Ni Everything was going well for Essex-based international operator Peterlea
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Trucking. It had survived the onslaught of the recession and was just recovering from the effects of the Gulf War when tragedy struck.
One of its drivers was killed making one of the first post-war deliveries to Kuwait. The culprit, a Syrian truck driver, was allegedly travelling on the wrong side of the road; it was dark and he did not have any lights on.
"This illustrates just how perilous haulage to the Middle East can be," says Peterlea's owner, Peter King. As soon as you reach Dover the differences to domestic haulage start to show through. You become everything from a clerk to a diplomat at the border crossings, where you are dealing with far more paperwork than you do in the UK." King runs up to two trucks to Kuwait and Germany each week. He pulled out of domestic work last year, put off by the UK's appalling rates.
Today about 80% of his work comes from the London-based freight forwarder, the Orient Freight Group.
One of the benefits of working for a reputable company like Orient is that it pays up to 50% of a trip's cost before the driver leaves, says King.
"But there is little advantage with Middle East haulage profitwise," he adds. In 1990 the firm turned over £750,000, but King, who has since sold two of his six trucks, reckons that it will be less this year.
"The main advantage of international work, is that a vehicle is on a minimum of two weeks work — in the case of Kuwait a month — so I don't have to worn
about finding work daily," says King.
But it's not just where the next job is coming from that King and his four drivers have to think about. One of the main considerations is the vehicle, which has to cover about 12,000km on a round trip to Kuwait.
King operates three 347kW (465hp) Volvo F16s and one 246kW (330hp) Mercedes 20.33 tractive unit, which he has just bought to replace the truck which was written off in Syria last September.
Ile believes that by sticking to these two marques he will not have trouble getting hold of parts outside Britain.
King says it is vital to steer clear of sophisticated mechanical devices like ABS arid high technology gearboxes, as Middle East countries are "not geared up to repair them, and the average driver finds them difficult to deal with.., the more basic the truck the better." Most of King's drivers have a working knowledge of mechanics and can speak a smattering of foreign languages, he says. "International drivers must be innovative, they have to deal with unforeseen problems on the spot themselves." Religious days, for example, can cause unexpected hold-ups, but because they fall on different days each year hauliers cannot easily plan for them.
When King's drivers leave on a trip they always take a survival pack with them. It includes 1,500 litres of red diesel (sealed by Customs at Dover) to use when the truck gets out of Europe; King reckons if it wasn't for red derv, which is illegal in Europe, he would be out of business.
Dery is difficult to obtain in Yugoslavia and it is too expensive in Hungary and Turkey, he explains. But Peterlea drivers never take belly tanks of red dery through Saudi Arabia, because the Customs officials are prone to slashing the tanks open to check for drugs. He has even encountered a live sheep being slashed by over-zealous Customs officers looking for drugs at the Jordan/Saudi border. King instructs his drivers to leave the tanks in Turkey.
Other essentials include cash to pay for tolls, transit taxes, telephone calls and breakdowns; a month's supply of food, and plenty of cigarettes and alcohol to placate the authorities.
"Marlboro cigarettes in Turkey and Kent in Romania are a currency of their own," says King. "Often police only stop you there because they want a packet of fags."
Most of King's drivers are issued with two passports: if a passport has been sent off with a visa application the driver can still go on another trip.
Home comforts are also essential to international drivers. The Peterlea vehicles come with a bunk and a cab kitchen, which includes a sink, cooker and refrigerator; drivers often take along a radio, television and video.
He reckons that these comforts are little enough compensation for being away from the family and for the risks the drivers have to take.
"On home life you miss out totally, and that is the main consideration for most people," says King. This was illustrated by Hal Roscoe's death. The 35-year-old driver from Bradfield in Essex was planning to emigrate to Canada with his wife and three daughters. He was killed on what was to be his last trip to the Middle East.
King and Roscoe's wife are still waiting to be compensated for the accident; something he reckons will take years to sort out. King is applying for £20,000 compensation for his truck, £5,000 for the trailer and £5,000 for the cost of sorting out the aftermath, King has collected his written-off Volvo F12 which was rammed by the Syrian truck; he plans to use the D-reg artic for spares.
The trailer needs extensive repairs. King set up the business with a single 32-tonner. after breaking away from his father' haulage firm where he worked as a driver after leaving school.
He still handles the odd run himself; earlier this year King went on a job to Kuwait and since then he has taken three loads to Greece. King has recently moved to a yard where his tractor units and six tilt trailers have been parked for the past few years; this is a step he hopes will stop the business encroaching further on his home life.
I=1 by Juliet Parish