Left ■■■■■■ 16?
The detail is fantastic,even down to where you have wiped the number plate and the rear reflectors clean in a fashion 
520 ponies Harry, all the Volvos we ran were on Udine plates. For some reason all the Scanias and trailers were on Padova plates.
For all the good points it had it didn’t go as well as the Italian spec Turbo Star I had before it. At leas the speed limiter didn’t work !
Jeff…
I had a go with an Italian fridge outfit based in Cessana ,Eurotrans ,Marco used to run it. Load Salerno for Berlin ,reload Hannover for Athens. That was a regular run. Jacked when I realised I was getting less money than the Italian drivers.
Many years before that had the Milano reg FIAT W+D for SCA. Good puller but no spring brakes system so when you were outa air you were outa luck. That’s why so many Italian lads went over the steelworks in the old days. When the the air went it was just a forty ton soapbox on wheels. Needless to say when I found that out I jacked.
The only Italians we had were admin and warehouse, all the drivers were non Italian as non one from Italy wanted to do it.
We had myself and another bloke from Britain, a couple of Swedes came a went, a Danish bloke, some Dutch guys and a German/ Turk, a couple of Iranians later on that took all the M/E work, and a bloke of dubious origin who claimed to have fought in Nam ( man ) as well as the Falkland’s and for Gadhafi as well as being in the French foreign legion. ( He was still in his mid 30 at the time so he must have been one of those child prodigies that went to war when he was about 5 years old )
I don’t know what Italian drivers were getting at the time, but the pay was well above any other driving job I had at the time, and it was in the bank, after tax, every Wednesday.
Jeff…
With Marco it was about £400@week all in and round n round the clock. The Italian drivers would have three course meals in the Pavasi ,we could only afford a plate of spag Bol . They were on more wages plus exes . No big deal ,it got me outa the house for a few months.
I was on trip money before that working for Bustone International the farther you went the more you got.
UK Northern Italy, down as far as Modena/ Florence was 400 a trip, another 50 to go as far as Rome /Ancona and another 80 past that usually Napoli, Sicilia was and extra 80.
He had a map of Europe in the office with circles on it and each one was allotted a price per segment so you knew what you were going to be paid before you went. Alicante paid about the same as Rome or Warsaw.
Trans Mondo were paying about 435 a week after tax and 40,000 lira per night out tax free, China was 12 to 14 days each way so it was good earner. Better job, more adventure, proper looked after, more money, most of the fridge work was between 5 and 9 ton per load going out, but full weight coming back. We were always offered a trip back to our home county after a long haul and if you passed on it there was cash bonus.
To start with we were given gifts to help us along the way if we needed to make friends, like top end gold ( looking ) pens Nican cameras ( you’ve probably seen then being sold at the side of the road in Italy ) that sort of thing and of course nice Italian cakes. None of those goods ever got back it Italy. I can’t remember what happened to them; but you had to pore cream on the cakes as they started to get a bit stale after a week or so.
But that stopped after about 6 months.
Jeff…
Marco was tight & greedy - I used to get ‘nicked’ at borders and ring him up to see if he wanted to contest the German/French/et al zoll confiscating ( no receipt) all my tachos & blocking me for 24 hrs. He was scared stiff. But I was in a routiers taking a 24hr gourmet experience! I ran rings round him ,then jacked when I got bored:lol:
Good times Harry… We pretty much had to play it by the book doing Russia and Kaz, ( well at your own discursions any way ) If the Russians or Kaz didn’t like the way things were going they would just pull the plug and revoke your permits on the spot, so there was always a little bit of tension in the air. All the drivers new the score and as did the management, but if we had to push we did, which meant doing some 18 and 20 hour shifts from time to time. But we were rewarded for it some way or an other.
We were never asked to do anything dodgy in Europe or Scandinavia, if we were caught doing something iffy there, it came out your own pocket.
Jeff…
No need to tell you that the Zoll kontrols were all made up - I just got fed up of racing round Europe for flat money. All you could say about Eurotrans was that they paid on time.
Always thought that Marco had mafia connections. Went to where they make Ferraro Roche and scores of trucks had been waiting three days to load. I arrived ,straight on the weigh bridge and loaded in one hour. I asked why so quick and they replied ‘it’s because you are running national’ I was tipping in Napoli . Got to Napoli ,tipped then got to my reload at 4 o’clock Friday afternoon. Big ice cream company,trucks in the compound waiting to load were all week ended . Tanoy told me to go to the factory to load. Got loaded gone 5 . The office bods had gone home. They called one of them back to do my docs. I asked why the urgency 'because you are international ’ loaded for Frankfurt . Got stopped empty in Southern Italy on Easter Sunday . Cops checked the docs ( I handed them a briefcase full of 'em ) and they saluted me. No coffee money ,nothing,just wished me a safe journey to Salerno. ■■?
I had some mates that were on for Accasse ( spelling ) and they had similar experiences to you. When I was on for Bustone we used to do some sub work for them, usually car parts from Luton to their hub at Bressia. Sometimes it would be a day and a half before they put you on the dock.
Jeff…
Arcese? Owned by Silvio Berlusconi.
newmercman:
Arcese? Owned by Silvio Berlusconi.
Thanks for the info NNM, If I ever go back there I’ll know who to ask for
He was such a kind man, taking on all those young woman, giving them gifts and taking them on holiday, very generous. Quite virile as well by all accounts.
If remember Arcese group ran most the garbage trucks in the big Italian cities, a few guys told me they operated that incinerator near the west A 4/ tangencali junction in Milano.
Jeff…
I applied to work at HQ in Frosinone, heard the Xmas ■■■■ ups were a lotta fun
And here’s a pic I took whilst waiting to enter Gibraltar to tip, about 13 years ago. The artic in the distance was Gibraltarian. Nice light! Robert
I took this picture (I think in the 90s) from the top of the cliffs overlooking Dover Eastern Docks. Can you see your wagon? Robert
Does anyone know of / remember a northern chap who used to sub for Arcese must have been about 98 ish… He had a merc painted up in there colours… Nice man. Used to run to coslada iveco / pegaso factory.
robert1952:
I took this picture (I think in the 90s) from the top of the cliffs overlooking Dover Eastern Docks. Can you see your wagon? Robert0
Near the front there’s a row of 5 trucks, on the left is East West and the Man on the left looks like Dave Mackies twin steer. I recognise the drag outfit with a red stripe in the middle of the same row but can’t remember who was running it. There’s a fridge near the middle of the shot that looks like one of Tom Catto’s from Aberdeen ( big red writing on the side of it )…
I surprised there isn’t one of Micky Murfitts trucks in there…
Jeff…
In the same row as the Catto motor the one on the right looks like a Bowker wagon & drag I zoomed the photo in then got the magnifying glass out. Sherlock Holmes stuff eh.
Eddie.