It’s on the N504 between Amberieu-en Bugey and Chambery, (with accents on the E’s), and you can find out about restrictions on it’s use here:-
bison-fute.equipement.gouv.f … hatacc.htm
(June 2011-sorry, this page is no longer available, RD)
No wonder the rest of us had to wait so long at the customs, you were taking unfair advantage! Glad you were a gentleman anyway.
Rattlesnake Dave:
It’s on the N504 between Amberieu-en Bugey and Chambery, (with accents on the E’s), and you can find out about restrictions on it’s use here:-bison-fute.equipement.gouv.f … hatacc.htm
No wonder the rest of us had to wait so long at the customs, you were taking unfair advantage! Glad you were a gentleman anyway.
You mean like é? 
Yes, found it now, opposite Aix les Bains across the lake, my map merely says 4m, hope the diversions are well signalled. I hear Cenis is interdit to trucks these days too.
You lot had to wait because of all the hagglers, we made your wait just that little bit less 
Salut, David.
With the picture I have in my minds eye, it would have made the wait a bit more pleasurable 
I think the skiing fraternity had been trying to stop trucks using the Cenis for years (I think it was only open about 10 weeks anyway) and once the Frejus tunnel was finished that removed the need for the long trek over the top. I stopped international work before the Frejus was finished so I’ve never had the pleasure!
Nor me Dave, but I’m sure I passed the open Frejus to climb Cenis.
Salut, David.
i remember the cenis i used to use it in the summer after loading peaches in the forli area when i drove for sas in bromley . at the top im sure there was a routier called the monkey , correct me if im wrong ! your right about the breather my 88 used to plod up . i was told by more experienced guys to let her pull herself up and watch oil and water gauges . the old tandem axles used to crack and groan on those really tight bends!!another route i took once was from the port franc in geneva to toulon in southern france . i was empty and it was a beutiful thursday morning [sorry beautiful] id received a telex in geneva to load apples in avignon monday or tuesday (oh the pre mobile days fantastic!!)so i had five or so days to kill.my parents had family friends in the small town of la garde about 20 klicks from toulon so i thought i stay with them sat and sun and run up to avignon on sunday night to load monday (hopfully!!).looking at my map it seemed an easy run no more than 500 kms give or take so as any self respecting driver with time on his hands and getting paid for it i decided to stay on the nationals and back roads(also it was unusual to be down that way on sas)first call was a mid morning coffe at a routier, as i entered the heavy aroma of gitanes red wine coffee and a tinge of congnac and pastis filled my nose(who else remembers that certain smell??)i said "messieurs dames bonjour " which always boke the ice ,and the french always responded the same way i stood a the bar with my grand creme savouring the moment having so much time on my hands.a voice next to me interrupted my daydream with “eengleesch ?” i replied with my normal “no,british” that always seemed to confuse the french for some reason!! i offered him another drink because he had that sort of face which looked interesting .another cafe eletric (expresso and pastis , certainly lights one up to say the least!!)we talked a fair time ,my french being good enough to understand and his eenglisch being on the same par “i drife fer onatra fron marseille” i said iwas going to toulon to stay with friends he suggested we eat lunch together as it was now near midday and he would tell me the best route to take .after the rather long meal we stood at the bar having a “digestif” i was trying to remember what he had told me when he asked “petanque yoo lyke?” i realised he was talking about boules ,every frenchman plays this game "oui"i said ,he shook my hand smiled and said his name was xavier and would i like too join him for a game that evening further down the route to toulon ,having never played before i said yes.so without further ado he jumped into hi red and yellow berliet tanker and i followed.the road twisted and turned rocks stuck out of the stone wall on the side and it was very narrow indeed ,i had no idea where i was at all ,it was difficult to keep up with this happy french guy (probably the copious quantity of vino etc!).small streams of water ran across the road in the sunlight every 500 yards or so ,the scenery was breathtaking ,and i was being paid to see it ,it didnt get much better i thought.we drove along for a couple hours and the scenery was changing fast the rooftops on houses changed to that red so did the rocks large vallys appeared below ,green fields and rivers that twisted around small villages .the road if i remember changed to a red or pink and got wider xavier cruised into a spot under those lovely shady trees i did the same closed the curtains to keep the sun out and got out into heat of the med ,the temperature had gone up immensley!! it was probably about 5 pm so i thought he just wanted a drink ,but he told me that was it for the day and the boules match would start later ,time didnt seem to bother him !! IVE GOT TO GO NOW SO WILL POST PART TWO VERY SOON I HOPE YOU HAVENT BEEN TOO BORED BUT THOSE FEW DAYS ARE STILL SO VIVID!!!salut all the best david
No, It’s not boring at all David, if people do find it boring they don’t have to read it. With the exception of when I speak to my mate Keith, who used to work for Howells and Reavell with me, I rarely used to think about my times abroad. That was before I found TruckNet. Since then I’ve thought about those days a lot more (and all the friends I made) and different postings on here have triggered the memories again! I’m sure we are all looking forward to reading part two.
