Hi All,
great article Scania 142, here’s a pic of Steve Cherrett mentioned in the article he drove for me, and lives in the Isle of Wight,I will try and contact him to put his story on here.
Regards MaggieD
I had a phone call last night from an old work mate of my called Barry Longden, Barry worked for Jenkinson’s from Salford, Ashworth’s from Burnley ( he is still waiting for his wages ) and Taylor’s from London in the seventies doing Iran.
He wasn’t in Iran at the time of the Revolution but he does remember that all the guys he met who had been there at the time all said that they had no help what so ever from The British Embassy and they were nowhere to be seen.
Barry said that he thinks that the British drivers got food and help from the Swedish and Danish Embassy and it might also of been the French.
Another great picture from The Bubbleman Collection, I hope that some viewers dont find it too offensive.
I did 2 trips to Teheran after the Shah was disposed this was the second and last,as you read on you will understand why.While working for Funstons I was offered loads of money to do a quick trip,loaded up and an uneventful trip down to Teheran, as I had been previously I knew what to expect at the border.Not many trucks about kept a low profile dont make eye contact with anyone,yes Sir no Sir paper work done off to teheran.Hard drive down but with a thermos full of hot water for in cab refreshments and cassette playing I was flying.Pushed as far as the eyes would let me until I saw some Turks parked up,had a chat with them they were sleeping and then on to customs in Teheran so I stayed with them, safety in numbers.Next morning we all had cay together and I said I would see them in the parking at customs. Arrived customs paperwork done tipped no problem.Now it gets interesting,from my previous trip I knew that diesel was a problem to buy,and also to get it out of Iran,the border guards were not to keen seeing 400 gallons leaving but a bit of bribery and you never know,the worst that could happen is thay would empty your tanks.I had been driving M/E for a few years and had been to Iran several times and I had met a man who owned a filling station and the last time I was there filled me up for hard currency, so off I went to see him.Yes he says I will fill you up tonight when its dark, price was negotiated,terrific.Come into the office for a drink so we chatted and drank the Irani version of Coke,the real stuff was banned,darkness fell I drew up to the pump and he sends out his man to creep under the trailer and fill the belly tank up and then the two road tanks,job done the price for the diesel had been in £ sterling so I very happily paid him.We had another coke and he tells me he has a son who owns a hotel in London thats nice I said,he says to me could I take a small gift to him.Oh,oh I hear you say DRUGS,no a simple tea set tea glasses and silver plated holders you would find anywhere and a book of the Koran,it all seemed ok and having taken his diesel I felt obliged and it would only be a bit out of my way home,and of course the price that I had paid for the diesel wouldn’t be what was on the expense sheet
AND■■?.. 
Come on biffo, you cant leave us there mate!!! 
WTF happened next then?? 
I agree with bullitt Biffo, what happened next? did you get out of Iran with that amount of squirt?
bullitt:
AND■■?..Come on biffo, you cant leave us there mate!!!
WTF happened next then??
Hullo Biffa,
Come on Hughie, Brace yourself man. Tell everybody what happened and how the Prats treated you, this is real true fact history and at least thank goodness they can’t do it to you again.
Cheers Archie.
Mmmmm…The bit he missed out of the story was that he got diesel on his driving gloves…
Hi biffo
cant wait for the next part of your story!!!
mushroomman:
I had a phone call last night from an old work mate of my called Barry Longden, Barry worked for Jenkinson’s from Salford, Ashworth’s from Burnley ( he is still waiting for his wages ) and Taylor’s from London in the seventies doing Iran.
He wasn’t in Iran at the time of the Revolution but he does remember that all the guys he met who had been there at the time all said that they had no help what so ever from The British Embassy and they were nowhere to be seen.
Barry said that he thinks that the British drivers got food and help from the Swedish and Danish Embassy and it might also of been the French.
Another great picture from The Bubbleman Collection, I hope that some viewers dont find it too offensive.
