Great read Mark. I still remember that day we met in Vercelli very well. The name of the agent we cleared with was Tra Comm IIRC. Talk about the blind leading the blind, however, we both made it back to Blighty in one piece and went on to meet up again over the years. (normally with beer involved). 
You even remember the name of the agent 
You can write the next installment then Graham, you have a much better memory than I have 
You mention a few beers, as I remember we were like Cheech and Chong, but with beer instead of weed
Great story. Thanks for sharing.
I’m off to France next week to do some research checking on my own tales. I’m determined to try the St. Bernard as I always used the Blanc or Ventimiglia in my truck driving days. Should be slightly easier in a Disco mind you!
Looking forward to the next instalment.
The first F88 we had,had a wind up clockwork tachograph,you put a pack of 7 cards in it which were joined together with a little piece of sticky tape.Each card had a V shape cut into it. At midnight the little piece of sticky tape was cut by a small blade mounted behind the tachohead and the next day was recorded through the V in the card.I don’t know if you were supposed to take the card out each day,but I never did.It just said Manchester on the first card and Manchester on the last card nothing inbetween.I got stopped by BAG one day at Aachen,he was less than impressed when he examined the tacho,he said it was no good.I pointed out to him that it was made by Kienzel a good old West German company,to which he answered RAUS.A bit of a sour kraut I thought.
Tony, the Scandinavians used the same system up unti the early 90s at least, I knew an English bloke working for a Swede doing Italy, he had the same set up in a 142, although I don’t think it was a wind up one 
Tony Taylor:
The first F88 we had,had a wind up clockwork tachograph,you put a pack of 7 cards in it which were joined together with a little piece of sticky tape.Each card had a V shape cut into it. At midnight the little piece of sticky tape was cut by a small blade mounted behind the tachohead and the next day was recorded through the V in the card.I don’t know if you were supposed to take the card out each day,but I never did.It just said Manchester on the first card and Manchester on the last card nothing inbetween.I got stopped by BAG one day at Aachen,he was less than impressed when he examined the tacho,he said it was no good.I pointed out to him that it was made by Kienzel a good old West German company,to which he answered RAUS.A bit of a sour kraut I thought.
This was the later type
Hi lads,yes we did use the 7days to some were to 92-95.Remeber my dads 143 from late 91 and it had 7days in it.And when i got my licence in 95 it was gone
Regards Danne from sweden…
newmercman:
Tony, the Scandinavians used the same system up unti the early 90s at least, I knew an English bloke working for a Swede doing Italy, he had the same set up in a 142, although I don’t think it was a wind up one
Blimey wheel nut you’ve kept that card for a long time (43years) although I can’t read your starting place or finishing place,Were you on a dodgy?