Mr Chinnery
“Onatra” !!! Strewth, thats a blast from the past. Big tanker fleet supposed to be owned by Aristotle Onnassis (Onnassis Transport ?) who married Jacki Kennedy, luck devil.
I think they had about 400 trucks when I first went over in the mid sixties. Maroon long nosed Maggie Deutz tractors. I don’t remember the Berliets though.
We were always told “If Onatra are parked up in snow or fog, you should as well” They were all very friendly and would always give a wave to a British truck.
These youngsters have it easy these days, I reckon. No TIR with the endless waits for customs clearance. I bet you can remember finishing loading in Italy by mid morning and having to wait until evening for some poncy Italian “Dottore della Dogana” to arrive with a camel hair overcoat draped over his skinny shoulders to inspect the seal and only interested in nicking something as a “sample”.
And while I’m having a moan, what about getting a shower in Italy? Virtually impossible. Couldn’t wait to reach the Total fuel station just down the hill from the Blanc tunnel exit into France. What a relief to be clean again.
I love reading about Coffee’s trips. It all seems so easy doesn’t it? Mind you, he’s very well organised, isn’t he.
Steve
Steve, what was the other firm called that was owned by the Onassis family, was it Stouff or something like that? I remember they had mostly wagon and drag and they were bright orange. Had quite a few brits driving for them too. I think it started up in the mid 70’s.
Yes Dave, Stouff was another one. Orange wagons and drags. Furniture mostly, I seem to recall. Patsy Brennan, ex General Express, went on there. He was a mate of Kenny Long I think was his name, also ex Gen Ex. Was run over and killed in Belgium.
Do you remember either of them?
Steve
Yep, I remember Patsy Brennan although I didn’t know him well. I knew another driver from Gen. Ex. whose name was Dave I think. I have another post on here asking if anyone remembers Zip who worked for Pentus Brown and I think he went to work for Stouff. Don’t remember Kenny Long though I do remember Harry Long, he was the road foreman on Howells & Reavell. He was from Ireland and unusually for an irishman, did like a drop of the hard stuff, particularly Calvados when I was ever with him!
On your prevous message about waiting for customs, I have a picture on here on the Transport Photo Forum (howells & Reavell 2) of my wife sitting on a crate in the middle of the Petternella Cantina in Legnago Verona. I had to clear customs in Como and while we were waiting I went off to send a Telex. When I came back my wife had another half a dozen bottles in the cab on top of the other ones that Petternella had given her. Apparently the Dottore had visited while I was gone and taken his customary 1/2 Dozen bottles and she thought ‘‘well if he’s having 1/2 a dozen, so am I’.
Didn’t do us a lot of good though, had to pay about a tenner to our mean ol’ customs officers when we got back to Dover. You’d think it was their money, wouldn’t you?
Coming back from holiday this year drove through the Frejus, I thought they were trying to sell us the tunnel not drive through. For our Avensis they charged about 30 euros.
Talking of customs I was lucky as used to run groupage for Danzas to Aachen or Vallee Marne, no hold ups as Danzas had their own office at Dover to do all the customs clearances.
cogob:
Talking of customs I was lucky as used to run groupage for Danzas to Aachen or Vallee Marne, no hold ups as Danzas had their own office at Dover to do all the customs clearances.
heyhey, who did you work for cogob? in the mid 80s we used to do danzas groupage to marne la vallee (and hagen, mulhouse, amsterdam, frankfurt etc)
we also used to export clear in manchester MIFT and import clear stratford LIFT (not good) or MIFT (better) and thumbed our noses at everyone queueing on the steps in dover, especially sunday nights when we’d then retire to the dolphin for a sherry before the 00:30 zeebrugge boat very happy days
I never found clearing in Dover to be much of a problem, Rexyu and I were talking about clearing customs in Italy. I don’t think it mattered if the company had there own agents there, most of the big companies did, it was more about the size of your wallet or the gifts you could offer, and that was just to get cleared the same day! No gratuities mate and it was the italian version of the spanish MAÑANA-DOMANI. 
jj77.
Used to drive for T&R Haulage at Southend Airport
We used to sit at Coleshill for the truck to come down from Manchester.
From Southend we used to fan out to Aachen, Vallee Marne, Coleshill and Abingdon, that is until Danzas decided to use Silvertown and later Purfleet.
Dave
You mentioned another Dave on General Express. I knew a Dave Onions (honestly) who I think was on GE. Great big rawboned fellah. Quite menacing really, until you got to know him. Then he could be your best friend.
Did hear that some of his family were well known East London “faces” at the time.
Nice tale about Legnano Verona. Never cleared there, or at least I can’t remember doing so.
