Great Pics but none of them relate to the question I put to U the Q is not the border in question and if u say it was 75 the scania in the yellow wasnt built then dont recognise this border kuwaut Kafgi was a large parking area stone wall surround ,Arac kuwait was a mess of dumped trucks with one tin overhead shelter which took about 8 trucks and kept u out of the sun if u were lucky to get in it,as I said before I never attempted the border in question from Saudi why would u to transit Syria ,Jordon, saudi ,to Kuwait seems a bit odd,when Barry Barnes and I used that border it was only because we both tipped 30 km in Kuwait from it so we decided to give it a try we got through but only after a massive inspection of everthing we had the Saudi,s thought we were trying to get illegal things into Saudi , Things changed so quickly in them days one trip was never the same as the last ,borders changed as growth entered the ME Roads sprang up out of nowhere Lets not doubt each others memories of times and freinds no longer with us
The pic that bestbooties has posted with the 142 in it says under the pic Syrian convoy.
and he also says “The only other convoy I took part in was the Syrian one which came in a few years later” hence the 142 in the pic
Come on sinbin31 please keep up and lets have some more stories about the trips you guys made back then please.
I may be toataly wrong but id say the pic of the 142 was taken after 1983 as it and the truck behind which looks to be in the same livery are both pulling tri axle trailers which became popular after the uk 38 ton limit came in back in 83.
Im not trying to pour doubt on any thing just think my brain might be in gear for once.
ps am i right best booties.
Bloody hell your quite right I missed that, still I was trying to gain info on the kuwait convoy ,I know about other convoys which were a total pain in the arse but not that one ,dont want to tell to many stories as it might spoil Ash,s book ,Take a look at the last few staments on Anglo Greek some good reading and stories to stretch you imagination
Bloody hell your quite right I missed that, still I was trying to gain info on the kuwait convoy ,I know about other convoys which were a total pain in the arse but not that one ,dont want to tell to many stories as it might spoil Ash,s book ,Take a look at the last few staments on Anglo Greek some good reading and stories to stretch you imagination
Cheers Mate Roger Haywood
Cheers Roger ill have a read through the Anglo Greek thread, ive noticed the M/E stories have dried up a bit lately looking forward to Ashs book coming out
just hope its out before i leave for Canada to keep my postage cost down
Will post a story about deisel theft in Turkey tomorrow and what happened to the driver when he was caught and this is REAL ,NO BULL SHT watch out for it
kr79:
I may be toataly wrong but id say the pic of the 142 was taken after 1983 as it and the truck behind which looks to be in the same livery are both pulling tri axle trailers which became popular after the uk 38 ton limit came in back in 83.
Im not trying to pour doubt on any thing just think my brain might be in gear for once.
ps am i right best booties.
kr79,
Your brain is in gear my son.
The 142 was 2 years old when I got it.BVX 990X was the reg.
The other Scania in the pic is a 111.
The two tri ax trailers are a pair of specials that Expo Freight obtained from somewhere,they were 13.5 metres long then,in the early '80’s.
This pic was taken in about 1982,which was at the time of the Syrian convoys began.
Tall stories there have been a lot some true some false some true but made bigger than Everest,One of my stories begins about 20 km from the dutch german border of Heerlen I had pulled in to top up my running tank as fuel was cheaper in Holland and to make sure I was up to the German Tankshine I had,on driving though the lorry park I spotted 2 Centrums trucks most of these were driven by Turks but one was driven by Jan Villers who spotted me and came running over asking if I had Breakfast ,no I said come join us he said the coffee was ready and the Turk Bosan had a massive pan of eggs toms onion and garlic this dish I can’t remember its name so someone remind me anyone driving through Turkey would have at some time eaten this dish served with dutch brown bread it was great. The cleaning up done we headed into germany,now both these trucks were loaded for shell to Diabackire(dont think the spellings right) but had to collect some cargo in Koln We waved goodbye as I headed on to Doha,it was six months later I met bosan again in the Londra Camp he was trying to explain what happened to Jan Villers on that journey ,now Bosans English was as bad as my Turkish we found someone to translate ,this is what happened on returning to his truck at 2pm Jan spotted a thin pipe running out of his belly tank under several trucks and through a small pump into the Tank of a truck from Iran.now Jan was one of the many dutch people who was taller than a windmill knocking up a few more drivers the Iran’i who was in his cab was hauled out after the window was smashed in , now what to do with him call the police no this would be a problem for Jan this would lose time ,so every last drop of fuel was pumped back into Jans truck the Iran’i was ■■■■■■■ while all this was going on.Now Jan and Bosan got ready to depart as morning broke but as they left the Iran’is hands where placed under the landing legs of his trailer the weight of the trailer crushed both hands as everybody left ,now this story I had from the horses mouth and I have know reason not to believe it but please form your own oppinion,I never saw Jan Villers again but Bosan I did at Kapic one cold snowy day, a few greetings were made as we were going in different directions I saw him no more
Diyarbakir is the correct spelling, Roger, just for information. Not the most pleasant of places. I came back home through there one time after deciding to miss out Mardin and go straight on to Batman, then Diyarbakir and back to the roundabout at Urfa. Nearly a costly mistake as the little town of Batman was very tight to get an artic through.
