Nottsnortherner:
AHA!!! You,ve finally confirmed my suspicions! the suspence has been killing me but I was 99% sure it was you! Brian,you must have the largest collection of Promotor memorabilia in existance1 Where on earth did you dig that up from!..Have to say though, still trying to work out who “Efes” is though!
Well Nottsnortherner. I can tell you the letters Efes are not his initials!!!
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.From;-
Santa’s little helper
Weekend saved! Well my wife will probebly dont like my lying in the sofa al weekend but i have to read eh 
Have a great weekend al! I know i will!
Danne
More Transatlantic Trucker memorablia. Gentleman in the Ford, top right, is Calderwood. The original is a rather poor photocopy, alas.
Transatlantic Trucker 5 (cont).
The picture, bottom left, of the two gentlemen crossing a road reminds me of a story about two Promotor drivers in Cluses, France, who were collected by the gendermerie for excessive drinking. One of said drivers - who shall remain nameless (they know who they are) - was “unwell” in the back of the black maria and was invited to clean it up afterwards before spending the night in clink. I have this from a very reliable source.
Great stuff Efes. Had to get my magnifying glass out to read it all. But that don’t matter.
Nottsnortherner. I did mention in a much earlier post that you and I did a trip to Bucharest together back in 78. Also on that trip was John Barclay and a driver called Skippy who came from up north. Preston I think. His job was to drive the Pantech which, for some reason, was parked up in Zeebrugge. I am sure we shipped over on a Sunday night from Dover. Nothing odd there as we mainly shipped over that route.
When we tried to start the Pantech it didn’t want to know. So it was towed around the docks by either you or John until it started. By then we had lost a lot of time. The convoy finally moved off but you were quite a stickler for running legal and we only just got into Germany that night. The rest of the trip followed in the same vein and when we got into the commie block we seem to split up. You and John and me and Skippy running together.
When we got south of Szeged heading out towards the Romanian border Skippy and I stopped for an evening meal. The restaurant was full of Russian squaddies, identified by Skippy, who told me he had been in intelligence in the British army and spent most of his time on the East German border. He spoke perfect German with a Bavarian accent, so he said. Also in the restaurant were a couple of local girls. No doubt looking for business. After a while I noticed Skippy winking at one of the girls. This didn’t go down too well with the squaddies or me either as we were outnumbered about twenty to one. The girl came over and asked Skippy to buy her a meal which he promptly refused to do so she swore at him and p-ssed of back to the squaddies. I thought to myself, how can you fall out with so many people in such a short space of time.
The four of us regrouped halfway across Romania and got to the service area on the motorway just north of Bucharest that night. We were a day behind schedule and Phil Pugsley was waiting for us at the trade fair. You said we must be up early next morning to get there for eight o’clock. I was up and having a wash and shave under an outside cold water tap when you came along knocking on all the doors to get everyone going. I still remember the look on your face when you saw I was up and having a shave. We duly arrived in Bucharest, albeit a day late, Pugsley gave us hell and was going to have us sacked. I only learnt later that Staggie had a right go at you and John and that John had stuck up for me by saying I was shepherding Skippy as his truck was slow and unreliable.
I never heard of Skippy again after that trip so maybe Pugsley did manage to get rid of one of us.
Don,t remember a thing about that! not a thing!! mind you whenever I ran with Barclay it tended to turn into some sort of truck driving farce! Pugsley was a miserable bugger,he took offence to most of us at one time or another! he even wacked Geoff Gardner in the face during a meal on site one time. I think it was kept quiet, Geoff told me about it a few months later over a few beers. He could quite easily have wacked him back but being a subby at the time he thought better of it!.Got a xmas card and letter from Geoff yesterday, living in Pasadena,USA still driving wagon &drag tippers and retiring in the summer next year. I know he has bought a flat in Warrington(why?) so maybe he plans to return at some stage. When I reply I will introduce him to Trucknet so maybe we will get another contributer!
Hi Sandway, I don’t suppose your Skippy was called Alan Jackson from Fleetwood was he. 
I think that Alan worked at P.and O. at one time, mid 70’s.
Dirty Dan:
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.From;-
Santa’s little helperWeekend saved! Well my wife will probebly dont like my lying in the sofa al weekend but i have to read eh
Have a great weekend al! I know i will!
Danne
Hi Dan. Glad that the book arrived. Hope that you enjoy reading it.
