Bird's eye view
Page 41
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by the Hawk 3uxton bound
-ding to Bill Morton, the East Midland tHA secretary, the third Tipper OperConference at Buxton in May is going a lively affair: the old, yet constantly opic of rates is again raising its ugly Bill Farnorth, the North Western ;rn) area RHA secretary, is °rice in charge of arrangements for the talks"—and of course CM will be
3raceful
a "Graceful evening" at the annual dinner-dance in London recently with Grace in the chair, Harry looking he ladies and Jim in his best engineeranner helping to keep things moving. er Bessel, MP for Bodmin, the chief congratulated the Association on its 'ement over the past 25 years, particuts its officers, with one exception, are lunteers. Members were loud in their of the one paid officer. secretary John .y, who came in for a great deal of as a result of his successful recruiting
>uccess story
Parry, who has set up what looks :ing a very successful transport trainhool for McVeigh Transport Ltd. at am, is soon to start all over again. He next month to his native North Wales the RTITB.
'o1/ow me men
Bradshaw of J. Bradshaw and Sons Lincoln, is built in the services mould )n't ask the men to do what you n't do yourself" is his attitude. He s sending his men to the McVeigh ; school but before doing so he f is going to enrol. There's no truth in mour that chief instructor Colin Large fg to take a week's leave to coincide [arold's arrival.
'hew!
Id saw about "where there's muck money" should perhaps be turned way round these days. Gerald F owl)1' Parliamentary Secretary, told the Commons last week that about 22 tons of sulphur dioxide are discharged into the London atmosphere by motor vehicles every day. And total emission of gas into London's air in 1967 was about 380,000 tons—a daily average of around 1.040 tons. Don't ask me how they weigh it, or calculate it. I'm too busy trying not to breathe it.
* Safety standards
What's a reasonable rate of accident in a fleet these days? The idealist and perfectionist would suggest a "nil return-, I suppose, but one must be realistic. I ask the question because the figure of three blameworthy accidents in two million miles of trunk work by Bowyers (Wiltshire) Ltd., of Trowbridge, seems a pretty remarkable record to me. They tell me that last year they lost only 47 operating hours out of 120,000 because of breakdown or bad weather—breakdowns occurred only once in 75,000 miles, which is another statistic for some operators to ponder on!
Five of the company's long-distance drivers have just gained awards for 10 years' accident-free driving (J. Bluitt, R. Cooper, E. Hunt, F. Southern and N. Smith) and they got £100 apiece for it. In all, 37 awards and £775 cash went to drivers in the latest presentations.
* Telling 'ern first
A tribute was paid to Commercial Motor —"and other technical journals"---at the
Transport Association meeting at Harrogate, when J. T. Low, MoT chief vehicle examiner at Leeds, said they often managed to tell the regional staffs of the Ministry details of regulations that were coming up before those staffs actually received their own copies.
* Hoist!
I gather that an operator who wrote to CM recently has got more than he bargained for. He criticized the way a piano was shown being handled during a removals session at the RTITB's Motec training centre. Wishing to reply privately, rather than in print, to explain why the method shown was considered to be quite satisfactory, the Board consulted its files—only to discover that he was not listed on the register.
Result? The correspondent has received an explanatory letter and a levy claim form!
* Lancashire flats
Is Lancashire as warm-hearted as ever? 1 ask because I've received a plea from the transport organizer of Padgate College Rag Committee for some vehicles to put under the floats students are building for their Rag Week. They're planning a procession to pass through the centre of Warrington on Saturday June 21.
Any offers should be made to William Barlow (sounds like a guarantee of safe conduct), Padgate College of Education Students' Union, Padgate, Lancs.