rocky 7:
The amount of people who "just missed " that ferry is unbelievable. If they had all caught it , the ferry would have sunk anyway with overloading. For the record I was in Austria when it went down,and no where near it.
If I am honest, I only missed it myself by three days. 
does this put me in the *just missed it *gang??
I think “Just missed” ought to only apply to those booked on the ferry who were unable to make it through traffic jams or delayed customs etc.
The terrifying thing is that all of us using those ferries will remember the procedure of loading and then going down to the driver’s cabins underneath the car deck and below the waterline where we would more often than not have a shower before going back up to the restaurant for our free meal.
I often think what it must have been like to have been down there in the shower when the ship lurched and the lights went out!!!
It was my regular Sat night ferry -Swiss/UK. But that weekend I did Swiss/Spain & in Valencia a Spanish guy showed me the pick in the Sunday paper. I laughed because it was so unbelievable I told him it was a model mock-up! Charlie the Hungarian who lived in Scotland & worked for Hangartner was on that. Super strong guy damaged his legs,he got a bravery award for kicking out one of those reinforced windows in the passenger lounge & rescuing people.
So I missed it by 24hrs late & a 1000 miles wide!
R143-500:
kr79:
Funny enough someone told me something similar some one he knew bought a motor and someone freaked out as it had been his brothers and he had been on the boat.
Never realy took much notice when he said it was either a scania or a transcontinentaliirc it was a scania that featured in the newspaper article, think it was a white 112 which belonged to Ferryline
The white 112 scania belonged to David Cassy in Folkstone and was pulling for ferryline I went to Zeebrugga and collected it along with the Fridge trailer The Trailer was only a couple of weeks old and we took it France and had a new body and Fridge motor fitted and it went back on the road
The Scania need too much work and I belive it was sold for spares
rokeen:
R143-500:
kr79:
Funny enough someone told me something similar some one he knew bought a motor and someone freaked out as it had been his brothers and he had been on the boat.
Never realy took much notice when he said it was either a scania or a transcontinentaliirc it was a scania that featured in the newspaper article, think it was a white 112 which belonged to Ferryline
The white 112 scania belonged to David Cassy in Folkstone and was pulling for ferryline I went to Zeebrugga and collected it along with the Fridge trailer The Trailer was only a couple of weeks old and we took it France and had a new body and Fridge motor fitted and it went back on the road
The Scania need too much work and I belive it was sold for spares
if you were on ferryline back then ? do you remember a man named malcolm baldock ? he had a scania 142 then a merc sk 1644 he and he realy was ment to be on the boat but swaped jobs with one of the other lads on ferryline .
anybody got any photos of the damaged trucks?
ANNIES PRIDE:
anybody got any photos of the damaged trucks?
Theres some in this weeks Commercial Motor and an article
Trev.
Hi Jazzandy, about going straight down for a shower before a meal, as I understand it that’s what happened to Chris as he always did the same routine on returning from Greece.
What some of the guys must have gone through doesn’t bear thinking about!
I wonder if there is a lst of the truckies who perished that night somewhere.
Remember it clearly. I lived in Folkestone and it seems everybody in the Folkestone/Dover area knew someone on it. A most strange & sombre atmosphere in the local pub that Friday night.
Aye me too I was living in Thanet at the time and a bloke in my cricket team was a crewman. He survived. I understand he’s a wagon driver himself these days for Mike Beer.
jj72:
LeeJ:
There was a driver that lived near to us at the time that was on the ship and survived. However the trauma of losing so many friends took it’s toll and after a few years of stress and depression he took his own life. Jumped off a motorway bridge above the M62 eastbound inbetween juncs 26 and 27. I can’t remember his name or who he worked for but it was a sad end.if that’s the lad from queensbury his name was Joe - can’t remember his surname at the moment but he was an owner driver I think. very sad hearing what happened after he survived the sinking
i know there’s masses of [zb] spoken about the HoFE, but we should all remember almost 200 souls lost their lives that night
Yeah thats him, Joe. Took his own life shortly after. sad.
rip
There was a Rycroft’s trucks (Poole) on board 2 drivers they both survived,but I don’t think they were too well after.The first driver s name is Rodger Broomfield,I think he now lives in Spain I know he gave up driving truck and went coach driving UK only the other guy I didn’t know but belive that it affected him quite badly. Rycroft’s trucks were Black F12’s…
I wasn’t on the ferry, but I was based at Aldershot. We had a station at Folkestone and one at Shorncliffe near Dover. We raced to the station to set up the military liaison desk as there were quite a few british forces on board. One of them was from my unit. Only problem he was supposed to be sick at home. His wife and the unit were very curious who the female on board with him was!
it was a sad night, i was booked on the one after,
there is or was a service area just before you got to docks,
lads would stop if early ,that night we could hear the sirens and the coppters ,it was only when we got close to the dock when things became real ,
RIP all who lost there lives that day
shady:
There was a Rycroft’s trucks (Poole) on board 2 drivers they both survived,but I don’t think they were too well after.The first driver s name is Rodger Broomfield,I think he now lives in Spain I know he gave up driving truck and went coach driving UK only the other guy I didn’t know but belive that it affected him quite badly. Rycroft’s trucks were Black F12’s…
I remember one of those Rycroft drivers on the Truckline ferry not long after the incident. He was very agitated and wouldn’t go to the driver’s accommodation. Stayed in the area where you had your meal. He had to pack in continental work soon after. He had been down in the drivers accomodation when the boat went over and was rescued by divers some hours later. Must have been an awful experience!!
I worked on Tiptoe car transport & there was a driver who’d survived the one that went over out of FX. He was shot to pieces, lost his marriage & drove at suicide pace all day long in one of those Sprinters -80+! for no reason.Couldn’t stop talking about the experience. Another mate of mine was at the Wally Stop when that went up & was a complete basket case afterwards. Used to sit in Tangiers dock with the curtains closed watching his Esther Ransen DVD revving the bolox of the thing & constantly changing gear & pressing the footbrake. Trauma can affect any one of us if extreme conditions are applied.