Have attached my last pictures of Zako town and this got me thinking of a little incident at the border back in the early 80’s. It didn’t involve me but one of our drivers , Tommy Birch.
He had passed through the Turkish side and had he thought completed the Iraqi side when he was ordered to park up in a secure area, way over the back away from the other lorries. He didn’t know the reason why he was segregated from the others and the Iraqis went out of there way to stop him communicating with anyone else. Luckily he had plenty of food and water with him. He tried to find out what the problem was without success. This went on for three days and by this time he was becoming desperate. He was loaded for the Baghdad Fair and he knew other lorries passing through the border would be going there as well. Anyway, he saw one which he was certain was going there, I think it was an Expo Freight but not sure now, and he ran out of the secure area he was in and managed to talk to the driver. He was going to the fair and promised to inform us of Tommy’s predicament which he did a day or so later. We had a word with our Iraqi customs agent and Mr Fixit who agreed to drive up to the border which he did early next day. He secured Tommy’s release and he arrived at the fairground with a couple of days to spare before the opening ceremony.
Our agent never did find out why Tommy was held there. I can only surmise he pi-sed of some Iraqi official who tried to get his own back.
Don’t you just hate it when it takes you nearly an hour to post a reply and when you press the submit button a sign comes up saying 'this page is not available".
I have checked my old passports and it was definitely the 31st December 1983 when I saw that J.P.S. Volvo.
I thought that was a very interesting comment from Sandway about it could of been a private event for Saddam Hussein’s son in law because three weeks ago I watched one of the ‘Banged Up Abroad’ programmes. This one was about an Iraqi who was ‘allegedly’ a double for Saddam’s son Uday. What a (z.b.) psychopath he was.
I went to bed that night and I couldn’t get to sleep for ages thinking about the programme and what could of happened to any British driver who may of been involved in an accident with one of Uday’s cars.
Getting back to the Volvo, maybe it was used as a back up vehicle for a couple of years or the new owner had an agreement to advertise for John Player cigarettes.
I remember in the late seventies you could buy a brand new Austin Mini with a discount if your vehicle was painted advertising Castrol Oil. I seem to remember seeing cars with Lucas and Unipart logos on the bonnet and on the doors. Maybe the Volvo owner never got around to repainting the vehicle but you would have thought that somebody else on Trucknet may of seen it knocking about back then.
Old Promotor men or anyone else who may know. Back in the 70’s there were three directors. Peter and Liz Calderwood and Chris Sly. Any idea who Chris was or what he did to be given a directorship. I did wonder if he was an ex Ford man as was Peter.
You know what its like. Another trip looming up. Doing the last of the shopping. Have you got enough tins of Irish stew and do you have any tinned fruit. Only got eight cartons of long life milk. Is that enough?
Have given the 5th wheel the once over. Checked the electrics and changed one bulb. All tyres have had a good kicking. Ones looking dodgy. Will have to keep an eye on that. Truck was serviced last week. Phew! Was that expensive.
Put the bedding in and checked the gas cylinder. Enough gas for a couple of days. Must replace it sooner rather than later. May need it to keep warm if it turns really cold. No new fangled night heaters for me. Paperwork all checked and seems to be in order. Wont make any difference though. If the law pulls me up down the road it’ll still cost me. Ferry booked with cabin for tomorrow am sailing. Must be in bed early tonight as need to be up in the wee small hours or I could poodle off down to the docks this evening and grab some sleep there.
Will be in France early tomorrow afternoon. Will push on south getting as many klicks under my belt as possible. Not sure if I will go through the Somport Tunnel or stick to Irun. If I go via Irun will turn off there and go straight over the mountain to Pamplona. The route is so much easier since they built the new tunnels even if fully freighted which I will be.
Wont be on the road for many days. Should see the orange groves and Med on day three when the weather will warm up. I expect 18/20C. Will then push on further south to an area that has been described as the only desert in Europe. Ideal for making Spaghetti Westerns. Always did like working in the heat (not sure about the dust though).
Our winter quarters are awaiting our arrival. Hope the manservant has arranged plenty of tonic to go with our gin and a good broadband connection. Will be lost if can’t get onto TNUK for four months.
ps. Micky T. Book not arrived from Amazon yet. Have arranged for it to be forwarded when it does.
sandway:
Old Promotor men or anyone else who may know. Back in the 70’s there were three directors. Peter and Liz Calderwood and Chris Sly. Any idea who Chris was or what he did to be given a directorship. I did wonder if he was an ex Ford man as was Peter.
