Mr Flibble's Kosovan Adventure (long, with lots of pictures)

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
41

I was really engrossed in that. Terrific read. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post it :exclamation:

Cheers,
Paul

42

Its a bit embarrasing for all those Iveco Fords to give up the ghost on a publicity stunt :stuck_out_tongue:

Good read about the aid run though :smiley:

Was that ship called the Listerine? or the Germolene

43

Well done Mr Fibble and Trougher :smiley: for giving up the time to go and a great read and photo’s. I’ve wanted to have a go at an Aid run for years, but work commitments or world events have stop that. so I’m a bit envious of you. Any more runs planned in the future :wink:

44

Wheel Nut:
Its a bit embarrasing for all those Iveco Fords to give up the ghost on a publicity stunt :stuck_out_tongue:

Could be worse though, just been followed back from Paul Ricard by 2 Ford owned Ford Cargos pulling box vans, one was J reg the other C reg. They had taken the stuff for the launch of a new Focus.

45

muckles:
. I’ve wanted to have a go at an Aid run for years, but work commitments or world events have stop that. so I’m a bit envious of you. Any more runs planned in the future :wink:

Mmm :question: if i recall correctly, when you had that set up with a group once before, they started shooting at each other again :open_mouth: the locals not the aid org" and it got knocked on the head.
Well done to you Mr Fibble, time is often more worthwhile than money, :wink:

46

great posts and pictures to match, so it was well worth ,and yes the fullerbox is the best,

47

Excellent pics and read :smiley:

48

Mr Fibble real good read and excellent pics,thanks for your time and trouble.
regards derek

49

I was 1994 during the Yougoslawien war in and around Scopye,but i didn’t get that complicated there.
I just went through Austria(nice Country) to Koper,with Faehry to duras and through Albany with a lot of Baksish and Beer

50

Wheel Nut:
Was that ship called the Listerine? or the Germolene

Maybe it was the Benzedrene, with all the tilt-sleeping and all :laughing:

On that point Flibble, why was it always you in the trailer?

And another thing, I seem to remember from the original request that the driver would have to stump up £500. How can you afford that, and then consider doing it again? That put me off straight away. I’m only a pensioner you know :cry: :cry: :unamused: .

Good account though mate, now who’s for a relief convoy to Pakistan? :open_mouth:

Salut, David.

51

good read and a rewarding journey

52

cam.etat.lu/en/c_registre_flotte.htm

53

Job well done Mr Flibble some of them pics are brilliant

54

JB:
It wouldnt have been too bad being weekended in vlissingen, there`s some VERY good bars there(so they tell me anyway :laughing: :wink: )

I’m sure it wouldn’t have been too bad; I was more worried about losing two of my four remaining days of holiday left this year (since I might have been too knackerd to go back to work on Tuesday if I only crossed on Monday).

Wheel Nut:
Its a bit embarrasing for all those Iveco Fords to give up the ghost on a publicity stunt

Like I said, they’ve performed admirably in the past, or so I’ve been told. I guess we were just unlucky. Personally I blame trougher - he was always the one driving whenever the problems appeared :wink:

muckles:
Any more runs planned in the future

They go every 6 months, if you’re interested :wink:

Spardo:
On that point Flibble, why was it always you in the trailer?

Because my stuff was in the trailer, and trougher’s stuff was in the cab, and I couldn’t be arsed to swap it all over, and I wasn’t that bothered about it.

On the way out, the trailer was stuffed all the way to the back doors with aid (so much so that I wedged my foot between the boxes of aid and one of the barn doors to climb up on top). That made it rather tricky to get stuff in and out to swap over.

Spardo:
And another thing, I seem to remember from the original request that the driver would have to stump up £500. How can you afford that, and then consider doing it again?

Erm, because I can? I’m not a full-time truck driver. Yes, I had to economise (I won’t be replacing my ancient PC any more, for example), but when you consider the hardships faced by the people out there…

Anyway, a large proportion of the cost is paying for food and hotels whilst out in Kosovo (since you’re there for a week). If I were to do a drop-and-swap, most of that cost would be eliminated - the break in Hungary would count as the 24-hour weekly rest, and I could just turn round and come straight back after being unloaded.

Spardo:
Good account though mate, now who’s for a relief convoy to Pakistan?

All those borders? :open_mouth:

You wouldn’t get there until next year…

fred Kanka:
Maritime - Luxembourg

Thanks Fred. “Cymbeline” rings a bell. I think that was it.

55

Great read and pics Mr F :slight_smile: :sunglasses: :slight_smile:

56

I fancy a bit of that, great adventure.

More to life than driving a truck to and from a RDC everynight?

57

Excellant read & pics

58

Glad to see you guys got there and back safely. A brilliant read and a great account of events and the situation out there.
Personally I wouldn’t go outside the M25 with one of those iveco’s although I have done in the past a fair few times and still managed to lock up the gearbox!
A few of our older blokes would still happily give up their brand new volvo automatics for that gearbox- weird eh:)
Gonna make sure as many of our drivers as possible get to see this diary (managers too) and point out the missing bunks as well :unamused:
Well done great adventure !

Russ (Ford dagenham driver) the one that helped you derv up :smiley:

59

Elick:
Personally I wouldn’t go outside the M25 with one of those iveco’s although I have done in the past a fair few times and still managed to lock up the gearbox!

Well, now you can drive Mr Flibble (probably still labelled as such) safe in the knowledge that it’s been all the way to Kosovo and back, and even had some maintenance from the Irish armed forces… :wink:

Elick:
A few of our older blokes would still happily give up their brand new volvo automatics for that gearbox- weird eh:)

Well, actually…

I hate automatics, so I’d probably agree with them. :wink:

Although given the choice between the Eaton and a more standard manual box, the choice wouldn’t be so clear-cut.

Elick:
Gonna make sure as many of our drivers as possible get to see this diary (managers too)

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

Better make sure there’s nothing too incriminating… :wink:

Elick:
Russ (Ford dagenham driver) the one that helped you derv up :smiley:

Thanks :slight_smile:

Actually, I didn’t fill up; I drove the unit over to the pumps, and left the other driver filling up (obviously with your help :wink: ) whilst I parked my car.

PS: Sorry for not washing the units off and filling up on our return; as you can imagine, we were very tired (it was 9pm, and we’d all had about 3 hours’ sleep since the morning of the previous day), and, since our lack of sleep was down to the unit breakdowns, one or two of us were feeling slightly less than charitable towards Ford at the time :wink: (not me though…)

Seriously, though, it was good of them to lend us the trucks in the first place, and they weren’t to know that we were going to have such serious problems.

60

I heard some bad news a few days ago: Ford decided that Mr Flibble was uneconomical to repair, and scrapped him.


Mr Flibble RIP :cry:

The other unit, however, is still going strong - I drove it through London last Friday.