It is my last day of work on Friday but I check my timesheet and it shows lots of hours owed to me therefore taking Friday off will not be a problem. It's just likely to be a bit of a sudden goodbye to my team. So on Thursday I go into work and let everyone know. I don't know how she does it but Caroline B somehow has organised to get my leaving card and present together a day early and everyone gets together in the kitchen so say good bye. Its a very strange feeling after four years, they are a lovely bunch and have been very generous and give me some cash, coffee and vouchers showing Oxfam donations they have made (what not Viva Palestina!!!!! ;) ) . During the afternoon I hear from Babu again, he now says he does not think they do want me to take the vehicle any more but he's waiting for one of his group to return who he wants to discuss it with. There's still a chance so I decide its best to continue as if I am going and get ready in case. There is quite a lot to do at work to finish things off so I end up staying in the office until almost ten in the evening. Luckily I'm there with Amy who is working late when we both leave and start to walk towards my car I first realise the car is now locked in the car park due to the hour and I also don't have my jacket or any keys. I must have either left them at Civic Centre offices where I went earlier in the day or in the boss's car who I got a lift with. Thankfully Amy invites me to crash at hers and we both get in knackered and share a beer, chocolate, crisps and a good chat before a welcome sleep (comfy sofa bed).
Friday's first mission is to try to find missing jacket and keys. I head to the Civic Centre in Enfield and up to the relevant floor - not there. I leave a message for the boss on his mobile. Then I have nothing much to do so I go to the Civic hotdesk area where I can still log on to the computers and make the most of it by putting my cv up on a website that recruits for Multi-Systemic Therapy programmes. At around 11.30 I am just finishing my cv when the alarm goes off in the Civic centre and the entire building has to evacuate. At the same time I hear from the boss - thankfully he has my jacket in his car and he is not far away from where I am so I can pick it up in an hour. It turns out the alarm at Civic is because there was a call made to the Youth Offending Service by someone claiming to have put an explosive device in YOS offices and Civic centre. Whilst evacuating I bump into Barbara A from our Panel and we go for a cup of coffee until the drama is over. During coffee time Babu calls again and says the mission is back on so this is great. By 1pm I have my jacket and keys back and head home to pack for the trip. I am a bit stuck for a co-driver as Joti would not be able to get back in time for work and other volunteers have had to pull out for various reasons. I text Darryl who is a friend who has supported Gaza campaign in the past and attended my Feb convoy event - I know he is self-employed and therefore may be able to be flexible. After around half an hour he confirms he's able to come - brilliant! Having been on convoy in December I know I will only need a few essentials - notepad, pens, torch, soap, toothbrush, light jacket, couple of t-shirts, socks, headtorch, passport, driving licence. Everything fits into a mini-backpack. Then to quickly catch up with nearest and dearest in London before set off tomorrow - meet Jess for a couple of small beers and an early night.
Saturday morning I have to get some keys cut and buy a Europe satnav which should make all the difference for the journey, with these accomplished I meet Jess for a bite to eat and then head to Euston to get train to Bolton to pick up the vehicle. I'm there by 5.30 and meet with Babu and Imran for final organising.
Friday's first mission is to try to find missing jacket and keys. I head to the Civic Centre in Enfield and up to the relevant floor - not there. I leave a message for the boss on his mobile. Then I have nothing much to do so I go to the Civic hotdesk area where I can still log on to the computers and make the most of it by putting my cv up on a website that recruits for Multi-Systemic Therapy programmes. At around 11.30 I am just finishing my cv when the alarm goes off in the Civic centre and the entire building has to evacuate. At the same time I hear from the boss - thankfully he has my jacket in his car and he is not far away from where I am so I can pick it up in an hour. It turns out the alarm at Civic is because there was a call made to the Youth Offending Service by someone claiming to have put an explosive device in YOS offices and Civic centre. Whilst evacuating I bump into Barbara A from our Panel and we go for a cup of coffee until the drama is over. During coffee time Babu calls again and says the mission is back on so this is great. By 1pm I have my jacket and keys back and head home to pack for the trip. I am a bit stuck for a co-driver as Joti would not be able to get back in time for work and other volunteers have had to pull out for various reasons. I text Darryl who is a friend who has supported Gaza campaign in the past and attended my Feb convoy event - I know he is self-employed and therefore may be able to be flexible. After around half an hour he confirms he's able to come - brilliant! Having been on convoy in December I know I will only need a few essentials - notepad, pens, torch, soap, toothbrush, light jacket, couple of t-shirts, socks, headtorch, passport, driving licence. Everything fits into a mini-backpack. Then to quickly catch up with nearest and dearest in London before set off tomorrow - meet Jess for a couple of small beers and an early night.
