well i have spent the best part of two hours reading these posts what an eye opener some names from the past although i have never done the m/e run i would go now if the chance arose. when i lived in stockport you would see a few dow trucks parked up if i remember correctly a couple in offerton and one in hazel grove, what a pity they stopped trading as dow maybe some of the drivers could put a book together with photographs etc. iam sure it would be a good read.
mushroomman:
I had an e-mail this morning from an old mate of mine called Dave Shawcross, who I worked with at three different companies over the years.
Dave told me that the guy in the photo with Stanley is John Roberts, another Middle East legend in the 70s/80s.
I only worked with John once for a couple of months but I remember seeing him on a few occasions running with a tilt that had the words Charlie Roberts on the side.
Does any body remember running with John ?.
Hi Steve, just seen this post, I also worked with Dave Shawcross he came on for Ossie Ingham’s on the ‘Boxes’ after Dow shut up shop always got on with Dave and was a good bloke to run with even it was only in the UK. If you are in contact with him again I’d really appreciate it if you could pass on my regards and hope he is keeping ok.
Thanks
Dave Penn;
bestbooties:
Yes that was Stan alright!
I had a good mate on C & B’s named John Roberts,he was bald but had a 'tache but no glasses,came from Manchester,would love to meet up with him again.Along with Alan Jones,was one of the best lads on M/E.
Hi Ian, I have just heard that the John Robert’s in the photo with Stan did work for Chapman and Ball in the 70’s.
Regards Steve.
oop’s 
mushroomman:
[quote="davepenn54
Hi Steve, just seen this post, I also worked with Dave Shawcross he came on for Ossie Ingham’s on the ‘Boxes’ after Dow shut up shop always got on with Dave and was a good bloke to run with even it was only in the UK. If you are in contact with him again I’d really appreciate it if you could pass on my regards and hope he is keeping ok.
Thanks
Dave Penn;
Hi Dave, I hope that you are feeling a lot better than you were a couple of month’s ago and your health is improving.
I will pass on your regards to Dave next time I e-mail him but if he owe’s you any money then I am sure that he will ask me to let you know that he has just left on an expedition to darkest Africa and may not be back for several years 
.
Below are a couple of photo’s taken in Greece 1982 with another guy who also drove for Ossie Ingham after he finished doing M/E work, it’s Lee Marland.
Lee as you probably know died in Malta sometime in the 90’s and when another of Ossie’s drivers split up with his missus and had no where but the cab to sleep in Lee put him up for they night,
I think his name was Danny and he was still there two years later.
I dont know if you can make out in the top photo just how clear the sea was 
.
[/quote]
Lee is sat in his cab on the right.
B.T.W. Markgilly, I think that the driver who lived in Offerton was called Pete Woolfinden and the driver who lived in Hazel Grove was a Brummie lad called Terry Smails, both were great lads to work with 
.
Best regards Steve.
Hi Steve, you have a PM.
Hiya, a posting on another thread about police in the Commie Block got me thinking of The White Wooden Policeman at Pirot in Yugoslavia.
As you followed the river valley between Nis and Dimitrovgrad you came around a right hand bend and there he was, stood in front of the tunnel. The first couple of times he almost caught me out as he stood there with his little lollypop in his hand. I used to feel sorry for him in the winter, stood there in the cold covered in mud but after a good shower in the spring he alway’s looked clean and a lot happier. He must of been the only Yugoslave policeman who never stopped a British truck. He was there for years so he has probably retired now, I wonder if he got a good police pension or did Teto have him shot. I bet nobody has got a picture of him or does anybody else remember him .
regards Steve.
On topruns site,the latest photos are of Rynart Trading on a run to Pakistan circa 1974.
One of the pics, shows a line up of trucks at Londra camp and in amongst the usual F88s and 141s
is a blue day cabbed Atkinson 
coupled to a blue tilt with Scotts, written on the front.
