Thanks Rick, I always thought that it might be Split but having tipped in Split and Zadar on a couple of occasions over 35 years ago I couldn’t remember which was which. I do remember my first trip to Zadar as I parked in what seemed to be the old part of the town where there was a little square next to an old Roman wall with a small restaurant that had tables on the pavement. I walked across and had a meal and while I was sat there I watched the local Militia park next to the truck and have a look around it but after a couple of minutes they drove off. I was expecting them to come back that night but they never did.
I have just thought of what I think might be an interesting Christmas story about Split and if I get the time in the next couple of weeks then I shall try and write it down and stick it on here.
Regards Steve.
B.T.W. That’s a very nice looking fifth wheeler that you have there Sandway.
A RARE PHOTO FROM GEORGE FARDELL WE RUN DOWN TO BAGDAD OR SOMEWHERE TOGETHER:: IT WAS CHRISTMASS EVE THINK AROUND 1982
GOT STUCK IN A LONG WAIT FOR THE BORDER INTO YUGO
Must have been “somewhere” as you never made it to Baghdad.
mushroomman:
…I have just thought of what I think might be an interesting Christmas story about Split and if I get the time in the next couple of weeks then I shall try and write it down and stick it on here…
Look forward to it Steve. Love these memories from back in the day!
Nottsnortherner:
Hi there folk, been reading these old Promotor posts with interest! I was there from 75 to 87, Tony Graingers the name and I remember most of the guys you all refer to. I,ve got some names to include that have been missed.
From my early days…Brian Algate
Dave Clark
Johnny Bishop( worst Scania fuel figures ever thanks to the Euroshell get rich scheme…go figure!
Bobby Keen…useful drummer in his other life
Barry Chambers(or Chalmers) used to drive big D series Pantech
And there was a lad called Pierre who used to do car recovery with a single car transporter but he left soon after I started, In 75 when I joined there was no tractor available so I tended to drive rented Dafs from Penfolds or anything that needed a driver. My first serious job was down to Glyfada(Athens) with Chic Steadman and two trailers of racing cars, I drove the none sleeper Scania 80 and got slagged off for it from some of the more bolshy regulars, Terry Weeks for one! As it happened Chic was driving a 110 (SUC 19 N) which he and Brian Aldgate shared owing to the nature of their work. By chance when we got back Brian decided to leave and Chic decided to come off the road and Hey Presto! SUC became mine! Loved those early days at Promotor but like others have said it did get worse probably due to the firm getting bigger it became less of a family and more of a business We all had run-ins with Herr Stagg! He wasn,t the best man-manager I ever came across. There was one occasion I remember very well, there had been a few rumblings of discontent amongst the drivers after Stagg had been made up so having heard enough from us he arranged a meeting with PC then arranged one with us the next morning. Now this meeting took place in the workshop office and fortunately most of the drivers were there including one very intelligent, well educated guy called Dave Boulding from Tunbridge Wells. Staggy stormed into the room and opened the meeting with “I,ve had a meeting with Peter and we,ve reached an agreement on a few things and I can tell you now no ones job is safe anymore” then as quick as a flash Little Dave spoke out saying" I trust you include yourself in that last statement!" Well, everybody fell about laughing, all ecept the Stagg, he was fuming,red in the face, I thought he was going to burst!
Anyway back to business! Later on the company was joined by the likes of Sue Ashdown
Johnny Evans(her fella at the time!
Johnny Barclay (had plenty of laughs with him!)
Keith Reynolds(thought he was a dutchman,used to wear furry clogs,smoke
dutch roll-ups and broke into the occasional dutch accent!)
Carl Denherdt,(who had left earlier then reteurned, Yanky car mad)
Roger Graber ( the clipboard kid)
A quick word to Supercube, Hi Bobby! first job I did with you was a Ford collection from some disused airfield out Reading way. While waiting to get loaded you put me right on what you could and couldn,t get away with! Not sure but I think in the end there was only enough kit for one truck and one of us came back empty,not unusual for Pro,s in those days!
