The fact is, youâr âflogging a dead horseâ with this subject.
Those who worked for, or âsubbedâ for Astran have only good things to say about them, no doubt lots of the other companies that âdidâ the M/E back in the 70âs & 80âs were good at their job, but it seems the one thing ALL drivers who ran down that way have in common is an enormously high regard for Astran.
Enough said I think!!
Ross.
If people would read what he wrote, Dreva isnât remotely having a go at Astran as a company, just the shortsighted amongst us who have elevated them to the be-all-and-end-all of the Middle East run, but mainly all the prats who imply
they would have done ME but were too late, which is plainly cobblers
For quite a few years in the very 90s, the firm I worked for did any Russian work that Astran got, as Uwe sensibly realised that we knew the job having started in 1988 - did that make us better than Astran? No, just horses for courses
jj72:
If people would read what he wrote, Dreva isnât remotely having a go at Astran as a company, just the shortsighted amongst us who have elevated them to the be-all-and-end-all of the Middle East run, but mainly all the prats who imply
they would have done ME but were too late, which is plainly cobblers
I could be wrong but the âundercurrentâ of drevaâs comments are that heâs looking for negative thoughts towards Astran, I donât, and have never considdered that theyâre the only company that âcoveredâ the middle east âback in the dayâ. But, if I was looking to take a seller out there tomorrow I wouldnât get much help from Whittles, Dow, Simon International or Promotor etc etc, no, the only UK company that can currently get Saudi Transit permits are Astran, who just happen to be the only UK company running overland to The Gulf. So, I think this does âelevate them to the be-all-and-end-all of the Middle East runâ, or am I being âshort sightedââ â
With regard to âIâd have done the Middle East but itâd all but finishedâ, (personally) I didnât fancy it at the time and was making a decent living doing Spain while a mate of mine had âall butâ gone bankrupt subbing for Whittles, so I didnât do it cos I didnât want to & have absolutely no regrets. You wonât see me wearing an Astran T shirt, but I donât see why anyone should make derogatory remarks about someone who does!!
jj72:
For quite a few years in the very 90s, the firm I worked for did any Russian work that Astran got, as Uwe sensibly realised that we knew the job having started in 1988 - did that make us better than Astran? No, just horses for courses
Iâd say that it made youre company better at Russia than Astran.
The fact is, youâr âflogging a dead horseâ with this subject.
Those who worked for, or âsubbedâ for Astran have only good things to say about them, no doubt lots of the other companies that âdidâ the M/E back in the 70âs & 80âs were good at their job, but it seems the one thing ALL drivers who ran down that way have in common is an enormously high regard for Astran.
Enough said I think!!
Ross.
If people would read what he wrote, Dreva isnât remotely having a go at Astran as a company, just the shortsighted amongst us who have elevated them to the be-all-and-end-all of the Middle East run, but mainly all the prats who imply
they would have done ME but were too late, which is plainly cobblers
For quite a few years in the very 90s, the firm I worked for did any Russian work that Astran got, as Uwe sensibly realised that we knew the job having started in 1988 - did that make us better than Astran? No, just horses for courses
jj72:
If people would read what he wrote, Dreva isnât remotely having a go at Astran as a company, just the shortsighted amongst us who have elevated them to the be-all-and-end-all of the Middle East run, but mainly all the prats who imply
they would have done ME but were too late, which is plainly cobblers
Oh dear I think you may be treading on dangerous ground here. You are likely to start 17 pages of drivel about how short sighted Astran and the other long haul pioneers were in not recruiting proper drivers like Carryfurther. I imagine if he was there, Cooperman, â â â â Snow and A W Y would have stuck to local work
I have never drove to the middle east but i have done work for the present day owners of astran
they are straight and honest to work for and always pay what is owed on time which
anyone operating in the haulage industry will apreciate is quite rare!!
We have worked all over mainland europe for uk and european based haulage companies and
freight forwarders some good and some not so good but seldom pay on time!!
To have operated in thier field for so long all be it under different ownership and to still have
a solid reputation and pay subcontractors on time without endless phone calls chasing money
is an achievement!!
