Hello Patrick
Yes that is correct it is Lenny Peacock, he started with them from the beginning of the Mammoet and Peckston joint venture in the 70,s operating out of Teesside. That is him in the FTF in first photo. Second photo is another FTF and scammell for you. He really enjoyed the work and was invited last year to Mammoets offices in Schiedam as a VIP guest as part of some celebrations of Mammoet and being such a big worldwide company ,nice to think that they do remember where they came from, and the people that got them there.
Regards
John
jshepguis:
Hello Patrick
Yes that is correct it is Lenny Peacock, he started with them from the beginning of the Mammoet and Peckston joint venture in the 70,s operating out of Teesside. That is him in the FTF in first photo. Second photo is another FTF and scammell for you. He really enjoyed the work and was invited last year to Mammoets offices in Schiedam as a VIP guest as part of some celebrations of Mammoet and being such a big worldwide company ,nice to think that they do remember where they came from, and the people that got them there.
Regards
John
Indeed, that does say something about a company if they still remember the ones who’ve worked for them. Especially if you bair in mind of how big their operations are… Really nice gesture towards your uncle I reckon. I’ve been in their yard once, some three years ago, there’s really enough to see like.
And again, some cracking pics there mate, feel free to post some more 
Cheers, Patrick
Right, coming back to certain trips that have made quite an impression, here’s another one…
I shall try to be as accurate as can be…
Things started on a Thursday, when I was given the task of loading the engine of a dredger at the IHC works in Holland.
Destination was some exotic place called Ploce… and that didn’t sound French to me at all…
And it wasn’t, since that particular place was to be found in Croatia…
Now I’ve never been to that country before, but it didn’t sound that bad, apart from traveling throughout Germany and Austria that is…
Anyway, loaded the engine on Thursday, did some other job on the Friday and then I was of for the weekend.
So being fresh and all, returned on Monday and set of toward that “far away” destination…
Things went smoothly in Germany and Austria (now, there’s a first one) and eventually I’ve reached the Austrian/Slovenian border.
Had something to eat with a colleague who was on his way to Grosuplje with a CAT digger. After a good laugh we’ve returned to our lorries and had a good rest.
Following morning took me to the Slovenian/Croatian border, where things got a bit…er…less smoothly. The day started with some halfwit who thought I was going to overtake the queue, well I was sort of, or so the pilot told me, but I had to go to the coach park, which was at the same side as where the cars were going, because the lorrie parking wasn’t really designed to take wide loads…
So after a minor collision and “thorough” investigation by the border police I eventually parked up at the coach parking.
Then it was time to get the paperwork sorted, and with some help of a Turkish driver, all that was done in just one hour… it never seems to go that fast if you’re going to Switzerland like…
After a cup of tea, the Croatian pilot turned up, and I was off once again…or so I thought…
What’s the width of the load, he asked, 3m50 I replied, then we’ve got a problem he then replied. Somebody at your office cocked up like, they’ve said you were only 3m wide…
In the route we’ve to take there’s a tunnel, if you’re over 3m wide, they have to stop the traffic that’s coming from the other side, 'cause it’s just a two lane tunnel… right, so how long does it take to sort things out and get another permit, I asked. Well, bureaucracy and Croatia don’t really mingle that well together he then replied and took of…
So there I was, stuck at the border, alas, things could have been worse right, facilities and a restaurant were just some yards away…
Then all the lads who’ve loaded the other parts came past and asked why I was still there, fortunately for them, their permits were all right, so after some tea they got on with the job…
After two days the pilot came back, with the correct dimensions on the permit and police informed for blocking the traffic at the tunnel.
So I was on me way once again, still not knowing that the worst thing was yet to come…
From the border towards Zagreb was all quite a newish motorway and I went further on towards Split, passing the tunnel was just a matter of minutes, was all very well organised.
And then somewhere between Zagreb and Split, the pilot told me over the cb that there was some sort of problem and that my colleague’s weren’t able to go any further, it was all a bit vague of what happened but within 30 minutes it was quite clear that we couldn’t get any further then the tolbooth just before entering Split.
What happened was that the route we had to take was damaged due to some light earthquake. And a colleague was stuck in a village because he couldn’t get it round a tight corner, mind you he had an overall length of some 40m…
So, we’ve dropped the trailers the following morning at that tolbooth and went looking for the others that were stuck.