A quick word to Sandway, been scratching my head as to who you are but its beaten me!..Name yourself please!!
Hi Tony, good to hear from someone I knew on there, I was in touch with a couple of the other guys but lost touch over the years, as you do, like John Taylor (the Australian) and Johnny Bishop, I saw Sue after she left and she was running a transport firm in Ashford way, beside the M20.
I’m retired now and living in Suffolk, quiet life. What you doing with yourself?
Hey Bobby! good to hear from you, I,m a bit like yourself these days, I handed my badge in 18 months ago and I,m living in retirement in Northampton. Still remember those old days especially when I was the “new boy” on some of those trips with guys like yourself. Everyone was a character in their own way! Do you remember Terry Weeks’ favourite saying…“you only pick on me cos I,m little”!. I remember doing a Poznan with you and it was quite late in the evening and we were chewing the cud over a ■■■ in the dark when a huge moth landed on your shoulder and you sh*t yourself!!! Great days! I think Sue may have been with us on that or she caught up with us on the way, wouldn,t have been hard , didn,t actually rush too much did we! I think it was you who when laying out the ground rules, told me that you always get 3 sundays out of a Belgrade cos back then we got double expenses for working sundays!
Nottsnortherner:
Hey Bobby! good to hear from you, I,m a bit like yourself these days, I handed my badge in 18 months ago and I,m living in retirement in Northampton. Still remember those old days especially when I was the “new boy” on some of those trips with guys like yourself. Everyone was a character in their own way! Do you remember Terry Weeks’ favourite saying…“you only pick on me cos I,m little”!. I remember doing a Poznan with you and it was quite late in the evening and we were chewing the cud over a ■■■ in the dark when a huge moth landed on your shoulder and you sh*t yourself!!! Great days! I think Sue may have been with us on that or she caught up with us on the way, wouldn,t have been hard , didn,t actually rush too much did we! I think it was you who when laying out the ground rules, told me that you always get 3 sundays out of a Belgrade cos back then we got double expenses for working sundays!
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.
Haven’t seen him in a number of years now.
You are right about Paul having been an ex soldier Effes. He and Billy Tooke had served together in the same infantry regiment. After leaving the Army Billy played professional football for Torquay United. Paul played Rugby for Blackheath and Kent.
I remember when we were mob handed in Paris for the Paris fashion show. It was a Saturday afternoon and France were playing at home to Wales, in the old 5 Nations Rugby competition. (This was in the days when Italy were not in the competition ). We all went to a bar near to the show ground to watch the game on T.V.
Paul was sitting next to Roger Graber. As the second half kicked off, Paul and Roger interlocked their little fingers and sat there like two star crossed lovers.
The French patrons seeing this were shocked and came out with phrases like “Sacre Bleu”, “Mon Dieu” and “Merde Alors”.
Stevie Smith turned around and saw them and he was much more succinct. He said, “Four Farks Ache”.
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…
Happy days…
I met Phil and his wife for the first time at Bucharest exhibition ground, in September 1978. I had flown down to take over Keith Reynolds’ truck because he was ill and had to be flown back to the U.K. Also, on site were Buggsy and Ronny. We ran back together. By the time that I arrived the trailers were loaded and had cleared customs. I was introduced to Phil and his wife and Phil was in a very mellow mood.
We left Bucharest the following morning and I was running at the back. We messed around at several fuel stations, while Ronny and Buggsy tried to buy diesel. Eventually we got going and after a while stopped in a semi-hidden lay-by for a cup of tea. As we sat in the lay-by Phil went past, towing the Bannon caravan. We set out again and within ten minutes pulled into another lay-by. It turned out that Ronny, who was at the front, had seen Phil parked up further ahead. We sat in this new lay-by and waited until Phil drove away again. Ronny and Buggsy explained to me that they had been on site for days with him and his continual bad temper had rubbed them both up the wrong way. Had we driven on, when Ronny had seen the caravan parked up, we would have had to stop where Phil was, because it was an open lay-by. Ronny and Buggsy could not stand the thought of spending any more time with him.
