bird's eye
Page 45
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view by the Hawk 0 Happy families
Like many delegates leaving the excellent FTA conference at Scarborough last Friday afternoon I wasn't sure whether I should feel elated or depressed. Outstanding among the sessions on the last day were Nigel Despicht's presentation on the EEC and E. J. Robertson's exposition of the Industrial Relations Act; the former warmed his audience with inspiring visions of British transport leading the way in Europe, but Mr Robertson brought them down to earth — and perhaps below ground level — when he detailed just a few of the mind-bending problems which employers and managers may face in industrial relations as a result of the Act. I noticed Len Castleton of Metal Box Co shakinglis head sadly at some of the revelations.
But there was one cheerful (?) spot. Pointing out that the Act did not protect the rights of close relatives employed in a firm, Mr Robertson listed some of the people whom the Act defined as "close relatives" and remarked that, perhaps significantly, it did not include mothers-inlaw.
LI Night service
Going to Holland on business recently I took the opportunity to travel on the Norfolk Ferry Service which runs from Great Yarmouth to Scheveningen (as recorded in CM three years ago) and whose transport executive is our old chum Fred Walker.
The sailings of the line's roll-on ferries are concentrated in the dark hours, and it was almost eerie to see how an apparently sleeping freight yard suddenly produced men and machines and became a hive of activity as soon as the m.v. Nicarao tied up at the quay.
Turn-round was very quick, and I was impressed by the exceptionally thorough control of trailers which is exercised in the freight office, with every one's location meticulously tabulated on a big wall chart. The offices at Yarmouth are being extended, but with forethought: they are so designed that by knocking out partitions they can be transformed into more warehouse space. The existing warehouses are obviously very busy and a new office block is planned.
0 Unseated
I've just heard a salutary true story about a wayward youth who was caught literally by the seat of the pants. With a younger friend he appeared at Bradford magistrates' court last week and pleaded guilty to wilfully damaging a Corporation bus seat. It cost him a £9 fine and £1.80 damages.
An eagle-eyed conductor put two and two together when he noticed that a 14in. square of leather was missing from a seat on the upper deck and then noticed that the younger of a pair of lads on the bus had trousers patched with leather which looked strangely similar. It was!
0 Driving image
"HTS have revolutionized the old idea of transport as an ad hoc, pick-this-up-anddeliver-it-for-me affair and replaced it with a new, dynamic, service-orientated concept."
A phrase not to be dismissed with a cynical smile—especially when it appears in a most impressive colour brochure which Ralph Hilton Transport Services has just published. There's plenty of chat these days about improving the image of road transport, but much less effective action, and the HTS brochure has just the professional touch to put haulage on a par with any other modern industrial activity. As an image-builder — with obvious commercial value in customers' hands—it would take some beating.
0 Closing the gaps
Colleagues on our associate journal Motor have just published an interesting summary of the motorway completion programme for the coming winter. A chunk of M4 is due to be opened very soon, and the big stretch between Maidenhead and Junction 15, south of Swindon, will be open at the turn of the year. Weather permitting, the section of M5 south of Stroud should be carrying traffic early in December, giving over 270 miles of continuous motorway from Bristol to north of Carlisle.
The M6 link from just east of Coventry to the junction of MI is likely to be in use by the end of this year but we still shan't have the final Midland Motorway link completed, because there are delays in the opening of the 7-mile stretch of M6 just north-east of Birmingham. It really is incredible how the vital link has dragged on and on; it may be early spring before the gap is closed.