Ian and Boyzee, heres a picture of the honda TN7 Van that went all over Europe and as far as Turkey
ian this picture is of young chris curtin the lad who worked in the office do you remember him? i think that motor is your one that you took the photo of awaiting saudi customs inspection
this one is of me dreaming of bigger and better things, i think it the trailer was loaded with one of the oversize roba shipping loads cant remember where though either greece or the middle east somewhere!
all you si boys will remember this guy fritzroy ewart gladstone crick the best welder money could buy, jeff loved him so much he sent him on an all expenses paid holiday to pakistan!!!
jimmy hill very good fitter/driver from stratford always had a left hand drive car
bud the foreman fitter he was about a 100 years old then, could be a contrary old git at times note he was working next to the red derv tank for the belly tanks you would not believe where some of that came from!
another one of chris he loved shunting them around the yard, this motor had been all over the place with a fold down canvas bunk, believe it or not some nutter wanted to take that to pakistan!!!
this could be one god awful place to work in the winter then,trailers and units stuck in the mud, forklift and crane were always bogged down, the railway arches were freezing with an old oil burner to keep warm you couldnt see sod all it was so dark!!
Great pics germangeezer,lookng at the marathon cab,i remember berkshire vale transport bought a crashed marathon that came off of simons.They converted it from left to right hnd drive.When they took the air filter out it had half a skip of sand in it.Peter Barnet told me when he done the job with the atkinson he had an hammock across the cab with the rope over the roof as it was,nt a sleeper!He normaly wore a jean jacket with a big sheepskin collar an he would think nothing of getting under the truck if it broke down in all the mud or dirt he was a great bloke.When we were on sgh i broke down in henglo with my 140,Peter towed me back to vlissengen.We got as far as arnhem an we stopped,we were both tired but we had to catch the morning sailing so Peter said he would drive my truck an i drove his 110.I took the tension up on the chain an started driveing.I told Pete to keep the engine ticking over on my 140 as the propshaft was still on it but the silly sod put it in low range so im going 60 mph thinking he keeps touching the brakes but it was the box seizeing up.After about 15 mile the gearbox seized solid.He carried on with his trailer an i had to wait over a day to get towed back.Another of our driver,s dropped some tools off to me on his outwood trip so i had the prop off for when he returned.Peter had a plymouth barracuda car when he worked for sgh,he got the name barracuda when he was at simons.I remember when work was a bit slack jeff put some of his units on ocl at box lane doing containers,we were ment to have union cards,well we had one John Hunt (black john) me an about 8 other drivers all shared the same card.The shop steward was,nt going to argue with John so we got away with it.
all you si boys will remember this guy fritzroy ewart gladstone crick the best welder money could buy, jeff loved him so much he sent him on an all expenses paid holiday to pakistan!!!
CRIKEY 
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Those Simon’s welders must of clocked up a lot of frequent flyer points.
I remember being in the Mocamp in 1980 and some drivers were discussing why Simon’s had flown a welder out to Istanbul to do a job on a trailer.
Surely not a Mocamp Myth in the making 
.
jeffry always had a good reason steve!
boys do any of you remember this one by any chance? kiwi mark gave me the pictures after he stopped to help him dont know who the driver was though,
the aftermath circa 1978/9 saudi desert
boyzee do you remember peter barnetts brother john? he was always telling me he was dying of cancer but he had been known to tell a porky or two, just wondered if he was still kicking?
germangeezer:
boyzee do you remember peter barnetts brother john? he was always telling me he was dying of cancer but he had been known to tell a porky or two, just wondered if he was still kicking?
No sorry i did,nt know his brother,I have tried to find Lee Chase and Peter Barnet but we lost touch years ago.Its nice to talk about the old times,there was so many characters about then.Where ever you went on the ferrys or clearing somewhere you would meet someone you knew,now days no one seems to have time an the youngsters think you just an old geezer an hav,nt got time for ya.They don,t know what they missed!.
germangeezer:
jeffry always had a good reason steve!
Hi G.G., I could just imagine the defect report for that sent via a telex.
TO. Simon International London England STOP
FROM Londra Camping Istanbul Turkey STOP
Number plate bracket on trailer loose STOP
Please send welder a.s.a.p. STOP 
mushroomman:
all you si boys will remember this guy fritzroy ewart gladstone crick the best welder money could buy, jeff loved him so much he sent him on an all expenses paid holiday to pakistan!!!
.