How come Promotor wasn’t a fleet of Transcons if you was doing Ford work & with the directors history ?
Because he wanted something reliable!..Chris Sly was an associate of Calderwoods from his Ford days and can only assume he put some money into the company. To us he was “Sly by name,Sly by nature!”…Sandway! that last photo you posted is of my Scania on the left BPV 607 Y. Identifiable by the Australian sticker in the corner of the windscreen,passenger side. Now I dont know if it was me driving it for that trip but I never did a middle east trip. It definately looks like my old Scania jacket sitting on top of the dash though so if it was me then pray tell me where were we and where were we going?
sandway:
You know what its like. Another trip looming up. Doing the last of the shopping. Have you got enough tins of Irish stew and do you have any tinned fruit. Only got eight cartons of long life milk. Is that enough?
Have given the 5th wheel the once over. Checked the electrics and changed one bulb. All tyres have had a good kicking. Ones looking dodgy. Will have to keep an eye on that. Truck was serviced last week. Phew! Was that expensive.
Put the bedding in and checked the gas cylinder. Enough gas for a couple of days. Must replace it sooner rather than later. May need it to keep warm if it turns really cold. No new fangled night heaters for me. Paperwork all checked and seems to be in order. Wont make any difference though. If the law pulls me up down the road it’ll still cost me. Ferry booked with cabin for tomorrow am sailing. Must be in bed early tonight as need to be up in the wee small hours or I could poodle off down to the docks this evening and grab some sleep there.
Will be in France early tomorrow afternoon. Will push on south getting as many klicks under my belt as possible. Not sure if I will go through the Somport Tunnel or stick to Irun. If I go via Irun will turn off there and go straight over the mountain to Pamplona. The route is so much easier since they built the new tunnels even if fully freighted which I will be.
Wont be on the road for many days. Should see the orange groves and Med on day three when the weather will warm up. I expect 18/20C. Will then push on further south to an area that has been described as the only desert in Europe. Ideal for making Spaghetti Westerns. Always did like working in the heat (not sure about the dust though).
Our winter quarters are awaiting our arrival. Hope the manservant has arranged plenty of tonic to go with our gin and a good broadband connection. Will be lost if can’t get onto TNUK for four months.
ps. Micky T. Book not arrived from Amazon yet. Have arranged for it to be forwarded when it does.
Hi Sandway. A couple of guys who have ordered the book through Amazon have told me that they have been advised that it will arrive between 19th and 21st December. However, believe me it is well worth the wait
sandway:
Wont be on the road for many days. Should see the orange groves and Med on day three when the weather will warm up. I expect 18/20C. Will then push on further south to an area that has been described as the only desert in Europe. Ideal for making Spaghetti Westerns. Always did like working in the heat (not sure about the dust though).
Our winter quarters are awaiting our arrival. Hope the manservant has arranged plenty of tonic to go with our gin and a good broadband connection. Will be lost if can’t get onto TNUK for four months.
ps. Micky T. Book not arrived from Amazon yet. Have arranged for it to be forwarded when it does.
The Sierra Navada, that is indeed where the Spaghetti Westerns were made. was in that desolate area after tipping beef in Marseille had to load melons out of Almeria.
A WARD, to answer your question more seriously the Transcon wasn,t around when Peter started the company. I dont know why he chose Scanias for the more heavy duty stuff but when I started in 75 all the so called light/medium stuff was handled by a small fleet of Ford "A"series and "D"series vehicles so his Ford loyalty was there for all to see. My first trip ever for Promotor before I was permanent staff was to Poznan Trade Fair in a non sleeper Ford “A” series(to those who aren,t familiar it was an overgrown Transit!). I think at that time we had 2 or 3 “A” series,2 large “D” series pantechs and at least one or maybe 2 “D” series car transporters. Peter kept strong ties with Ford for many years with a continuous supply of work coming from their own exhibition department mmainly because the work involved moving top secret prototypes around .
Jazzandy:
I was at that Baghdad Fair with Martin Hudson and Phil Pugsley from Bannon. Phil was driving the MHC exhibiton unit with a day cab Bedford TM with straight six Detroit.
Promotor brought several Coles Cranes and their exhibition unit which I think was based on a Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster chassis?