Saturday morning I have to get some keys cut and buy a Europe satnav which should make all the difference for the journey, with these accomplished I meet Jess for a bite to eat and then head to Euston to get train to Bolton to pick up the vehicle. I'm there by 5.30 and meet with Babu and Imran for final organising.
Babu shows me round the truck. They spent last night packing the items into the vehicle - because they were doing this outside his shop and it was late apparently someone called the police who came to investigate in case his shop was being burgled! At Imran's we make copies of the detailed customs manifest list, photocopies of essential documents like log book, passport etc.
We also try to work out how the tachometer works so I won't get a fine in Europe for not following the drivers' hours rules. By the time we have done this and gone for delicious hot food at a nearby restaurant it is 11pm and I need to get back to London so I can set off in the morning. I follow Babu and Imran to the motorway and wave off. As I go to change gear the gearstick comes off in my hand!! But it goes back on no problem. The vehicle has 6 gears so once travelling Ican stick it in the cruise gear quite comfortably. It does occasionally slip out of this gear it seems but it is nothing major. I will have to park the truck outside the low emission zone as it is over 10 years old 7.5 ton and this class is now banned in town. This shouldn't be a problem as I can park it next to the station in Cheshunt which is easily accessed by train from liverpool st. I realise I am not going to make it to London before 3am and by then I will have missed public transport into town. I ring Tufty and he is a star and says he will meet me - I have to meet him to make sure he gets into my flat to get his tools out as well. So at just gone 3am I make it to the empty car park meet Tufty and go home to pick up what he needs. It turns out I might be able to say hello and goodbye to a few people who are at a big birthday party in Dalston where he is going - so we both go there and I see lots of buddies for an hour. Then its time to go home and sleep for a few hours before setting off.
8am and two hours sleep later its time to get going. I meet Darry at Liverpool St station and we head to Cheshunt, jump into the cab and after filling up head towards Folkestone setting off at about 10 - using satnav for the first time is a novelty. What I have noticed this morning is that I haven't worked out the tachometer correctly - it has not registered my journey at all last night. It the services I ask a man who's just filled up a pick up if he knows any thing. He tries to explain but either he's telling me conflicting advice or its not sinking in. I try again with the tacho paper. Its really clear and its a smooth run until on M20 we are selected by police motorbike to take part in a VOSA spot check.
8am and two hours sleep later its time to get going. I meet Darry at Liverpool St station and we head to Cheshunt, jump into the cab and after filling up head towards Folkestone setting off at about 10 - using satnav for the first time is a novelty. What I have noticed this morning is that I haven't worked out the tachometer correctly - it has not registered my journey at all last night. It the services I ask a man who's just filled up a pick up if he knows any thing. He tries to explain but either he's telling me conflicting advice or its not sinking in. I try again with the tacho paper. Its really clear and its a smooth run until on M20 we are selected by police motorbike to take part in a VOSA spot check.
