Hey simon…i cant believe that you started driving when you were 79…my god man you seem to carry it well 
stand up man…straighten your cap…eyes to the front…talking of the middle east i had the pleisure a couple of times of meeting AWY and he was a true gentleman of the road…polite …considerate…but never had the time of day…always in a rush to get the job done and im glad i had the pleisure of knowing and meeting him..same can be said of some of the early pioneers like ■■■■ Snow and my mentor Jeff Ruggins (bless him)..it was a way of life and a family of helpful considerate drivers who would go out of their way to help a fellow driver regardless of their nationality..and they would do for us too..especially the hungarians (hungarocamion) and the bulgarians (somat) and czechs (csad) i am glad that i was part of that family and sad that its not the same today so that others could experience what we did..unfortunately a lot of drivers today are loners and i have often asked them when im parked up for the night to go for a beer to which most reply im watching telly` be over later…but we know they never will…so we become loners…
have a nice day
Geoff:
If it was the budgie i know, he only did about 3 trips for Peterlea trucking,
But knows a lot
sounds like our man lolol
Bob,did you attend a M/E reunion a few years back?
Only a mate of mine from Sweden came over to London a few years ago to have a meet up with some old M/E drivers that he had met over the years.
His name is Thomas ‘Moppe’…but for the life of me I can’t remember his surname.
Was talking to the missuss dad the other day, turns out his brother, a chap named Stan Warmbold used to do the Middle East throughout the 70s and 80`s!!
Just wondered if any of the ex middle East drivers on here remember him or the name?
He was a typical Northerner, great sense of humour, could tell tales for England, ran out of Oldham area of Manchester, always wore a cloth cap, even down there!!
I think he had his own rig at one point, and was still doing Turkey in his 70`s 
He got bashed up pretty badly and left for dead in Turkey once. 
The Old boy died about a year ago and I never got a chance to meet him but may have a chance to see some of the photos he took from that era!
If I can suss out how to post them I may try and stick some up on here.
Did any of you chaps know him?
Cheer, bullitt.
I dont recall the name bullitt but thats not to say i didnt meet him…there were so many and those days are long gone…we would often cancel when we saw a fellow brits stopped for a beer and join in without ever knowing their names…there were also more who we never saw again…ones we termed 1 trippers…there were those that drew the running money and never left stefans in belgium just dumping the truck without telling the boss and getting the ferry back to blighty of course there are the pioneers who we will never forget…there are the drivers who we met several times often meeting up on the next trip…guys we remember for being robbed…for being beaten up (by fellow brits) just for having one too many and i dont condone that…the list is endless and the names long gone…but i do remember those i want to remember…and those i dont…but glad i was part of it …and i have many memories…but i still love the trucking scene…and as old as i am (59) i will be looking shortly to cross the water again…if i can find someone to employ me…i look in hope
have a nice day
Cheers truckyboy, appreciate you taking the time to reply.Thought the name may jog a few memories but thought it would be a long shot anyway. As you say, you must have met so many faces.
Looking forward to hearing somemore tales from yourself, Ken (the Egg) and any others fortunate to have run the route.
Cheers, bullitt.
PS, your comment on the “urban legends” thread about the tank in the headboard made me smile!! Posted a question for you after it!! 
KW:
Bob,did you attend a M/E reunion a few years back?
Only a mate of mine from Sweden came over to London a few years ago to have a meet up with some old M/E drivers that he had met over the years.
His name is Thomas ‘Moppe’…but for the life of me I can’t remember his surname.
hi kw if its the (moppie) that drove for lindfors it was his fiftieth birthday party in sweden last weekend .his surname is andreasson and i believe there were a few britts in attendance .regds jamie.
M&C Jamie:
KW:
Bob,did you attend a M/E reunion a few years back?
Only a mate of mine from Sweden came over to London a few years ago to have a meet up with some old M/E drivers that he had met over the years.
His name is Thomas ‘Moppe’…but for the life of me I can’t remember his surname.hi kw if its the (moppie) that drove for lindfors it was his fiftieth birthday party in sweden last weekend .his surname is andreasson and i believe there were a few britts in attendance .regds jamie.
Yup that’s him,just sent an sms to another driver I know who works for the same company Moppe is driving for now (Nils Hansson Akeri) and he confirms it was his 50th birthday bash last weekend.
I remember Moppe telling me how he came to get diabetes.
He was sitting in the sand in the M/E somewhere and got stung on the hand by a scorpion and waited until he got back to Austria before getting it looked at.
“Don’t trust those ■■■■■■■ doctors” were his words.
A real nice bloke who can drink you under the table!
i have been speaking to alfie jones who was at moppe,s birthday bash in sweden at the weekend . the swedish drivers are arranging an anual reunion for old middle east hands starting this august 5 -7th. they are arranging a camp site and food etc for the approx charge of 600 kroner per head for the weekend.will keep you posted when i get more info.
regds jamie.
Hi Jamie,camp-site? I’m sure a few tilt trailers could do the job,they could even fill the belly tanks with beer
I know Moppe quite well having worked with him for a number of years at Onsala Akeri in Gothenburg,the owner of the (now defunct) company,William Lithander,used to run M/E right up to the mid 80’s and Moppe did a spell with him.
There is also another M/E driver working at NH with Moppe,Janne Hult,he also drove for William to the M/E.
Funnily enough I was on the Dublin-Holyhead ferry this week with another Swedish driver who I know vaguely,he drives for Ekman Akeri in Gothenburg,and he was telling me about his days on the M/E run pulling for Bilspedition and he mentioned Moppe.Small world.
