1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188 
No magic carpet to Persia!
Page 55
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THE LOG OF A LONG, LONG HAUL
SOBERING tale for any gold-seeking entrant into international haulage who thinks that all the pioneering has been done:— A little while back, Evan Cook, of Peckham, sent three loads of furniture to the British Embassy in Tehran. The semi-trailers were picked up by Evan Cook's Continental agent, Dinoir. This is the driver's 32-day diary.
Day 1—Departure from Le Havre.
Day 2—Travelling to Italy—passing through French and Italian frontiers.
Day 3—En route to Yugoslavian frontier; passing through Italian/Yugoslavian frontier. Day 4—Yugoslavia—passing through Yugoslavian frontier (out) and Bulgarian frontier (in).
Day 5—Journeying through Bulgaria; passing through Bulgarian frontier (out) and going into Turkey; phoned the British Embassy at Istanbul regarding the tax to be paid. Instructions: "Wait at the customs. We will phone London".
Day 6—Still waiting for instructions from the British Embassy at Istambul. No action (Turkish national feast).
Day 7—Still waiting at the customs at Kapiku!u and still phoning the British Embasi;y.
Day 8--Met the chief customs officer and again phoned British Embassy; they had not receive I an answer from London. Still waiting in customs.
Day 9--Talked again with customs chief and phonec Istambul and Ankara.
Day 10—Still waiting at customs—for payment of tax.
Day 11—Talked again with customs chief and phoned once more to embassy; waiting for telegram from Istanbul customs; multiple attempts but still stuck at customs.
Day 12—Still waiting for telegram from lstamb JI.
Day 13—Telegram arrived at last; departure from Day 14—On towards Iranian frontier. Day 1E—Still moving towards Iranian frontier; two tyres of the semi-trailer punctured; rain; road in bad condition! Day 16—Passing through Turkish frontier (out); passing through Iranian frontier (in); in cusloms at Persia; waiting for papers till next day. Day 17—Still waiting for papers; departure to Teh -an at night. Day 1,3—On towards Tehran; arrival in customs; nform embassy. Day 19—Waiting all day for customs clearance of lorry. Day 20—Waiting for clearance until 1 p.m.; to embassy: unload goods at embassy. Day 21—Out of Tehran; repairs to trailer; put oil in tractor; on towards exit frontier. Day 22—Passing through Iranian frontier (out); passing through Turkish frontier after payment of Turkish tax ($385): departure at night. Day 23—On through Turkey. Day 24—On through Turkey; arrival at night at the Bosphorus. Day 25—Passing across Bosphorus; went to embassy to pay tax back ($385); passing through Turkish frontier; passing through Bulgarian frontier; on through Bulgaria. Day 26—On through Bulgaria; passing through Bulgarian frontier (out); passing through Yugoslavian frontier; on through Yugoslavia. Day 27—Passing through Yugoslavian/ Italian frontier. Day 28—Loading at Riva Del Garda; to Milan to complete trailer loading. Day 29—Completed trailer; put in TM; departure from Milan. Day 30 & 31—On through France. Day 32—Trailers back on board ship at Dunkerque.Tags