Yes,but how many of us know what he was doing while he was there?
germangeezer:
ian this picture is of young chris curtin the lad who worked in the office do you remember him? i think that motor is your one that you took the photo of awaiting saudi customs inspection]
[/quote]
Paul,
I’ll have to take a closer look at some of my pics to check the reg.I’ve just spent an hour going through all my old passports to find the reg.,as in Turkey especially,your registration number was always put in.I have found that I am one or two passports missing.There is a gap in passport issues between 1977 and 1980 and all the passports I have were issued at about 18 month intervals,thats how long it took to fill one and therefore no vehicle registration numbers for the trucks I drove for Litcor International or SI.
It would appear there is a void in my employment between the demise of Chapman and Ball in 1978,to me starting for Expo Freight in 1981.
If my memory serves me right,I think I had two different F12’s.
The first one was almost new,when I had to fly out to Milan to bring one back when the driver,Billy Big Wheels,broke his ankle and was hospitalised.I brought her home and kept the motor,Billy was as sick as a parrot.
I don’t recall how long I had that or how I came to have the other one that Robin Pettit had previously doing internals in Saudi,without an air cleaner in,resulting in me having an engine rebuild in Graz on my first trip.
bestbooties:
mushroomman:
all you si boys will remember this guy fritzroy ewart gladstone crick the best welder money could buy, jeff loved him so much he sent him on an all expenses paid holiday to pakistan!!!
.Yes,but how many of us know what he was doing while he was there?
Ian, the original post was from GermanGeezer, I presume that the welder went to Pakistan to watch a game of cricket or something 
.
Regards Steve.
Ian i think that f12 in the photo was xmf 839T he also had xmf 840t and wml 410T and two very early s regs umd 30S and umd 31S,ps i think me and you know what fritz the welder was up to!!!
germangeezer:
Ian i think me and you know what fritz the welder was up to!!!
Paul,
Nudge,nudge,wink,wink!
You have a PM
bestbooties:
germangeezer:
Ian i think me and you know what fritz the welder was up to!!!Paul,
Nudge,nudge,wink,wink!
You have a PM
ORRR, I wish I had a P.M. 
Did Fritz The Welder have a room at the Mocamp during the first two weeks of June 1980, I did.
My unit was in Aydins having a head gasket fitted, now he was a good welder.
I remember that Nick Kelly was also there but i am not sure if he was on for Taffy Davis or A-Line at the time.
Regards Steve.
something would be the best description steve!! regards paul.
Paul, say no more, say no more 
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Really enjoyed reading and looking at the pictures of the old stuff,heres a cutting of the old Crusader…its from page 1 from the scrapbook,I dont think shes been mentioned in any of the posts 
Cheers Bubbs.
I’ve only recently discovered this website…it really is great!!
Anyway, I used to drive for Jeffrey out of Hopetown Street between March '75 till December '76. I don’t recognize many of the names you guys mention but I think that is because you’re talking about after Dec 76.
Casting my mind back, I can recall names such as;
Harry Johnson…worked in the yard.
Harry Levy…being jewish, he was very restricted in what runs he could do…just Turkey and Iran.
Bernie (zwei metres funf) german passport, very tall, liked american cars, drove one of the left ■■■■■■ marathons. Went on to work for Grangewoods.
Joe the Pole. Bad limp. Owner driver with a maroon 140 Scania.
Derek Gull (Snout). Used to smoke only Dunhill International. Also nicknamed “Our man in Istanbull” because it was difficult to get him past Londra Camping as he would get on the ■■■■ there.
Orhan. One of two Turkish drivers employed by Jeffrey at the time. Can’t remember the other one’s name. Drove one of the two F89 wagon and drags. I think they were actually Turkish Cypriots but I recall running with Orhan and it was a delight to travell through Turkey with him as the Turks thought that the Turkish Cypriots were like heros and were treated accordingly.
Eric Braid. Drove the MAN with that awful spring loaded column gear change.
Dale. Drove one of the F88 arctics
Alvin Yule. About my best buddy on Simons. He took over driving my 110 left ■■■■■■ Scania after I took on the Ford Transcontinental.
There were others but my memory has failed me to their names.
I got a job with Jeffrey after Howells and Reavells (Southall)went bust. I had been working for them for a short while (June 74 - March 75). Vehicles and paperwork were all very much in order with them so it was a real EXPERIENCE driving for Jeffrey. Boy, what a time!! Have lots of stories and some pics (if I can sort out how to post them).
Don’t know if anybody can remember me but one thing that might jog your memories was that for quite a number of trips, I had a Swedish girl travelling with me. Went off to Sweden at the end of 1976 and drove trucks up there until February 1981.
I just love this thread and the picture above is reminiscent of most haulage yards of the time. mud, ruts and scrap metal to keep you on your toes. Great stories too from some old hands.