Yes thanks for that I knew I had it wrong and as for the roads i loaded for Astran at Van Leween pipes in Rotterdam to Diyarbakir thought I was being clever and turned left at Aksaray the road looked good on the Map and it cut out Tarsus and Adana going was good for 375 km when I came to a bridge marked 5ton with no other traffic on the road I got out took a walk on the bridge said to myself oh sht it was single carrage and about 100mtr long as I walked back up the road up came the police ,said I was off the TIR route held out the Cuffs then said Callabush (wrong spelling again most likely) aagain oh sht asking for my papers one started laughing I was only 4 km to where I had to drop the pipes ,they got on the Radio and after 2 hrs I had an ■■■■■■ over the bridge which vibrated like the corinth canal bridge,with my thanks and a carton of ■■■■ the police shook hands ,needless to say I returned the other way via Adana ,happy days not forgotten.
Lovely little anecdote, Roger, I can just picture that. What on earth were you thinking of in the first place to go blind like that. Still I suppose that was part of the challenge as I was always looking for alternatives myself. Usually just to miss Mardin. I can remember a few of us deciding that we were going to straight on at Kiziltepe instead of turning left and we nearly came a cropper as there wasa brdige that was blocked so we all had to dive down into the smallish river and get through that way.
Another time myself and another owner driver came back by heading west out of Baghdad to just past Habaniyah Lake and then turning right, following the river all the way up to the Syrian border at Abu Kemal. I don’t know who was more surprised to see the pair of English trucks at a border that was never designated as an international border. Still, they looked after us, as they always do, with their kind hospitality of chi and flat bread. I did have a photograph of the lovely mosaic building at the border, I will have to dig it out and put it up.
Dont know this border but Hyundi where building the new road to Jordan from Baghdad 3 of us took white and yellow road powder there we asked about the border which was only 25 klm away a Jordanian boss working in the office took us to the border I never gone through a border so quick ,the contract on the road closed as they never got paid and the road as far as I know was never finnished and the border was shut when friction grew between Irac and Jordan another nail in the ME coffin
One day I arrived at a border I think it was Radkersburg between Austria & Yugo (I too tried all different little borders such as this one and Derekoy into Turkey until the Turks stopped it - I also preferred to run solo) when I arrived it was closed for lunch, waiting outside were 2 Dutchmen and ■■■■ Snow. He was telling them how quick he could do trips and claimed that he had just returned from Kuwait loaded to Southampton in a certain time (I cant remember the exact times now) I had also just returned MT from Dammam and had an absolute flier, I had had 24 hours off in the Londra (spent sleeping) waiting for reload instructions and drove through to Graz got my reload details off of Helmut Haid and loaded somewhere near Golling (paper I think) in the morning and I think caught the afternoon train from Munich. I could cover some ground when I wanted to. I used to go to bed at the Londra at about 6 pm to keep off of the Effes leave at 2 or 3 in the morning and drive through to Oryx’s at Incerlic so as not to stop at the Telex and I would do the same in reverse.As I was MT until Austria I did not have to do customs at the borders and could use the MT lanes into Austria.■■■■ Snow was claiming something like 2 days quicker than me, even deducting the day in the Londra.
When the Dutchmen had gone I asked him politely how he could do such times explaining that I had just had a very fast trip from Dammam-about the same distance but 1 border less- instead of telling me he started jumping up and down and asked who I was to query him. From that day on I became invisible- my presence was never acknowleged again.
So at the risk of again becoming invisible I would ask the Colonel if he regularly was able to do Istanbul in 3 days from the ferry and then carry on without sleeping? What about borders, could you do Kapic in 10 minutes in the early 70’s? you could easily spend a day there after 75.If you didn’t stop at the Londra where did you sleep?
If you were able to keep to schedules like this (every one had a flier now and then) you must be made of sterner stuff than most of the other day & nighters, most of whom are no longer with us either due to accidents or burnt out before their time, very few lived to claim their pensions.