Thats right the English Embassy had packed their bags and gone any body needing assistance needed to go to the Swiss Embassy,the Swedish and Danish embassies were open to their drivers for food and showers
Back to the border now to get through with the fuel, I had travelled back alone and was hoping not to draw to much attention to myself,cleared the customs at the bottom of the hill now for passport control at the top of the hill, final control and out into Turkey.Arrive at the top of the hill lots of Turkish trucks as usual not any European trucks I try and mingle in with the Turks nip across and get my passport signed out.Every thing is done free to go no body has shown any interest in diesel I think I have cracked it.As usual its a bit chaotic with trucks pushing and shoving I’m sitting there waiting for a gap to shoot through when I spot a group of militia coming my way and by the way everybody is jumping to attention they aren’t the normal squaddies.I pretend I haven’t seen them I try shunting forward but this nasty man indicates with his rifle which is pointing at me to stop.Control meester! I try to explain all finished,Bos(turkish for empty) no Meester control,ball ■■■■■ I thought nearly got away with the diesel,no its not the diesel they want to check but a cab control,not a problem have a look, they rummage around the cab lose interest and just about to go when one of them spots the trailer boxes,Open I’m told,Ok again I have no reason to worry nothing in there except tins of food dented with no labels gas stove usual drivers stuff all except a box containing a tea set for a bloke who has a hotel in London.I hadn’t tried to hide it as I hadn’t considered it to be an issue,well these guys who were from the Revolutionary Guard certainly were making it an issue.Greed is a funny thing, I was still worrying about the diesel that would have been nothing compared to what was about to happen.
Hi Hughie, you have been watching too many of these tv reallity shows with all the build up to the final. when are we going to get the last instalment or are you still trying to remember what happened, ha ha. I Know, but won’t spoil the ending. regards Jamie.
A ScotLost in the Valley’s.
M&C Jamie:
Hi Hughie, you have been watching too many of these tv reallity shows with all the build up to the final. when are we going to get the last instalment or are you still trying to remember what happened, ha ha. I Know, but won’t spoil the ending. regards Jamie.A ScotLost in the Valley’s.
PMSL Im waiting on noel to say deal or no deal!! I cant wait for the outcome though biffo so please dont stop now the audience is in your palms
M&C Jamie:
Hi Hughie, you have been watching too many of these tv reallity shows with all the build up to the final. when are we going to get the last instalment or are you still trying to remember what happened, ha ha. I Know, but won’t spoil the ending. regards Jamie.A ScotLost in the Valley’s.
Sorry Jamie and lads but I can change gear quicker in a two stick Mack than type.I also seem to be doing something wrong,on the post reply I only get a smallish box which doesn’t give me all the space I need,help
Coincidence or not 
, I don’t think so .
Having not thought about Iran for a very long time it’s only since Colin mentioned it and Jamie started this thread, that Iran seems to have come back on the radar.
I switched Sky news on this morning and there they were, the Iranian people protesting on the streets of Teheran 
.
Surely they are not all waiting for news from the outside world of what happened to Biffo next 
.
Regards Steve.
Steve I noticed you were online early this morning…Do hope it wasn’t Mr. sheen’s driving gloves they were burning in Down Town Tehran…
Hi steve
I spoke to frank yesterday and he says the same about no help coming from the UK goverment to the stranded drivers in iran. We were talking about the recent elections in iran and he says he has many memories of the protestors on the streets when he and some of his drivers flew to retrieve his trucks. He has the letter from the consulate in ankara telling him its best not to enter as there is no guarantee of coming out safe. Statement of the obvious that one but the letter was given to him personally by the consulate and he was informed that if he entered and any problems arise then the brittish goverment would not intervene!! He took that advice and then drove back to scotland to make arrangements to fly to tehran instead. He thought it would be easier than trying to go through the border from turkey and it worked as far as getting the trucks out.
Reg colin 
I still had my passport from earlier and my wallet,and being a smoker a packet of ■■■■ in my pocket.This was going nowhere fast lots of raised voices and looking at me lots of guns when one who seemed to be in charge leads me off to a block of buildings by the pI still had my passport from earlier and my wallet,and being a smoker a packet of ■■■■ in tt.
Another bloke in army uniform speaks some English and tells me they are sending teaset to Tabriz to be valued,and meanwhile I would stay in a room next door.He is not to keen to talk with me and keeps looking at the other man and appeared to be scared of him.
