supermarket shelves across Northern Europe.
Not sure if the pickers are on piece work but they soon fill up the trailers before they are hauled off to the packing/sorting stations. A very smooth operation.
s far as going to Gibraltar is concerned, unfortunately that’s a no no. One reason is that our 90 days is on a rolling basis. Its all part of the ‘Schengan Agreement’ set up many years ago. We can do 90 days in any 180 days buts its on a sliding scale. So I can do 14 days here in Spain then 14 days in the UK then back to France or Spain or anywhere in the EU, then back to the UK for the rest of my life. Just so long as I don’t do more than 90 days in a 180 day period. It can be difficult to get your head around it but of course it doesn’t apply to lorry drivers. They’ve got other rules to worry about.
SORRYto read that you have to leave the where ever you were it seems such a is it controlled by passport entry and exit,what happens if you have brought a property in either FRANCE OR SPAIN.
what happens to all those that live on caravan sites and are still uk nationals ,you are right it does not seem fair , do they have to stay where they are and not come back here ,as will that trigger the passport control is that correct .i am not planning any move however just interested .I did ask about SOTHEREN IRELAND, on another post and was given the correct answer,
Evening peggydeckboy. Unfortunately there is very little we silver haired wanderers can do to extend our stay in the EU. Gibraltar is now part of the Schengan area. Seems it was something hammered out during Brexit. Read the attachment below.
It makes no difference if you own property in the EU. You are still only allowed 90 days at one time. Of course this still means you can spend 6 months here but broken up into two visits or of course many shorter ones.
It doesn’t matter if you are a property owner of have a motorhome or a caravan or a tent. The rules are the same. At the end of this year or maybe next the new Etias visa system will be introduced. Then we shall have to buy a visa online, cost about £7 but it will last for 3 years. Just means it will all be computerised and big brother will know exactly when you have been in and out so no good trying to bend the rules.
If you want to stay permanently in Spain you can get ‘residentia’ but that means doing all your pensions and tax through the Spanish system. My neighbour and his wife have gone down that route. His name is Bill Hook and he drove for many British and Irish companies. I know he worked for Murfitts and Ralph Davies.
If you want to spend longer abroad your need to intersperse you trip with visits to non Schengan countries such as Morocco, Bulgaria or Turkey.
Small demonstration near Bressurie, between Nantes and Poitiers today. Pallets were put out on a roundabout to make it difficult for lorries. There was enough room for any normal sized lorry but I lost count of the number of drivers who ended up hitting the kerb with the front wheel of their unit’s.
Does make me wonder about the standard of driving. Another thing I noticed was that there were a number of gendarmes there and it certainly looked as if they were on the side of the demonstrators.
The first is an interesting photo of an Asian Transport lorry driven by Ray Scutts who went on to work for Promotor (didn’t last long though) and many other companies. I’m assuming the photo was taken on Tahir.
The second photo was taken near the railway station in Baghdad. The third photo is my own that was taken in 79 and just around the corner from the first one.
The last photo is of good old Fred. He wouldn’t get away with loading his old Land Rover like that now.
Doing the ‘put in’ at the CV show at the NEC Birmingham. Many thanks to Promotor man Frank Gough aka Transit Van Gough for the great photos. Ontime of course took over Promotor around 20 years ago but its nice that some of our old drivers are still active.
The last couple of photos were taken across the Tigris river in Baghdad in the early 80’s. Looks like the Al Rasheed Hotel under construction by Skanska in one of them.
Debbie Lacy has died. Debbie was one of the girls in our transport office, run by Dave Stagg, at Dunton Green in the 70’s. I am sure she was there when I had my interview for a job in 77 or 78. She was a lovely girl and someone you could talk to after returning from a long trip. We often wondered how she put up with Staggie but she did which was a credit to her.
Debbie was the sister of our Steve Lacy aka flyingflash007 who’s started this blog a few years back. It was Steve who informed me of Debbie’s passing and gave me details of her funeral.
sandway:
Saw this great shot of Dover Docks. I reckon 76. What do others think?
That’s a great picture Sandway - as for the year, hard to say exactly I think. Certainly later than 73 / 74 - the plastic grill on the F88 & the round headlights on the Scania tell us that, is there a particular reason you think its 76?
I’m guessing this picture is towards the Eastern arm, and births 1,2,3 etc - so a bit further along the cliff than Jubilee Way, which would have been under construction in 76 I guess…
Are the 2 AEC Mandators from the Royal Navy - I’m trying to think if it was the Navy or the RAF that used to have the front of the mirrors painted yellow - didn’t they have a yellow disc on the front of the wagons too ?- though I have no idea what it indicated.
Also- is that an Astran ‘A’ on the front of the 3rd truck back in the 3rd row from the left - behind the red Unic / Fiat? - and the Martintrux day cabbed Scania behind the AEC’s- not ideal - but a better deal than the day cabbed S80 Foden!, it looks like Hungarocamion next to the Martintrux too.
I don’t think I can ID any more - can anyone else?
Sorry about that.