Bannon’s Phil Pugsley and our Chick Steadman got on well together. Both site reps, they often worked on the same commie block shows together. They were both ex marines and enjoyed sharing a bottle of Scotlands finest together. Phil was married to a young Bulgarian lady whom he treated badly. One day one of our drivers threatened to fill him in if he didn’t stop swearing and cursing her. Although I disliked Phil as a person I did respect him as he was a bull of a man who could get the job done whatever was thrown at him. Vey much like Chic.
Ah, Phil Pugsley!
Chick and Pugsley were both Royal Marines.
Pugsley who didn’t actually have a Class 1 licence but had been driving around for years in his Leyland (jolly fast Leyland Marathon) before someone found out. We used to have to reverse it for him.
I’d borrowed his white Range Rover onsite at the Plovdiv show - when he was jobbing for Promotor - and was very bored at waiting for a queue of traffic on the fair site - Minas Gazarian, a client, was driving very, very slowly in front of me and then did a 48 point turn - I wasn’t sure why but it became clear as I zoomed past him in great haste - to find the road ahead was actually a flight of steps - which, being short of patience I drove down them to save some time…
Next morning when I went onsite I saw a tiny speck in the distance which roared “Come 'ere!” in best Sargeant Major Royal Marine style. Oh how I laughed when I heard he’d been arrested for driving down the steps. Tee hee.
The same fair he was having a short tempered phone call to his wife/girlfriend somewhere - the final result of which at the end he roared in his bad tempered voice “Yes, of course I love you”. We all fell over in stiches which did not improve his humour.
We stayed at “The 9 Kilometre Motel” in Plovdiv. That wasn’t the time when he stayed there when he had toothache and tried to remove his tooth with pliers by himself whilst all the time raging like a bull…
sandway:
I think it was around 1981 whilst working for Promotor that Welly Ward and myself were in the Londra. It snowed and the police wouldn’t let us out until we chained up. So after cancelling most of the day, thinking about it, the chains went on and next morning we were on our way. We got to the bottom of Bolu where we found another Brit stuck on the side of the road (no chains). He had been there a few days already and a local Turkish family had taken pitty on him and kept him supplied with hot food. We decided if we chained all 3 rigs together, one staying out in the road away from the worst of the snow we could get him moving again. This worked ok and after we uncoupled we told him to go in front incase he got stuck again. Luckily the road was clear further on. He thanked us profusely and said you won’t see me again. It seems he had taken his wife with him but she had been taken ill in Hungary and was in hospital in Budapest. He said he was on his way to Doha or thereabouts and would be going flat out as he was very worried and wanted to get back to her asap.
I have no idea who he worked for or indeed if he was an owner driver. I have seen some pics on here somewhere of similar trucks run by a company from East London. Anyone got any ideas!
Wardie followed me to Baghdad one time and it seemed as if he was chained behind me all the way… I was rather happy when he was unloaded first (by my design) so he could go home first… One trailer is bad enough but two…
mushroomman:
Do you mean like this Micky. I woke up one fine summers morning at 5 a.m. to do an early start and when I pulled the curtains back these two were stood there looking after a cow. They watched me as I made my breakfast and followed me around as I kicked the tyres. I ended up giving them a couple of biscuits each but I had to drive off and find another lay-by just to have an early morning pee.
I am really pleased that Flyingflash 007 mentioned that Graham Bertrum used to call everybody Blue as I remember spending a night with him parked up at The Zagreb Motel in Yugo. I put it down to the amount of bottles of Pevo that we were having with our meal in the restaurant as to why he kept forgetting my name.
Whenever I used to look at this photo many years ago I always felt sorry for these two kids but when those horrific pictures started coming out in the 1990’s about the Romanian orphanages after the fall of Communism, I felt that they were probably some of the lucky ones.
Regards Steve.
Bugsy took his wife on a Yugo and they stopped at the Zagreb Motel, and being a hot day took his wife over the the nearby lakes where one of the local hookers who knew him shouted “Hello English, big c***, no money”. Mrs Bugsy wasn’t overly impressed.
mushroomman:
Thanks Sandway, that’s a great photo of Graham.
I have just been doing a search to see if I could find the thread that was started by Rocket Ron’s wife several years ago and here is the link. There are a couple of good photos on there and if any body still contacts George Fardell can they ask him if he was South African or Rhodesia. I am sure that he told me in The National in Belgrade over 35 years ago that he was in Rhodesia.
The guy driving the Promotors Ford D series in the photo may of been called Roger.