Nottsnortherner:
Don,t remember a thing about that! not a thing!! mind you whenever I ran with Barclay it tended to turn into some sort of truck driving farce! Pugsley was a miserable bugger,he took offence to most of us at one time or another! he even wacked Geoff Gardner in the face during a meal on site one time. I think it was kept quiet, Geoff told me about it a few months later over a few beers. He could quite easily have wacked him back but being a subby at the time he thought better of it!.Got a xmas card and letter from Geoff yesterday, living in Pasadena,USA still driving wagon &drag tippers and retiring in the summer next year. I know he has bought a flat in Warrington(why?) so maybe he plans to return at some stage. When I reply I will introduce him to Trucknet so maybe we will get another contributer!
I remember that incident, where Phil hit Geoff. I cannot remember now if I was there at the time or if Geoff told me about it.
mushroomman:
Hi Sandway, I don’t suppose your Skippy was called Alan Jackson from Fleetwood was he.
I think that Alan worked at P.and O. at one time, mid 70’s.
I don’t think I ever new his name mushroomman and I think that was the only trip he did for us. Mind you, people were hired and fired whilst I was on a trip sometimes so what do I know.
I have attached a photo taken at the home of a Kurdish friend of mine in Officers City, Baghdad. I am on the right and next to me in the yellow shirt is Awat. I can’t remember the name of the other Kurdish chap but on the left is another Promotor driver whose name I have forgotten. Any ideas? It was perhaps 82 or 83. I think he had a brother who also worked for the company and they may have lived down Sussex way.
You,ve lost me on that one,Buddy! dont recognise him at all and never knew there was a pair of brothers employed. He looks more like a cabaret backing singer! Are you sure he worked for us! I do remember one of the many funny stories about Johnny Barclay. As you are aware he was only about 5ft 7inches small and it didn,t matter where he was but after the first coffee of the morning he had to have a rapid bowel movement! This one time we were parked in the middle of nowhere and on an early start. John had parked behind me real close so after the coffee in my cab he shot to the back of my trailer and dropped his drawers behind my rear axle(the proverbial spread-axle-shuffle!) . Just for once the devil in me decided to release the brakes and roll forward! John came out from behind my trailer with his kaks round his ankles like a rat up a drainpipe cursing and swearing at me! 
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!
I think one of the last trips the 140 and lowloader did was to Italy. Trevor Thayer was the driver and after going through the blanc he ran down to Aosta where it broke down. Now I’m not sure if it was a problem with the unit or the trailer but he was there something like six days. It was finally sorted and Trevor pulled out onto the Autostrada drove about five kilometres before wheels and trailer parted company. That took another couple of days to put right. Trevor was a very easy going man but I learnt some new swear words when he recounted that trip for me.
I am fairly sure the attached photo was taken in 1978 on my way back from Brno to Germany to reload. As I only ever went via Prague once it must have been taken somewhere down south.
Are you sure Brian?..the white sign at the bottom surely dictates that you were in the Pilsen(German spelling) region which was the area between Prague and the border at Waidhaus. I could be wrong of course! 
Nottsnortherner:
Are you sure Brian?..the white sign at the bottom surely dictates that you were in the Pilsen(German spelling) region which was the area between Prague and the border at Waidhaus. I could be wrong of course!
You are right there Nottsnortherner. My route out was (except once) Waidhaus to Pilsen. In the centre of town turn right then turn left a bit down the road and cut across to Brno. I returned the same way. I need to find a map to be sure of the route. As I’ve said before the “little grey cells are not what they were”.
sandway:
Nottsnortherner:
Are you sure Brian?..the white sign at the bottom surely dictates that you were in the Pilsen(German spelling) region which was the area between Prague and the border at Waidhaus. I could be wrong of course!
You are right there Nottsnortherner. My route out was (except once) Waidhaus to Pilsen. In the centre of town turn right then turn left a bit down the road and cut across to Brno. I returned the same way. I need to find a map to be sure of the route. As I’ve said before the “little grey cells are not what they were”.[/quote
After looking at a not very detailed map I realise my last few trips were different again. I turned right well before Pilsen and cut across country. One town I went through was Tabor. Not sure if I joined the motorway at Jinlava before running down into Brno.
Hi Sandway, can you not check your passports to see if you used the West German border at Furth im Wald.
Your Czechoslovakian stamp might say Domazlice.
From Domazlice you would of gone to Klatovy Vary, Strakonice, Pisek, Tabor and Jilhava where you could pick up the Prague/Brno motorway.
If you look at that photo of the Vodka Cola Cowboy on page one of this thread then might see the sign for Strakonice in the background.
I hope this helps.
Furth was the way I used to go having gotten brassed off too many times waiting around at Waidhaus! I always remember when that motorway down to Brno was first completed, they had built these charming wooden toilet blocks in the larger stopping areas but when I stopped to use one all the toilet doors were locked! And judging by the excrement and bits of paper round the back they had been locked since day one! kept the toilets clean though! 