Anybody remember seeing it ?
chris:
mike prior did m/e for WHN Judd? out of spencers wood reading… then worked for alf meade? hanging meat out of reading abbatoire i think…then worked for swallows? bought out by DFDS i think…ALSO another guy on agency, there all coming out nowdan fischer not sure if he did m/e. might have done but i know he was on JOHN MANN for years running down to morroco o/d i think
dan was on alf meade’s aswell
I first met Micky Prior 75/76 when on the middle east runs. Met him again later when we both worked on Swallows ( later taken over by Cadwalladers). After that he had his own firm (still have his business card). Have not seen him for ages.
Danny Fisher never did m/e work. I met him when we both worked for Ridgeway Int. (explosives haulage). And you’re right, he had a magnum running down to Morroco for John Mann. I used to go to his parties over new year. They were several day affairs him being a scotsman! I was supposed to go to a BBQ he held last August when I visited the UK last year but didn’t make it (to the party that is). I understand that he was (or is) moving to Crete to retire.
mushroomman:
Hiya, a posting on another thread about police in the Commie Block got me thinking of The White Wooden Policeman at Pirot in Yugoslavia.
As you followed the river valley between Nis and Dimitrovgrad you came around a right hand bend and there he was, stood in front of the tunnel. The first couple of times he almost caught me out as he stood there with his little lollypop in his hand. I used to feel sorry for him in the winter, stood there in the cold covered in mud but after a good shower in the spring he alway’s looked clean and a lot happier. He must of been the only Yugoslave policeman who never stopped a British truck. He was there for years so he has probably retired now, I wonder if he got a good police pension or did Teto have him shot. I bet nobody has got a picture of him or does anybody else remember him
regards Steve.
I remember that ZB, he was dressed like a British Bobby, obviously to target us wayward truckers Every time I approached I used to worry about how much it was going to cost even though he was about 12 feet high
On Sunday night, after tipping in Watford, I parked up at the Watling Street Truckstop. There was a slot next to a Primor Freight artic and the driver was sitting in his cab (with a bottle of wine), so I reversed in.
As we were chatting, he mentioned that he was an old Middle East hand. He isn’t on-line, so I said I would put a post on here to see if any of his mates from back then would like to get in touch with him.
The mans name is Bob Bennett, he used to drive for Wim Voss (Harry Voss’s brother) and for a little while, Falkongate.
He said that one of his mates (an O/D) used to have a couple of rather odd habits. He always wore wellies and would eat nothing but beans when on the road. This fellas truck (or company) was called Flying Carpets.
One of the stories he told me, was:- A couple of his Dutch work-mates where parked up at Londra. He drove past, did a U-turn and pulled in to see what the problem was. It turned out that the water pump on one of the wagons was u/s and his mate was waiting with him for the wagon to get repaired. Bob carried on with his load, got tipped, reloaded and saw they were still there on his way back. He tippe in Holland, had a week off at home and set out on another trip. The same two guys were still waiting when he drove past Londra again. They had gone when he past again on the return. A few weeks later he was chatting with Wim and asked about the two drivers. They had been fired. Wim had driven down himself with the replacement water pump and done the job himself. On returning to Holland he’d had the water pump checked out. There was nothing wrong with it. The two drivers had been parked up for over two weeks, on full pay, for no good reason.
If you knew Bob and would like to get in touch with him, send me a pm with your contact details and the name of Bobs mate with the two peculiar habits. I will send you a pm (as soon as I can) with Bobs present address, and send him yours.
MM , you spoke of Howard Hughes earlier, is he was he from Chester, ex school teacher, 8 kids, ifso I worked with him at RD cheltenham, stirling Bloke, dry as dirt.
UJ
Simon:
He said that one of his mates (an O/D) used to have a couple of rather odd habits. He always wore wellies and would eat nothing but beans when on the road. This fellas truck (or company) was called Flying Carpets.
That could only be the infamous Middle East man, Andrew Wilson Young. The guy was an absolute legend on the Middle East run … in those days of border controls etc etc he could still do UK-Bagdhad return in 12 days!!!