By the way, as my memory serves me. Phil’s wife was Hungarian, not Bulgarian.
sandway:
Hello Danne. Glad you like the Promotor thread. I didn’t start it. Steve Lacy started this particular one. About eight years ago Ronnie Harts wife tried to get one started. It just so happens that I have a lot of time on my hands now and a few photos and stories that I want to share whilst I still can. I do find Micky T’s Russian escapade interesting as you do.
What happened to Ronnie? Very likeable fellow (though he smoked far too much).
I know he had his own truck/trucks after Promotor?
Yes, Effes, Ronny set up his own company. R.C.Hart transport, operating out of Flitwick, in Bedfordshire. He had a fleet of Volvo’s. When I returned from living in Moscow. in the mid 90s, I often saw his motors, on the way to Dover, to ship out or back in. However, I haven’t seen them for years, so presume that he packed it up.
sandway:
Hello Danne. Glad you like the Promotor thread. I didn’t start it. Steve Lacy started this particular one. About eight years ago Ronnie Harts wife tried to get one started. It just so happens that I have a lot of time on my hands now and a few photos and stories that I want to share whilst I still can. I do find Micky T’s Russian escapade interesting as you do.
What happened to Ronnie? Very likeable fellow (though he smoked far too much).
I know he had his own truck/trucks after Promotor?
Yes, Effes, Ronny set up his own company. R.C.Hart transport, operating out of Flitwick, in Bedfordshire. He had a fleet of Volvo’s. When I returned from living in Moscow. in the mid 90s, I often saw his motors, on the way to Dover, to ship out or back in. However, I haven’t seen them for years, so presume that he packed it up.
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…
Happy days…
I met Phil and his wife for the first time at Bucharest exhibition ground, in September 1978. I had flown down to take over Keith Reynolds’ truck because he was ill and had to be flown back to the U.K. Also, on site were Buggsy and Ronny. We ran back together. By the time that I arrived the trailers were loaded and had cleared customs. I was introduced to Phil and his wife and Phil was in a very mellow mood.
We left Bucharest the following morning and I was running at the back. We messed around at several fuel stations, while Ronny and Buggsy tried to buy diesel. Eventually we got going and after a while stopped in a semi-hidden lay-by for a cup of tea. As we sat in the lay-by Phil went past, towing the Bannon caravan. We set out again and within ten minutes pulled into another lay-by. It turned out that Ronny, who was at the front, had seen Phil parked up further ahead. We sat in this new lay-by and waited until Phil drove away again. Ronny and Buggsy explained to me that they had been on site for days with him and his continual bad temper had rubbed them both up the wrong way. Had we driven on, when Ronny had seen the caravan parked up, we would have had to stop where Phil was, because it was an open lay-by. Ronny and Buggsy could not stand the thought of spending any more time with him.
By the way, as my memory serves me. Phil’s wife was Hungarian, not Bulgarian.
Yes, indeed, Phil’s wife was Hungarian and he had a little (probably enormous now) lad called George. But by the time of this particular expo I think he’d moved on and had a girlfriend in London (Indian?). I have to say I got on famously with Phil. When he was in a temper I just found it funny.
He liked the ditty I recounted for him “Mrs Puggywuggy had a square cut punt, not a punt cut square by a square cut punt, it was round at the back and square at the front, Mrs Puggywuggy had a square cut punt” etc…
sandway:
Hello Danne. Glad you like the Promotor thread. I didn’t start it. Steve Lacy started this particular one. About eight years ago Ronnie Harts wife tried to get one started. It just so happens that I have a lot of time on my hands now and a few photos and stories that I want to share whilst I still can. I do find Micky T’s Russian escapade interesting as you do.