I am quite confident we should be ok as the vehicle has just been MOT'd and serviced - and I am a new expert on the tacho..... However when the inspectors have a look at the vehicle it seems there may be one or two problems. I show the inspectors the thick file of paperwork and explain to them what our trip is about and the deadline to get to Turkey. First the tachometer man has a look and sees that the paper has not been recording correctly, secondly the nearside inside tyre on the back seems to be punctured, thirdly we appear to be overweight from the weighbridge slip. Hmmmm. The tacho man goes off to consider, the tyre man issues me with a prohibition notice - until the tyre is fixed I'm not allowed to continue. As luck would have it there is a mechanic lurking around the car park - how convenient... and how busy he must find himself having to deal with the issues that may be arising in the car park on this sunny VOSA check afternoon. We get into the back of the vehicle where there is a tyre - however this one does not appear to be in excellent nick either and its not on a rim. He makes a call and checks with a colleague about wheels they have and goes off to pick one up. He also works out that the weighbridge slip appears to have recorded the overall weight twice therefore in fact we are not 16 tons we are 8 tons - which is fine. The tacho man comes back with some good news - because our vehicle and contents is 'humanitarian aid' we are exempt from all drivers' hours restrictions in the EU. This is great because it would have been really fiddly to have to try to use it on this journey - and it doesn't seem to be working either. They give us the piece of paper that explains that we are humanitarian aid and exempt from EU rules - fantastic. There is a slight panic when the tyre VOSA inspector says he is leaving at 3.30pm and the mechanic is not back. Then he offers to come and meet us to inspect after hours so we can get moving! Wow more fantastic.
While waiting for the fixing to get done I chat to the police officers who are sympathetic to the situation in Gaza. One of them has a daughter who is doing psychology so we talk about that and I suggest she might enjoy youth offending work. We also talk about The mechanic returns, the tyre gets changed and we are signed off. A couple of hours delay but it is good overall as otherwise we would have been fiddling with a tachometer all the way ax Europe plus if we had not detected the puncture we could have easily had another blow out in Europe but more seriously and with much more expense.
So on the road again we get to Folkestone and get into the freight office to buy a ticket - I ask about getting the invoice stamped for the medical hardware a charity in Bolton has bought so they can prove export and claim VAT back. It seems this cannot be done at the Channel Tunnel freight office but they advise we go to Dover if we really want the proof. It is worth it for the £700 or so they could reclaim so we go to Dover to a customs agent to process this piece of paper, getting charged £25 for the privilege.
While waiting for the fixing to get done I chat to the police officers who are sympathetic to the situation in Gaza. One of them has a daughter who is doing psychology so we talk about that and I suggest she might enjoy youth offending work. We also talk about The mechanic returns, the tyre gets changed and we are signed off. A couple of hours delay but it is good overall as otherwise we would have been fiddling with a tachometer all the way ax Europe plus if we had not detected the puncture we could have easily had another blow out in Europe but more seriously and with much more expense.
So on the road again we get to Folkestone and get into the freight office to buy a ticket - I ask about getting the invoice stamped for the medical hardware a charity in Bolton has bought so they can prove export and claim VAT back. It seems this cannot be done at the Channel Tunnel freight office but they advise we go to Dover if we really want the proof. It is worth it for the £700 or so they could reclaim so we go to Dover to a customs agent to process this piece of paper, getting charged £25 for the privilege.
Finally onto the Channel Tunnel freight train at around 6pm for the short dash across the sea.
It feels like we have not got very far in one day. I decide we are going to have to drive straight through to Ancona without stopping if we have any chance of making the ferry so we start off with me driving. The stereo doesn't work properly and we give up on that. We set the satnav and it gives us a route through Switzerland into Italy. The roads are clear and the satnav indicates we should get to Ancona port late morning. However as we drive along the eta is getting later and later obviously as we are slower due to size. It is going to be tight.
During the night Darryl and I swap shifts in driving and sleeping for two hours each and by 6.30 am we have reached Basel border with Switzerland. Due to being in a lorry we have to go through the freight section and we look pretty hilarious in a 10+ year old ex-refrigerated van which is only 6.5 m long amongst all the new Scania road trains. I have to take the paperwork into the offices on the border to explain the situation and find out what we have to do.