If you find one of two books, Simon, called either Juggernaut (Danger Heavy Goods is its US title) or “1000 miles from nowhere”, you can read about AWY. He is given more page space in ‘1000 miles’. Unfortunately he died of stomach cancer many years ago now. reading of hisexploits on the road make me smile
Sorry Jack, Howard I think only had two children, I remember that his daughter joined the police force. He was originally from the London area and I know that at one time he lived on a house boat in Chelsea during the Swinging sixties 
.
and the name of Bobs mate with the two peculiar habits.
Just been told by my mate, another ex M/E man, that it was indeed Andrew Wilson -Young, very posh but a lovely chap.
My mate being John Conneely (Irish John) who did M/E for Bob Kilby from Swindon, and then Turkey for Dow Freight.
Also, while I think about it, I bumped into ‘Rocket Ron’ a couple of weeks ago, Remember him?
Yes i used to be a visitor to the londra i remember Andrew Wilsons…Falcongate…Simon international… Dow Freight…(and big T) sadly killed on the M1 when he ran into the back of another truck…Richie Thorn…dave Chamberlain and many more i worked for Astran (asian transport) Roy Bradford transporting ford parts to turkey…the ferry to cross the bosphuras.before the bridge opened…the street sellers, egg on legs (kenny bowkett) now living in Thailand…and married…and me…i`m bob white
have a nice day
Simon:
If you knew Bob and would like to get in touch with him, send me a pm with your contact details and the name of Bobs mate with the two peculiar habits. I will send you a pm (as soon as I can) with Bobs present address, and send him yours.
If any of you want to get in touch with Bob, send me a PM with your contact details, I’ll pass them on to Bob for him to contact you.
I knew who I was talking about , you are all quite correct, it was indeed Andrew Wilson Young.
I had intended for people to read the whole post and realise that I was trying to weed out nosey parkers who wouldn’t know who it was. Oh well, the best laid plans etc.
I should point out, I am not an ex M/E man, I’m a bit to young 
. I didn’t start driving till 79 and I was an army driver then and for another 12 years.
Dont know whether this Bob was around when I was trundling down that way, I worked alongside Richie Thorne, DC and Carl Ryan. George Brook was my boss and he had Whispering Smith (Brian), Jogger John and Joe Toole working for him.
George had left Chris Brearley and started his own business with a bloke who shall not be named If i told you I would have to kill you
I met AWY a few times in the National in Beograd (Belgrade) and shared a meal out of his trailer box.
I was taught a lot of tricks by John Willie, apart from the ones he used to practice in Czech
I did a spell with Colin Johnson from Winsford too when he had a couple of trucks
Hi Malc…yes i was running out there in the 70s and 80s…there are lots of names i used to run with. A.W Y…Barry Titterell…Budgie…kemel…John Bradford…Chris hooper…roger rabbit…some of them forgotten by now…i took my first trip with Jeff ruggins (P.I.E.) god rest…and of course ■■■■ snow was our team leader…that first one was scary…never thought he was gonna stop…everytime he stopped i almost got ready for bed…but it was only for a coffee…i remember the dispute with the londra when they wanted to increase the prices for the europeans but not for the eastern blockers…somat…hungarocamion…so we puled out and moved down the road to Octay parking.they even had western toilets and showers installed for us…used to go to the galleria for a few beers F.S. and a game of bowling…visit the pudding shop…etc to while away the hours the National in Belgrade was another experience…and an excuse for a good beer up…last time i was there i had to help out one of our drivers (mick Hawkins) who suffered with gout and had to be hospitalised…we had loaded in istanbul for Yugoslavia with washing powder…(and no permits) but i stamped our carnets when the guard was outside…anyway mick cost me a week and i never saw him after that…i re-loaded in Italy…just another tale of many more to come…
We got a guy at our firm called Budgie who is apparrently an old ME hand??
I know his name obviously… could this be the same one?