As for the other firms yes many will have come and gone over the years and will all be require
respect for doing a difficult demanding job both operators and drivers, but is anyone else
sending uk based vehicles to the middle east on a regular basis in 2011 â â ?
i remember chris hooper saying he found out it had sold while on a trip and wasnt happy about it because the boss at the time promised he would let he know if anything happened but didnt this is common knowledge as it was printed in a truck magazine article whilst doing a trip to the m/e
dreva:
i remember chris hooper saying he found out it had sold while on a trip and wasnt happy about it because the boss at the time promised he would let he know if anything happened but didnt this is common knowledge as it was printed in a truck magazine article whilst doing a trip to the m/e
what did it have to do with chris hooper if bob paul and uwe sold astran he was only a subbie for astran and there was no change at all only a rate increase of 3200 pounds dont believe everything you read in magazi nes
dreva:
i remember chris hooper saying he found out it had sold while on a trip and wasnt happy about it because the boss at the time promised he would let he know if anything happened but didnt this is common knowledge as it was printed in a truck magazine article whilst doing a trip to the m/e
I doubt there was any need for Chris to know or for him to even contact Astran after he left for the Gulf. I certainly never contacted my man in the office. there is no need to ring in every day I would love to hear those words again. âGive us a ring when you are ready to come backâ
Chris may have felt a bit miffed, or was it just journalistic licence? As long as he was paid for that trip, he couldnât really complain, it is not like working for Bulmers when you come home from Manchester and find you are now working for someone in Malton
dreva:
i remember chris hooper saying he found out it had sold while on a trip and wasnt happy about it because the boss at the time promised he would let he know if anything happened but didnt this is common knowledge as it was printed in a truck magazine article whilst doing a trip to the m/e
I doubt there was any need for Chris to know or for him to even contact Astran after he left for the Gulf. I certainly never contacted my man in the office. there is no need to ring in every day I would love to hear those words again. âGive us a ring when you are ready to come backâ
Chris may have felt a bit miffed, or was it just journalistic licence? As long as he was paid for that trip, he couldnât really complain, it is not like working for Bulmers when you come home from Manchester and find you are now working for someone in Malton
im not sure mate but i think he wrote the stories himself and someone must have edited it for him so dont think it was the jornalist
dreva:
i remember chris hooper saying he found out it had sold while on a trip and wasnt happy about it because the boss at the time promised he would let he know if anything happened but didnt this is common knowledge as it was printed in a truck magazine article whilst doing a trip to the m/e
what did it have to do with chris hooper if bob paul and uwe sold astran he was only a subbie for astran and there was no change at all only a rate increase of 3200 pounds dont believe everything you read in magazi nes
dreva,your obviously just trying to get attention.i only read a couple of lines of your dribble and that was enufâŚIt always amazes me that the steering wheel attendants(yourself) have got loads to say about a job you no nothing about,and have not got the spine to do,this is the reason why you are so against astran and there history,like your father my old man did it in the 70"s,big deal,that was the thing to do then,so just because you dont have the balls to tackle the unknown,leave the job to the people(drivers) who do,i think its ashame and quite embarrasing for you that you cant contain yourself when clearly you belong on shapp.Well done dreve for keeping food in our supermarkets,your country needs you.
like i said you idiots cant read never slaged them off read through it again i drive for the money not a shiny new wagon and â â â â pay like half of you glory boys on here read it again never wanted to do the m/e or europe been offered euro some times i think give it a go other dont fancy it so get your head out your â â â and read the post properly ps would like to see your dads pictures will post my dads up when scanners sorted you can put yours on the astran drivers thread will be nice to see them thanks for the comments
Dreva,if you knew anything about us you would know shiny new WAGONS,i think u mean trucks,we dont have.When your truck becomes history normally after 2 years,maybe 3, we may consider driving it,actually its gotta be a least 5 years or older before i would consider a day out in it.You have obviously been given day release/good friday off today and are makin the most of itâŚIthink you proberbly have the best WAGON job in the UK,i hope you do so you wont wake up one morning and decide you have grown balls and try and get on our jobâŚsaying all that i would gladly â â â â â â you on a tour of the M/E.
Burp,i think thats bein a bit hasty towards the WAGON/DREVA driverâŚi am startin to wander if you have done the job urself,i mean do YOU have balls,cos i aint seen u on the job and i am a regular.come on now keep it clean
I would love to hear those words again. âGive us a ring when you are ready to come backâ