What happened to Ronnie? Very likeable fellow (though he smoked far too much).
I know he had his own truck/trucks after Promotor?
Yes, Effes, Ronny set up his own company. R.C.Hart transport, operating out of Flitwick, in Bedfordshire. He had a fleet of Volvo’s. When I returned from living in Moscow. in the mid 90s, I often saw his motors, on the way to Dover, to ship out or back in. However, I haven’t seen them for years, so presume that he packed it up.
Harts packed up in about 2005
Good heavens… Ronnie in a tie! No cigarette in hand?
If you do a search for “Ronnie Hart” there is a thread on this site started by his wife… But quite an old one… Or search for “Promotor”
Mr. Effess, please allow me to correct you on a detail surrounding your Nuremberg Ford Clinic! Yes you are right in saying the head of Ford flew down to the border to “sweet talk” the customs/police etc but unless there was another such Nuremberg event where this situation was repeated then I,m pretty sure it wasn,t Geoff but a guy called Bob Archer. We knew that the trucks were borderline lengthwise but at that time Bob had been charged with driving the Scania 140 six-wheeler which nobody wanted to drive because it was always overlength! The problem came about because initially the first three or four of us got through without being measured but when the 140 pulled up it was obvious that it was going to be measured. Bob was told to park up and got the hump because he didn,t want to sit there on his own so told the police to measure the rest of us which resulted in two or three of us being detained. The Ford guy came down to sort it but the police insisted that the trailers that were parked up had to be moved by the tractors that they had already allowed through! This is what happened I think the next day. Of coarse if they had measured them as well they would have been parked up too! Just as well they didn,t!
Nottsnortherner:
Mr. Effess, please allow me to correct you on a detail surrounding your Nuremberg Ford Clinic! Yes you are right in saying the head of Ford flew down to the border to “sweet talk” the customs/police etc but unless there was another such Nuremberg event where this situation was repeated then I,m pretty sure it wasn,t Geoff but a guy called Bob Archer. We knew that the trucks were borderline lengthwise but at that time Bob had been charged with driving the Scania 140 six-wheeler which nobody wanted to drive because it was always overlength! The problem came about because initially the first three or four of us got through without being measured but when the 140 pulled up it was obvious that it was going to be measured. Bob was told to park up and got the hump because he didn,t want to sit there on his own so told the police to measure the rest of us which resulted in two or three of us being detained. The Ford guy came down to sort it but the police insisted that the trailers that were parked up had to be moved by the tractors that they had already allowed through! This is what happened I think the next day. Of coarse if they had measured them as well they would have been parked up too! Just as well they didn,t!
Bob Archer. The first time that I met him was in 1975, at Zeebrugge. I was driving for the John Surtees Formula 1 team and was on my way to the Austrian Grand Prix. Bob’s truck was parked in the dock. He had a low loader trailer and was retightening the chains. But, he had just come back from the local hospital, where they had put 10 stitches in his forehead. The chain handle had come back and hit him in the face.
Good morning Mr. Sandway. Just to let you know that guys who have ordered “The Vodka Cola Cowboy” from Amazon have started to receive their copies. They have been E mailing me to let me know that their copies have arrived.
Hopefully, yours has arrived and will be forwarded on to you, in time for Christmas.
Nottsnortherner:
Mr. Effess, please allow me to correct you on a detail surrounding your Nuremberg Ford Clinic! Yes you are right in saying the head of Ford flew down to the border to “sweet talk” the customs/police etc but unless there was another such Nuremberg event where this situation was repeated then I,m pretty sure it wasn,t Geoff but a guy called Bob Archer. We knew that the trucks were borderline lengthwise but at that time Bob had been charged with driving the Scania 140 six-wheeler which nobody wanted to drive because it was always overlength! The problem came about because initially the first three or four of us got through without being measured but when the 140 pulled up it was obvious that it was going to be measured. Bob was told to park up and got the hump because he didn,t want to sit there on his own so told the police to measure the rest of us which resulted in two or three of us being detained. The Ford guy came down to sort it but the police insisted that the trailers that were parked up had to be moved by the tractors that they had already allowed through! This is what happened I think the next day. Of coarse if they had measured them as well they would have been parked up too! Just as well they didn,t!