Regards Gavin
Nice of u to drop in yes i’m afraid snowy was a slow coach realy just like me what was the rush as u say the speedsteers are all dead its doddery old ■■■■■ like u and me who have servived I also could put the hammer down if I wanted I was doing a trip with Barnesy and was caught by A W Young at Birachek when we got into Arac we spotted AW Young going home in Mosel as much as I loved Andrew this is one reason why he is no longer with us are u coming to Bob Headleys wife’s reunion of ex ME drivers.
Colonel:
Diyarbakir is the correct spelling, Roger, just for information. Not the most pleasant of places. I came back home through there one time after deciding to miss out Mardin and go straight on to Batman, then Diyarbakir and back to the roundabout at Urfa. Nearly a costly mistake as the little town of Batman was very tight to get an artic through.
Came back that way on my first Baghdad,never again.there was not much between Mardin or Batman,just as bad burned as scalded!
I agree, Ian, but unless one tries these alternatives one never learns anything. I had one windscreen done in Mardin and another time at Cizre, so it was a part of the world that I did not particularly like.
So at the risk of again becoming invisible I would ask the Colonel if he regularly was able to do Istanbul in 3 days from the ferry and then carry on without sleeping? What about borders, could you do Kapic in 10 minutes in the early 70’s? you could easily spend a day there after 75.If you didn’t stop at the Londra where did you sleep?
If you were able to keep to schedules like this (every one had a flier now and then) you must be made of sterner stuff than most of the other day & nighters, most of whom are no longer with us either due to accidents or burnt out before their time, very few lived to claim their pensions.
Regards Gavin
As you are well aware Gavin, Kapic in the early days was much easier to do than when they made it more than the one lane that it used to be. I never ever put my truck on the mud heap of a parking area. If you remember I spent 10 days at Kapic on my very first trip and whilst I was there I made some very good and important customes people and partied with them every evening in Edirne, where most of them lived.
With friends in the right places, Kapic was a very quick border for me as I was allowed to park outside the duty free shop and my friends saw to it that my paperwork was completed very quickly. I don’t know how you saw the job but for me I was getting the bulk of my money for the outward leg and I was only going to keep my contract by delivering the loads on time, and seven days to Baghdad was what I used to do. Some drivers just cannot do miles for whatever reasons, some have to oppills to kee awake, myself I have never had to resort to these kind od things to do the job. I think my spells in the USA, even when I was a pensioner will tell you that I had no trouble driving 10 hours straight off as a days work, taking 8 hours rest and then doing it all again. I might addd that I had a similar arrangement at Zahko being a friend of the Chief there, another border that was very quick for me when it wasn’t for others.
There were no legends on the Middle East run, just guys doing a relatively simple job to the best of their abilities, some had it, others didn’t and this run found them out.
Colonel:
I can remember a few of us deciding that we were going to straight on at Kiziltepe instead of turning left and we nearly came a cropper as there wasa brdige that was blocked so we all had to dive down into the smallish river and get through that way.
quote]
Bob Matthews and myself decided to try that route,and two Belgians thought it was a good idea to come with us.
It was going great until we came to a stretch of about 500 metres that was all bog.
I did a recce on foot and found that the high ground to the left was dry and firm,a few outcrops of rock,but we could get around them
Bob and I were light laden,only about 5 tons on,these two Belgians had 24 tons each on board!
I went first,followed by the two Belgians with Bob at the rear.
Anyway,we finished up coupled together with ropes and bars,pushing and pulling each other,I was the only one to get through,we couldn’t shift the Belgians.Neither Bob nor I had enough weight to tow them.
Bob couldn’t get past them,so I suggested his only option was to go back to Kiziltepe and take the convoy over Mardin,I said I would push on now I was through and wait for him at Cizre.
We could only advise the Belgians to get a lift back to Kiziltepe with Bob to see if they could persuade someone with some weight on to come back in the daylight and tow them out.
I pushed on to Cizre and Bob took the convoy over Mardin and joined me at about 5 in the morning.
We never saw the Belgians again.
Parked up at Kiziltepe,Mardin in the background.
Coming down into Cizre from the Mardin convoy.
4 of us roped together,had to leave the 2 Belgians there.
Hi Roger, further to your story about the dutchman crushing the iranian’s hands it seems to be a dutch trait as I remember in concorezo customs near milan in the 70’s that several of them caught an italian breaking into one of their trucks and drove a tractor unit over his hands as punishment. I was trying to think of the place you went through between kiziltepe and the iraqi border before the earthquake which meant you had to use the military road along the bottom, of course it was mardin, another cigs or a stone at the truck run. I once saw a group of small boys chucking stones when an army jeep pulled up and these soldiers jumped out and beat the crap out of the kids with their batons, cruel b***stards but then their values on life are different to ours.
Charlie
and lets have some more stories about the trips you guys made back then please.
Keep em comin fellas 