It feels like we have not got very far in one day. I decide we are going to have to drive straight through to Ancona without stopping if we have any chance of making the ferry so we start off with me driving. The stereo doesn't work properly and we give up on that. We set the satnav and it gives us a route through Switzerland into Italy. The roads are clear and the satnav indicates we should get to Ancona port late morning. However as we drive along the eta is getting later and later obviously as we are slower due to size. It is going to be tight.
During the night Darryl and I swap shifts in driving and sleeping for two hours each and by 6.30 am we have reached Basel border with Switzerland. Due to being in a lorry we have to go through the freight section and we look pretty hilarious in a 10+ year old ex-refrigerated van which is only 6.5 m long amongst all the new Scania road trains. I have to take the paperwork into the offices on the border to explain the situation and find out what we have to do.
The Swiss customs man is very helpful but indicates there may be a problem on Italian border due to the Italian customs requiring a 'Transit Form' for any vehicle wishing to cross Switzerland without stopping because they are not in the EU. Therefore because I will have technically crossed out of EU then back into EU so apparently this is a problem. Anyway he helpfully stamps all of the paperwork in terms of the Customs manifest and sets us up to travel across Switzerland, he asks if it is all humanitarian and second hand which I confirm it is - therefore he says we should be ok. He also takes a deposit of £650 from my card and promises this will be refunded onto my card at the other end. The whole process takes about an hour and a half because we had to record mileage and register before crossing Switzerland. The Swiss customs guy maybe didn't know what the border security or services would be like.....but then again maybe he did because he had a little smile when he sent us through....
Everything is going smoothly until we try to leave Switzerland at Chiassi where we arrive at around 11am. We attempt to drive out of the exit for cars and empty vans. The security stop us and ask what we have in the van. I get out and explain that we have humanitarian aid destined for Palestine - the Italian customs lady will not hear my explanation that the load is non-commercial and they request us to go to the freight customs processing area. So duly we do this, when there it appears the Swiss customs man was right. I go from Swiss customs to Italian customs officers in the same building several times with our paperwork. The Swiss officer says he does not have a problem letting us through from Switzerland but it is the Italian customs that are requesting a 'Transit form'. The Italian customs say it is a Swiss problem because they are not in the EU but despite this they have allowed us through. We apparently need a Transit form to give to Italian customs. This should have been set up by an agent in UK or somewhere previously. There may be a company that can assist us in a building near the freight area. I go to investigate and after a considerable amount of messing about including being told the wrong floor, no boss being there and the assistant making a call I am told that the charge for doing the form here will be €350!! I thank them for the kind offer and decline. I return to Italian customs and explain the situation again, 1. We have paid to come through Switzerland, 2. Swiss customs have passed us through, 3. the cargo is all humanitarian and second-hand/ donated, 4. we have a ferry to catch, 5. we cannot afford €350. Finally they go away and discuss the situation for ten minutes. I am then advised that my best bet is to go and make my case at the head office of Italian customs at Chiassi. This is a 7 minute walk away so duly get there with paperwork and story in hand. I am met there with sympathetic ears and the man in charge asks me a bit about the vehicle - everyone has a good look at the customs manifest and he comes up with a plan. He will personally take us through a smaller crossing in the town, he says he is sorry but the original customs officers at the non-commercial crossing should have let us through, in future to avoid any issues he advises go to get something called a Carnet from an agent in London. By 2.30pm we are through the border and on the way to Ancona. We have missed all the ferry options by now though.
Its straight through to Ancona and we are in town by 8.45pm. Locate a youth hostel for €17 and park up the lorry in the dock area. We grab some very decent pizza before crashing out exhausted after what has been in effect a 36 hour journey so far.
Its straight through to Ancona and we are in town by 8.45pm. Locate a youth hostel for €17 and park up the lorry in the dock area. We grab some very decent pizza before crashing out exhausted after what has been in effect a 36 hour journey so far.
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