We found them in a village called Omis, on the coastal N8 and at the end of the village there was a tight corner but if they removed a lantern post or one of the concrete blocks, it should be able to get round that corner. But the following problem was that just after Omis the road was closed for everything heavier then 3.5t due to that quake… and the local authorities weren’t really keen on helping us either…
So we’ve gave the office a ring to find out if there was a plan B… and we soon discovered that there wasn’t such thing. Only thing we heard was, we’re trying to think of something, in the meantime try to enjoy yourselfs lads!
As it turned out we were stuck there for a week, got friendly with the locals, went up the mountain to visit a ancient ruin, got nearly killed whilst descending (steep hill, nearly 15% loose gravel), we reckoned that was easier than the climbing up, that killed us nearly due to lack of a trained body…
We got invited to have a drink at his place by some old guvnor, who for some odd reason thought we were Germans… (don’t mention the war)
And after some strong stuff ( some home made vodka, I didn’t touched it though) the old guvnor thought it was a good idea if I was to marry his daughter… right, time to go lads!
Eventually there was a solution, they’ve booked the ferry that normally sailed between Zadar and Ancona, took the ferry a day or so to get to Split, but eventually we were on the move once again.
We all got onto the ferry ( we were the only ones aboard) and the ferry took off towards Ploce, a journey of some 5hrs.
With the end in sight we got to Ploce docks, got of the ferry and after some 300 yards or so clocked of for the day.
We got tipped the following morning, but not after they had to find the crane driver, who disappeared strangly enough…
But finally we all got tipped, and went back towards Slovenia, but not after getting fined for driving on the N8 that was still closed for HGV’s, we had to pay the enormous amount of £5 for not respecting the HGV ban…
All in all it took us 2 1/2 weeks, not that bad eh…
Cheers, Patrick
Nice one 
going on a paid adventure, I like it.
Cheers
Oily
oiltreader:
Nice one
Cheers
Oily
Wasn’t that bad, still get nightmares though about having to marry that lass
I overtook fleet Nr 297 last week in France & Nr 302 yesterday also in France. Just as a matter of interest…
Geoffo:
I overtook fleet Nr 297 last week in France & Nr 302 yesterday also in France. Just as a matter of interest…
Problem with a company that is as big as v.d. Vlist is that I haven’t got the faintest idea what marques those numbers resembley to, nor do I know who drives them…
But cheers anyway for the trouble of putting it on here mate, much appreciated
Cheers, Patrick
I’ve been working the past year for Amsterdam based haulier Multiwheels, nice little firm with some proper wagons (DAF) and a lot of variety workwise… Just wasn’t for me though, so I’ve switched back to v.d. Vlist.
Majority of the work was Germany-UK v.v. bound, with some side steps towards Spain and Portugal.
Cheers, Patrick
Due to technical failure I was given the “shunter”, one of the best DAF’s I’ve ever driven, never missed a beat 
Nice pics Patric! Looks like a interesting and nice job! How is the “new” job going?
Dirty Dan:
Nice pics Patric! Looks like a interesting and nice job! How is the “new” job going?
Hiya Danne, and cheers for the compliment mate 
Feels like I’m back home again if you know what I mean
But honestly, I must admit that I’ve missed the handling with all those machines, it’s a bit rougher as well and that just suits me fine…
Will post some pics of the “new” lorrie soon.
That’s the only downside by the way, that I can’t drive me old DAF anymore, if you’re used to that (cab and gearbox wise) a Volvo is entirely something else… but on the upside of things, the engine pulls like a train
Cheers, Patrick
Spotted 2 v.d vlist scandia’s this afternoon just outside Cardiff (South Wales) … Both in convoy and they looked awesome together !
Reflect Detailing:
Spotted 2 v.d vlist scandia’s this afternoon just outside Cardiff (South Wales) … Both in convoy and they looked awesome together !
Hiya,
I believe that they are down there with 6 lorries, all heading to a windmill farm, apparently there’s more to come in that area.
Cheers for “spotting” the lads
Cheers, Patrick
Yea they seem to be going crazy for wind farms down here at the moment, it’s possibly the new wind farm near port talbot as they’ve closed a favourite mountain bike trail of mine to build it
Reflect Detailing:
Yea they seem to be going crazy for wind farms down here at the moment, it’s possibly the new wind farm near port talbot as they’ve closed a favourite mountain bike trail of mine to build it
Can’t tell you for sure mate, I try to keep as far away as I can from that windmill crap, always something wrong with it, or you can’t reach the building site, or they don’t tip ya because it’s too windy (isn’t that the point of putting up a windmill in the first place…) let alone all that health&safety ■■■■■■
Only thing I know is that the lads are keep going back and forth with those things, up north (Scotland) Midlands, the south, and Wales…
Another one from the “good old days”