Funniest one I had was at Alba near Piacensa where the Soc. Ferrero chocolates are made. I loaded there just the once, although as you will remember we had no fridges on SCA. Just those aluminium sided tarilers with a sheeted roof. They just spread a lot of dry ice over the top of the load. Couldn’t have worked very well, cos I can’t remember ever going there again.
They had their own customs post in the factory and just outside the tiny office was a 45 gallon drum full of misshapen chocolate cherries with some sort of liquer (spelling??) at the centre. Anybody could help themselvse to them. Being a greedy pig, I overdid it by quite a margin and became pretty sozzled.
Steve
That was the guy, Steve, I first met him in a large Piazza in Turin where you could park up overnight, and he was moaning that us newbies who had only been going abroad 5 minutes had brand new F88’s. Luckily during our evening meal Zip who drove for Pentus Brown came in and I had run with him a few times previously. Big Dave was quite appologetic when he realised I had been doing it for a couple years before, and not just Italy!
The other Dave from Gen Express went to work for the Royal Mail at Canning Town. I used to have a cup of tea with him at Watford Gap some nights when I drove for Lyons Maid in the early 80’s.
I like the sound of the cherry Liquers, I occasionally run Trebor sweets down to Perugia. If you were lucky you got a goody bag when you loaded and best of all, a goody bag of italin sweets when you tipped.
If was on a on a flyer to get home I used to double up with a big bag of sweets and a carton of ciggies, I dove all day and they drove through the night
I remember those flyers Dave. About the only break you got was at the Blanc customs when it was a question of trying to get them to stamp a Micky Mouse permit or not stamp a straight one (so you could use it again).
Would you remember a Roy Simons who drove for Martintrux? Went to school with him as it happens, as he lived in Hailsham where I’ve spent all of my 65 years. He moved to Maidstone and is now semi-retired and does a couple of days a week for Tesco or Safeways. Smashing bloke and one of the old school all right. I was asking Spardo about him recently as he worked for Whitetrux and I mistakenly thought Roy was on there as well.
You’ll also remember Sammy Williams of Dagenham. They tried the Italian run for a while. None of their drivers would do it, so they employed a whole lot of drivers off Coward European was it? Some right characters on there. Does the name Billy Moore ring a bell?
Steve
Yes I remember Billy, although I didn’t have a close friendship with him, you know what I mean, I didn’t actually run with him at all but I spent a lot of time in his company, particularly at concorezzo. I remember one week end he carried out some quite comprehensive repairs to his (non descript grey) Scania. I think he fitted a new power steering pump or something similar.
I don’t remember Roy Simons, not by name anyway, but that’s not to say I didn’t know him. I guess you get to know more blokes by their christian name and as I have said elsewhere, it was 30 years ago now (a scary thought if ever there was one). Martintrux used to be about in a lot of the same places as H&R.They also often loaded groupage out of the same old places like Stratford LIFT and Hays at Dagenham etc.
Well, I was having quite a nice day until you entioned Concorezzo. God, how I hated that place!!!
Do you remember the football matches on a Sunday between the Dutch and German drivers? At least 50 a side and no ref. Broken limbs were common.
Talking of Concorezzo reminds me of one of the old SCA drivers called something Smith. He had a real beauty of an Air Force moustache. We called him Flying Officer Smith. One evening he became somewhat enamoured of one of the local “ladies of the night” and invited her into his cab. We crept up alongside to listen.
Now, Smithy was extremely well endowed and after a while the poor girl started shouting out “Basta,basta” which as you probably remember was Italian for “enough”.
Trouble was Smithy thought that she was yelling “faster, faster” and obliged.
I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.
Yes I remember Flying Officer Smith and I remember the soccer matches, although it wasn’t just the Dutch & Germans. My son, who is now in his 40’s, still recalls the time we were playing the Dutch one sunday and he got a nasty smack in the head from a fliying dutch clog.
Unlike you, I have fond memories of Concorezzo, for example the sunday pizza’s at Poppa Ferando’s, it was the only day of the week when he would light up the pizza hole in the wall oven and they were delicious. A small one was the size of a large dinner plate! I had my photo taken at the bar with Ferando (or whatever his name was, it was something like that) and it was the end of the film roll so only the bottom half of the photo came out. I’m really disappointed about that, I still have a small Father Chrismas with a sack full of sweets that he gave me (minus the sweets of course).
Do you remember the gift shop at Concorezzo? I used to buy my son (and me sssshh) something for his train set nearly every trip and I still have some glassware that was bought in there. And then there was Franco’s restaurant, I used to love to have ravioli in brodo for starters followed by fegato con insalata di pomodoro e cipolla cruda. Ah Delicious.
There was a couple of nice restaurants in the town as well and one we used to use on a sunday down in Monza.
That was the good thing about being week ended in Italy, there was always something to do and good food to be had at a reasonable price.
