Barry Nobbs isnt a name well known but like many others who opened up the route to the Middle East he is known to the select few who did it
For those that didnt Know Barry, he was a trail blazer, he worked for firms that didnt get the status like Astrans did. Some of the companies he worked for didnt have the best reputation - Cantrells, Mavetons, But Barry was always a man of honour and integrity. It was those maverick companies that blazed trails where no-one had gone before. (normally with dodgy permits so he said 
)
Barry was one of the first Brits to go all the way to Almaty - he saw the oppurtunity for Brit drivers to earn doing internals in Iran while and moved his whole family there to run them.
Throughout my own career I always looked up to Barry and his achievements, as my uncle he was a idol to me as far as truck drivers went. Last time we spoke in person we talked about the old days and the challenges the drivers had then and we talked about how i went onto heavy haulage and he said that was the one thing he wished he had done- just for the challenge, that was the man he was, always looking for something to push him
He will be sadly missed by his friends and family, and while he may not be as well known as some other drivers, he is up there alongside them as one of the legends of the Middle East run , Rest in peace Driver
pete smith:
Rest in Peace Barry
Thanks Pete your thoughts are appreciated
perhaps no-one else has replied is because it Cantrells/Mavetons not a ■■■■ as Astrans, but as anyone from that era knows Astrans got the limelight, but it was PIE , Alec Griffiths Mavertons and Cantrells and others who paved the way- just they did it with John Bull printing sets for the permits it was cowboy days , I wont take anything away from Astrans they did the job and they did it right … but there was a multidude of drivers who went before Astrans to the ME just not totaly legaly like they did
My Uncle was one of them. running on bent permits and stamping his own CMRs - the late 70’s running to the ME was really cowboy time- anyone who did that - must go down as a legend - we will never see the likes of those runs again or those that did them
RIP Barry
Rikki-UK:
pete smith:
Rest in Peace Barry
Thanks Pete your thoughts are appreciated
perhaps no-one else has replied is because it Cantrells/Mavetons not a ■■■■ as Astrans, but as anyone from that era knows Astrans got the limelight, but it was PIE , Alec Griffiths Mavertons and Cantrells and others who paved the way- just they did it with John Bull printing sets for the permits it was cowboy days , I wont take anything away from Astrans they did the job and they did it right … but there was a multidude of drivers who went before Astrans to the ME just not totaly legaly like they did
My Uncle was one of them. running on bent permits and stamping his own CMRs - the late 70’s running to the ME was really cowboy time- anyone who did that - must go down as a legend - we will never see the likes of those runs again or those that did them
RIP Barry
Hi Rikki,
I did not know Barry but I can remember a few threads regarding Cantrell and Maveton activities and to go over there into the unknown running straight took some doing in my opinion, never mind on dodgy permits etc!
Sorry to hear of another Middle-Easter passing away, Rikki. Didn’t know him but may he RIP nonetheless.
As for squeaky-clean M/E running: impossible! A round trip to the Gulf would always mean something had to ‘give’ somewhere down the line. Middle-Easters didn’t fall into two categories of clean and bent; rather it was a continuum of rule adherence. One trip you might make minor adjustments but the next trip you’d be responding to crooked customs officers, bent coppers, greedy agents etc etc and you’d have to react in whatever way you could if you wanted to get home again ever!
Ro
A bit late I know, it’s sad when you lose anyone but someone that has really lived a full life seams to hit a little harder, RIP. As an old ME driver for Redcliffe’s I understand what was needed out of a driver during them early days, no trip was uneventful particularly with an older truck, I remember losing the slave cylinder on the clutch on the Kuwaiti border on my way back and finished up driving all the way back through Saudi, Jordan, Syria and up to Istanbul with no clutch ( starting up in gear) to a Volvo service to get it repaired.
Hold on to the memories you have of him, they’re priceless.
Steve
Rikki-UK:
pete smith:
Rest in Peace Barry
Thanks Pete your thoughts are appreciated
perhaps no-one else has replied is because it Cantrells/Mavetons not a ■■■■ as Astrans, but as anyone from that era knows Astrans got the limelight, but it was PIE , Alec Griffiths Mavertons and Cantrells and others who paved the way- just they did it with John Bull printing sets for the permits it was cowboy days , I wont take anything away from Astrans they did the job and they did it right … but there was a multidude of drivers who went before Astrans to the ME just not totaly legaly like they did
My Uncle was one of them. running on bent permits and stamping his own CMRs - the late 70’s running to the ME was really cowboy time- anyone who did that - must go down as a legend - we will never see the likes of those runs again or those that did them
RIP Barry
Totally agree there’s very few if any drivers out there now with the tenacity to do it
Very late, sorry to hear of your loss. Logged in and saw this.
Louise