stories
 

Hi Hilifta, i had the fortune to work with a cople of ex middle east drivers [not the cola cowboys] pioneers of road haulage a speciel breed at the right place at the right time.i called euro haulage ."the merchant navy on wheels" good and bad men able to think on their feet ,at boarders etc not scared of much,good boozers another important requisit not piss heads but good social drinkers..not the done think now,however we all had our weekend watering holes,whereever in europe you were,custom compounds.you would allways find brits,dutch ,danes ,germans .french, no east euros then.poles,etc.ps i was in Auckland 1962/3 on the ships..and usual ports,did miss one in lyttleton, put on the wellington ferry [wari---- something] 2 days later .rejioned ship.whoops.girls again.plus beer,

arluno or carissio
 

the sisters ithink was arluno i allways weekended at carriso,good showers last there in about2002 .safe parking that was the issue in the /my later years... .i never used the restarunt as much i was a bit of a cab cooker,i used a preesure cooker the reason was i was a fridge man,,double unsocial hours day and night,allways deadlines allways late,the problms where never ending if only i knew what a easier life i would have had if i had gone stright on to tilts but hey ho,
etc.i was known for feeding the lads,when not in a proper parking area that came later,,, It was 1980 when i did my first trips abroad,well locals really,holand ,belguim, crept into france a lttle bit only with the permitsas you know you never went anywhere unless you had the right permit.issued from newcastle.there were not a lot of companys doing euro then lots of owner drivers.. ,i was gently being led into the unknown in driving,and learning the paperwork,you never ever new it all.some distant frontier allways threw a crippler,and then you had to start looking and watching .what coloured bits of paper other drivers had got , who speaks english ,where do you get ,do you need one do you need a agent.it was endless somtimes.sorrry waffling

In the 1960s we used to take vehicles (in a boxvan) to Germany for testing.
We also carried all spares (including tyres) and had to return the used/broken pieces to England.
The customs at Aachen used to cause aggro as they were convinced we were importing new vehicles that we were going to sell in Germany.

Later, in the 1980s, I used to drive the test car down to Nardò (way down south in Italy) carrying spares as well.
The worst customs were the Austrians as they knew we were just passing through but always made life difficult, insisting on checking every piece listed on the carnet.

Then there were the trips to Italy (in the 1970s) loaded with concrete blocks as ballast. The Italians were puzzled as to why we were importing 'marble' into Italy.

When south of Rome we used to contact the local Cosa Nostra and pay them to guard the vehicles when parked overnight (otherwise our spare wheels and supplies of diesel would have disappeared). It was usually a young 'boy' in a Fiat 500 (sometimes toting a shotgun) that spent the night on duty.

testing cars/customs
 

Well capt.you were one of the first ,what a exciting job you had.did you use the brenner or the blanc.what cars were they not british leyland i bet.Aachen kept up there resistance to us brits untill the boarders opened,with a carnet-de-passage i bet they were swines.
if you were going east you had a T2L for your fuel ,all sealed up, all-so a load carnet god forbid you got the wrong boarders.i used to imagine what it must have been like for the british army in ITALYdriving butt clenching i bet..i remember seeing removel vans in aosta getting the works done to them when they should have had a clear passage..
i worked for a company whos boss and friend made loads of dosh taking racing tyres as hand lugggage on planes world wide as they would bend up[the tryes] no paper work..1970s. the swiss didnt need any lessons as being **** ---- they were classic. i once went the wrong road to como in the car lane at night from italy ,to transit swiss.world war 3erupted ,my fault i was empty, to load in france yes i knew the 10pm swiss ban but iwanted to first haha. hourslater iwas let through

i also transited swiss weighing 44tons legal from italy to denmark , if you used the train from 10ks outside como to mullhouse.its called the humpack..
driving a powder tanker for vos.

With that "handle" I thought you were an ex seafarer.
All the bush pigs have now gone with all the crazy security that we have nowadays. Haven't seen one for years.
Miss the antics the bushies used to get up to though, from falling down gangways and into the sea when pissed, to in one case, doing a complete strip on the dock as the ship was sailing at 11pm in the middle of winter. And to cap that one off, the old man had his Missus with him and she was looking over over the bridgewing. Great bit of NZ culture!.
Great laughs.

Mike

Hello to all

This is my first posting here so please be gentle.

I actually found this site through simply searching for a David Fowler..I was in a reminiscent mood and wanted to know what my previous bosses were upto.

I had the good fortune to have worked for him and found him a boss to look upto..he was fair and certainly didn't suffer fools and I can tell you, there were certainly many came his way during my time at Gatehouse Way.

ACH were indeed a family company..many of his long serving loyal drivers had indeed been there 20 odd years and upwards...surely that spoke volumes...many a transport manager could of learnt much from these people.

I could wax on about what good turns he, and his father did for there brood but, I will spare you the details. Needless to say, they were the tops in my eyes.

Welcome, Frankie - pull up a floorboard and join in.

Let us read your stories and maybe see some of your pictures.

ach
 

HI are you FRANKIE THE POLE.

Nah, im afraid not.....in those days, the only time you'd get a driver with a 'ski' on the end is if his father was an ex world war 2 prisoner of war.

Its a bit different now.....cant say I blame them..Id do just the same if I could improve my lot.

Cheers
Mark

Hi Mark,the only MARK I knew worked in the yard then the office, iwas threre 4times alltogether at the old yard in the village ,,over1970s through to 1990s David Fowler was no ones roll model if you worked for him you would know what a absoultBas---d he was..
his dad was ok. not him.dennis was as bad.1994 was the start of his downfall quote= say nothing,,plead guiltly,we will pay the fines...best fleet in europe at the time,but we all run as bent as could be.dare not say no.even all the old hands..on the avon job.etc