• As regular readers know, BRS recently upgraded its livery
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to replace its brash seventies red, white and blue, with a simpler red/blue combination on a two-tone grey background.
But what, the Hawk wonders, was wrong with this earlier incarnation — the very epi tome of restraint and simplicity — an effect only marginally spoiled by the ungainly load lurking on the flatbed trailer behind?
PS: This BRS wagon of bygone days wins no brownie points for parking on a sports pitch. Is this what they mean by Green transport? • Public prejudice against lorries is rife, not least among those who expect their local supermarket's shelves to be full without wondering how the goods got there in the first place.
The 'Hanging's Too Good for Truckers' brigade have certainly found a champion in the Midlands Sunday Mercury. Under the heading "Just Fly by Night You Truckers?", columnist Ken Bennett launches this tirade:
The _frustrating closure of the Tyburn Road slip-road in the heart of Birmingham's Spaghetti Junction has become a running sore for travellers.
None, it would seem, are more annoyed than the wailing, hairy-armed members of the Transport and General Workers' Union.
Dennis Mills, the truckers' leader says . . . it's costing his drivers dearly. I'm sure he's right. But let me tell Mr Mills and his 30,000 brood something: I don't care if his truckers are stuck in jams until the wheels of their giant juggernauts turn to rust. Because, most of the time, .it's the lony drivers own brutish indifference to road users that causes the problems.
Drive down any motorway and you're likely to find a hulking 40-tonner glued to your rear bumper until you are forced to pull over to let him through. . . . and so on.
I'm pleased to hear that the West Midlands has beat the EC to the punch by allowing 40-tonners and I must applaud Ken's master plan — make all truckers carry their loads at night, "so they could fight it out between themselves on near-empty motorways". Brilliant? The Hawk's compliments to Jane Hare, of A&J Hare Haulage for sending in this cutting: "I feel Mr Bennett is just a little unjustified in his comments." Quite. • Raise your glasses, gentlemen, to the memory of Douglas Scott, designer of the Routemaster bus, who died recently aged 77.
But who could forget the Routemaster? — the youthful thrill of treating your latest flame to a ride on one of those shiny showoffs with real suspension . . . all, those were the days. In tribute to the late great Scott, my competition this week dwells on the first bus route. Here's the bus; the Elestions are:
LJ Who was the manufacturer?
O What was the route?
O What year was the route launched?
Answers on a postcard by the first post on Wednesday 28 November please. • The Hawk's competition to guess how many potatoes were carried by a 1915 Swiss Saurer continues to attract interest. A potato correspondent writes: Your article (CM 18-24 October) regarding spuds was especially interesting to one who has humped many a hundredweight around the fish shops of London.
Your correspondents' guesswork on the number of spuds carried was way out. Assuming one hag on top of each pyramid and one extra bag on each level, we can assume that .five levels would give 15 bags with five rows, or 75 bags.
Incidentally, the normal way of stacking in my day was across the vehicle rather than along it — this enabled the drivers to stand on the kerbside and drag all the bags to the side, avoiding the need to jump on the wagon for the middle sacks (always unloading a couple of tonnes off llw front to compensate for the lack of power steering!) I think that in today's safelyconscious world the lorry's load would be seen as decidedly dodgy.
A fiver's worth of thanks goes to Michael Hodson of Puddock Road, Warboys, Cambs; peel free to spend it on a slap up fish and chip supper (ouch — Ed).