Rhodesian (never Zimbabwean) unless you wanted him to have apoplexy.
I remember there was a little printed sticker in the gents’ washroom at the National in Belgrade stuck onto the broken mirrors which said “expertly repaired by George Fardell”. A sterling fellow!
sandway:
Were you ever asked by your wife when you got home “was it another hard trip dear”. Bit of luck she didn’t see the photos blue!!! Promotor drivers waiting around during Ford clinic job Nurnberg? July 1982.
Nuremberg. Yes, I was there too. That’s when Geoff was stuck at the Austrian border (Fuessing) and the head of Ford Germany flew down to get him through. His trailer was a few centimetres too long. All the others trailers were too long as well but it didn’t seem to be of interest to the German police because THIS trailer was too long…
sandway:
In my last post I should have said “any info Steve aka flyingflash007”. There are to many Steves about and here is another one.
Stevie Smith joined Promotor in the early 70’s. He left the company after a few years but rejoined again in the 80’s and was still there at the beginning of the 90’s. He lived at Canvey Island and the last report I read of him he was living in Spain. The picture of him was taken in 1989 or 1990. He was on his way to Israel with Graham “Blue” Bertram.
Did a few jobs with Slim, Stevie’s cousin, to Italy and Geneva. Quite entertaining and several stories to tell.
sandway:
I think you’re right there bullitt but I have an anecdote from another much earlier period, possibly 79 or 80 and another out of the way place. Dave Stagg, our transport manager sent Paul Linscott, one of our part time drivers well up into the Arctic Circle on a photo shoot. It was a single car job and one of our small Ford Cargos was used. Paul was away for quite a few weeks and upon his return feedback came in from the film company saying what a great job both Paul and Promotor had done. Dave, who was very good with words said he was going to write an article for one of the magazines or newspapers of the time outlining our involvement and heading the piece up “The farthest north a British truck driver has ever been” and if anyone said they had been farther north he was going to change the heading to “The farthest north a British coloured gentleman truck driver had ever been”. Well it was a long time ago so I can’t be expected to remember exactly what Staggie was going to change it to but it was words to that effect.
A very good fellow Paul.
A very tough but gentle ex-soldier from Hever in Kent.
Staggie employed him to annoy one of our drivers…
Mind you every trip at the first crack of dawn Paul would be out of bed doing running on the spot and other exercises. Made one feel quite tired to see him so active. Also he often managed to spend his trip money rather freely - on things that many truck drivers spend their money on - and have to call home to Staggie for more…
I rescued him from Frankfurt one time when he was ill…
I remember when he broke down in Silopi with a Coles crane and became King of Silopi for a while - ordering all the locals around…
We used to go for a beer when he was passing my neck of the woods as one of my chums used to have dealings with his former regiment and they had mutual aquantances.
sandway:
Greece late 70’s. Homeward bound and looking for somewhere to stop. I always used Ipsala border crossing Greece Turkey so why is the sea on the right?? Perhaps I had used the Volos ferry that trip. Come on you grey cells. Don’t give up yet.
Great having the day off at Kavala especially when Top Deck came by… Even Bugsy who had a sore leg that wouldn’t allow him to do any work managed to walk a mile up the road to where the double decker bus was parked. Amazing how the bus rejuvenated him.
sandway:
Further to my last post.
Pictures from near Nevisinja Yugo late 70’s. Unfortunately no pics of the lorry. Had to pick up a load in the hills. The weather had been bad but was starting to clear a bit. I then had to go back to our agent in Mostar to get paperwork. Their office was very close to the famous old bridge which was destroyed in the war in the 90’s. Since been rebuilt I understand. To clear customs I had to go up to Zagreb but at least that was on the way home.
I took some steel wire drums to Mostar and remember there seemed to be Australian children all over the town. Many Yugos used to go and live and work in Australia I learned - and came home for holidays.
After tipping my load I gave the customers officer a lift back towards Sarajevo and we stopped and had a few beers in a restuarant where he introduced me to the local talent, the waitresses, at his local. All about 6ft tall with perfect figures but with what appeared to be broken noses and one had been slashed with a razor at some time. One asked if I could wait for after work but I said I had to press on…
I woke up one fine summers morning at 5 a.m. to do an early start and when I pulled the curtains back these two were stood there looking after a cow. They watched me as I made my breakfast and followed me around as I kicked the tyres. I ended up giving them a couple of biscuits each but I had to drive off and find another lay-by just to have an early morning pee.