Rgds Keith.
just wondering wether any of you guys remember Mavetons, DW Burns or Hopepeak Ltd All owned by the same 2 people Lou Sains and Nigel (Surname escapes me now) they used to run middle east with Scania 11/141 and Volvo F88 and F89,
Mavetons had a green livery with a yellow stripe
DW Burns was Green with a red stripe
and Hopepeak was Blue with a white stripe
Most of their M/E work was for Schenkers ( Mavetons livery was almost identical to Schenkers)
They were based at Loughton on the same estate as Alec Griffiths who used to run germany mainly for AMG interfreight.
No driver there needed a car as the company had a fleet of cars for the drivers to use when they eventually got home, I say eventually because their favourite trick was turning their drivers around at Calais after shipping a tilt over with the running money hiddden the trailer
My Uncle was transport manager there and I started there aged 16 as a yard boy… and the names I remember from then are Charlie Neil who hailed from Walthamstow and Mickey Ashton who was living in Romford (Seven Kings)
hi rikki,
i remember mavetons they ran a tidy fleet as you say mainly on shenkers work , i remember meeting a couple of them one night in aydins yard in istanbul, one of them was nick the greek who always had a union jack pinned up inside his cab ,they were leaving early (about two )in the morning to try and miss the traffic between istanbul and ankara,it was two way singlecarriageway then . as i had arrived late i declined their offer to tag allong .
the following day just over the top of balu mountain i came across the debris ,
aparantley a 15 year old driving his fathers tonka towards istanbul had been overtakeing a stream of traffic when one of mavetons trucks appeared coming the other way, as he could not get back in to his own stream he tried to get over onto the hard shoulder on his left could not make it and hit the leading maveton scania head on. this pushed the cab back sheering the suzies which also brought it to a halt. the following truck getting no other warning than the tail lights going out ran slap into the back of his mates trailer. they were still trying to sort recovery out in the afternoon . so much for an early start !
idont think mavetons lads were seriously hurt ,but it was a while ago .
i think when mavetons finished some of the trucks were aquired by don hubbard of gedney hill in the fens.
I wonder if any has met the following person , when I used to take
my weekend break in the total at Zeebrugge.I met a driver who
was having problems with his Scania, I gave him some help
and we got talking about this and that, He was on his way to
GREECE at this time but in our conversation I learnt that he had
also been much further. He answered to the name of BUFFALO BILL
and smoked only King Edward Cigars. He said that he lived
when he was not on the road in Dartford on the site of a transport
cafe, sorry but the name of the cafe I;VE forgotten,
I last saw him about 1990 and he was still doing Greece at
least when I last meet him.
Keith, is that the same Thomas who used to double man with Leonard?? the Swedish Mafia as Erwin on Menninger used to call them, on account of the extortionate amount of alcohol they used to smuggle back to Sweden every trip I remember when i went to the yard in Sweden and met Thomas, couldnt beleive his car, a Skoda pick up lovely bloke he was though.
Brit Pete, ive met Buffalo Bill a few times when i was doing 2 trips a month to Greece. I left the job last January and saw him on one of my last trips, he married a Bubble, and was driving for a bloke from North Wales called Nick Turner.
Biggles may be able to tell you if hes still there or not as he was still doing the same job as me up until December, and we all used to do the same job, to Elefsina, around 17km before you get to Athens(turn off just after the last payage)
No Carl,different Thomas,this one left Onsala before you started.
But he has many mates in the UK from his M/E days.
O rite, cheers for reply Keith. I didnt really see Thomas i know as M/E driver! He2d just end up on the pi** for a week or 3 if he went down there 
Your story on here is facinating mate. I knew you did a bit Eastern Europe but didnt know you did that much Keep up the stories mate.It makes em that little bit more exciting to read em when you know the person writing em. And the photos as well, still waiting to see a pic of your/my FH on here. I2ll have to get someone round here to show me how to put em on here. Maybe i could get Mr.C to show me
kindle530:
And the photos as well, still waiting to see a pic of your/my FH on here.
What you mean this one?
EXCELLENT!! My very first left ■■■■■■,Wot a darlun she was Shame about the 3 letters on the number plate thou 
When i left Northampton i used to park at Ashford for the day, more times than not they would change the C for a G on the parking ticket I did win best overall truck at Great Ashfield Truckshow with her, because the judges couldnt beleive she"d done over a million k"s
Cheers for that Keith, ive looked on loads of truck photo websites hoping to see one of my old trucks, i can now say one of them is on the internet
Im determined to sort out getting some of my pics on here, but as its taken me 10 mins to write this, it"ll be another year or more before i can learn how to do something technical like put photos on here
Anyway, thanx again 
hi my name is mick maunders i worked for csa in the sixties and several middle east and european companies is there anyone out there who remembers me.? cheers
brit pete:
I wonder if any has met the following person , when I used to takemy weekend break in the total at Zeebrugge.I met a driver who
was having problems with his Scania, I gave him some help
and we got talking about this and that, He was on his way to
GREECE at this time but in our conversation I learnt that he had
also been much further. He answered to the name of BUFFALO BILL
and smoked only King Edward Cigars. He said that he lived
when he was not on the road in Dartford on the site of a transport
cafe, sorry but the name of the cafe I;VE forgotten,
I last saw him about 1990 and he was still doing Greece at
least when I last meet him.
If its the same Buffalo Bill I know of I think he got gangrene in his foot, this happend a few years ago, he was doing Greece for a company out of truckworld, got bitten by something and left it for a while, by the time e got to Athens, it had got so bad he got taken to the hospital, Greeks wanted to amputate his leg from what i was told, belive in the end he was flown home, and after being admitted to hospital in the UK he lost half of his foot, will check with a friend of mine who still works for the same company, but i recon its the same guy, if Kenny s (aka egg) is on here he prob has more info than i do, sorry to be the bearer of bad news if it is.
Steve