Thanks for the correction. It was a long time ago.
Bob Archer, I remember, was not a fan of mine, nor me of him. Always in a hump about something or other (me, when I first met him) which is why I’m not surprised by what you wrote (and I didn’t know). When did he leave Pro’s? Did his good works hasten his departure? I can’t quite remember when he left.
I think it must have been Geoff who drove down to the border because his 5th wheel was moveable and he hoped to be able to take the trailers through… he was involved somehow (I think…)
I, too, was on the clinic at Nuremberg and remember Oberleutnant Stagg doing things on the monument that may not have impressed any locals that may have witnessed his antics. They seemed very appropriate at the time!
Vodka Cola Cowboy:
Good morning Mr. Sandway. Just to let you know that guys who have ordered “The Vodka Cola Cowboy” from Amazon have started to receive their copies. They have been E mailing me to let me know that their copies have arrived.
Hopefully, yours has arrived and will be forwarded on to you, in time for Christmas.
I can,t remember why or when Archer left but I wasn,t his greatest fan either! I do think you,re right about Geoff and the other trailers,it is possible that he moved two and one of the rest of us did the other,as you say , long time ago! I,m still in touch with Geoff who now lives in Pasedena,USA,in fact I,m expecting a card to pop through the door anytime now! That 140 was a right pain in the backside! It was bought to accompany an extendable Broshuis low-loader which was intended for overheight exhibition pieces but inbetween those movements it had to do the normal work to pay for itself. It looked the bees-knees but it was a pig! Too low geared, double drive,terrible ride and flat out at 50-55mph but more comfortable at 45! And of course even with the 5th wheel as far forward as possible it was still overlength. I think it got chopped in against a conventional 4x2 after a relatively short time, not one of PCs best ideas!
Nottsnortherner:
I can,t remember why or when Archer left but I wasn,t his greatest fan either! I do think you,re right about Geoff and the other trailers,it is possible that he moved two and one of the rest of us did the other,as you say , long time ago! I,m still in touch with Geoff who now lives in Pasedena,USA,in fact I,m expecting a card to pop through the door anytime now! That 140 was a right pain in the backside! It was bought to accompany an extendable Broshuis low-loader which was intended for overheight exhibition pieces but inbetween those movements it had to do the normal work to pay for itself. It looked the bees-knees but it was a pig! Too low geared, double drive,terrible ride and flat out at 50-55mph but more comfortable at 45! And of course even with the 5th wheel as far forward as possible it was still overlength. I think it got chopped in against a conventional 4x2 after a relatively short time, not one of PCs best ideas!
Geoff was a good fellow. Do you remember Simon Knight from Sevenoaks? He was around a for a short while.
What about Brad Fontana and Brett Sherrif? The two cowboys - not really - they just seemed to have cowboy names.
Don,t know Brad fontana but when Motorvation were at Newington in Kent Simon Knight came to see us and eventually did a few jobs for us then he popped up working as a freelance production manager on product launch shows. In the mid eighties Brett did a stately home tour with me, some finance house doing a promotion. The job was for a single trailer but the access to some of the venues justified the two smaller vehicles. The only part of that job I remember was one of the venues was Brocket Hall and this was at the time his lordship had been hauled over the coals with that insurance scam involving some of his expensive classic cars. Anyway we had done what was required and were standing about in the room when his lordships butler came in and asked us if we played snooker, we answered in the affirmative and then he took us to his lordships snooker room and said “help yourselves boys, his lordship won,t be using it for a while,would you like a drink?”. He returned 10 minutes later with two of the largest measures of single malt I,d ever seen! Happy days!