Anyway best keep quiet and let them decide whats going to happen I decided against offering any form of bribe in case I made the situation worse.They put me into a room (cell) where to my surprise were several Asian looking men teens and older both of us wary of each other.Time for a ■■■ and review the situation, I offered the ■■■■ round but only one person took one the rest looked like I had offered them a poison pill,the one who had taken my ■■■ introduced himself and said he was a student Doctor he spoke good English I asked him why he was there and he explained he wanted to go to England but he didn’t have a passport,so why are you here and how do you expect to get to England I asked.I had met for the first time illegal immigrants going to Europe,20 dollars bung the Irani guards would put them on a bus for Turkey no passport the Turks would send them on to Bulgaria and so on.He also informed me that the British embassy was closed in Teheran but the Swiss embassy would help any British passport holder,how he knew all this I have either forgotten or it didn’t sink in with what was going on.We chatted off and on its getting to afternoon and he says to me that if I gave him my name and address he would notify the Swiss embassy when he got to Turkey,I thought about this and gave him my name and address but the wrong house number,I thought that might be giving him too much information as I really didn’t think he would do what he said.It was sometime after I got home that I discovered that my wife had a strange call from the Board of Trade asking her if she knew my where abouts, I can only assume that the Asian guy did what he said he would do and that was a lesson that I have carried with me ever since.
They came for me a little later and took me to a Revolutionary Guard HQ in Tabriz no talking just a shove and a little aggresion and I was in a proper cell on my own with just an old matteress on the floor and some large cardboard boxes.Here I stayed for several days no contact with anyone but the guards who used to come in shout at me in Farsi show me their guns I would tell them to f….k off and that’s how it continued Iwas getting a touch scared but the only thing they would say in English was who had given me the stuff to take to England and if I told them they would let me go,I thought that if I told who it was I could well be up against the firing squad as well as him so I said I didn,t know it was just a man in the Customs in Teheran.I had been round the cell looking for a camera but I couldn’t see one and after a couple of hours decided that there wasn’t one.I was getting bored so I decided to have a look in the cardboard boxes so I moved the matteress over and leant against them so if they looked in they would see I was using them as a back rest I very carefully opened up the boxes to have a look and you would never guess,they were full of Condoms,Durex to be precise,this was before aids was really known about so they could only be used to prevent little Iranis. I sat there with a smile on my face it seemed to have a touch of irony about it.I sat there for a while playing with a staple I had removed from one of the boxes when I realised it had a sharp point to it
I sat there for several hours jabbing the sharp staple into the foil packets and then resealing the boxes,hoping I wasn’t going to be around when there was a population explosion.No worries there the next day I was taken to court and accused of smuggling antiquities from Iran, no defence I was fined 10,000 US dollars ,you pay,no I cant I said well that will be 5 years then.I knew that eventually I could get the money so I could get out but I hung on to see what would happen.I had been adopted by some Turkish drivers who were in for bringing in watches, gold, any thing that could be sold.They couldn’t speak English but a bit of German they asked the guards for a blackboard and I wrote words in English and they put the Turkish word so after a while we were able to make sense of each other,they were absolute diamonds they would never let me pay for anything like food,Turks are very fussy they will only eat fresh food so a trustee was used to go to a local restaurant and get a takeaway 3 square meals a day all the chai I could drink and all the Marlboro I could smoke.They used to tease me that today I would be taken to the barber and hair shaved off to be ready for my prison photo,this happened every morning and sure enough the guard appeared one morning and called me out my mates were all cheering and laughing I said I will see you later.The guards took me right out of the prison which I thought was strange one of them spoke really good english he said to me today you go home when I asked him where we were going, I was staggered, as we walked towards the court there in front of me was an old pal from Pan Express, Dave Telford and a the little fat guy who worked for The Company up on the border as a helper through Customs for drivers. He said when Judge says you pay you say yes,I looked at Dave through tears he’s saying its ok just say yes I have the money.I am straight into court and its done I am free,outside court the guards are shaking my hand these were just regular guys doing a job and wishing me well.I spoke to the one who could speak English to say to my Turkish friends goodbye and thanks.Dave and the fat Irani get me in the car and we make back to the border.Dave explains that if you work the fine into Irani Rials the exchange rate on the black market was only something like £300 and that there were several drivers from Pans up at the border who had chipped in to make the money,I was absolutely gutted with love for those guys
Bloody hell biffo, now that is a real M/E tale, definatly one to tell your grand-kids. It was worth waiting for the end!!
Did you go back to doing M/E or did that put you off? A cracking story.
Brilliant Biffo and thanks for sharing that with us, it’s definitely one of those that wont be lost forever now.
It got me thinking, do you remember how the Turks used to fix a puncture by using gunpowder and setting alight to it ?.
Well I think that those Iranian’s had their work cut out reparing all those condom’s.
Regards Steve.