Do you want to comment on any stories in Commercial
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Motor? Does someone in the industry deserve a pat on the back, or a dressing down? Drop us a line at Commercial Motor, Room H203, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS or fax us on 0181652 8969. Alternatively you can e-mail us on Miles.Brignallrbi.co.uk.
DOOMED
Formai
Although I do not enjoy saying "I told you so", I did tell you so.
The Transport Forum was doomed from the outset seen by the DOT as little more than a delaying tactic designed to keep the road haulage industry quiet until the next Budget was due. If I were in the RHA and FTA delegations, I would tell the Government to find other, more useful ways of wasting people's time.
Now we see the Government attempting yet again to lead road users around by the nose by "experimenting" with road tolling devices, the cash thus generated being "ringfenced" for road expenditure.
What the hell is VED for What does Gordon Brown do with all the revenue he collects from consumers of diesel, petrol etc? Surely it can't all go on scuba-diving holidays for his friends in high places! Transport Minister Helen Liddell is considered the human face of a government that doesn't understand the road haulage industry. They do understand, only too well. They understand that lorries are a Bad Idea and should be priced off the roads. What they cannot get their minuscule minds around is the fact that the Continent is just across the Channel, full of lorries ready, willing and able to take on the work left by bankrupted or disillusioned UK hauliers.
John Prescott seems to think that packets of fish fingers and boxes of washing powder should catch the bus to get to the supermarket shelves where bus-travelling customers will go to buy them. That way, he can have the M1 and the M25 to himself.
If the road haulage industry has any sense (unlikely) or any bottle (even less likely) it will refuse point blank to cooperate with these new electronic tax-raising schemes by boycotting all areas (Edinburgh and Westminster) where trials are to be carried out.
Local traders, businesses, offices, shops, etc in affected areas will not be slow in explaining to Prescott and his crowd of fellow loonies the merits of road pricing when their supplies dry up. Why does Trans-Action, an entirely laudable pressure group, waste its time and energy in providing the Police and vehicle inspectorate with excuses to prosecute hauliers and drivers?
Why are they so naive as to imagine that demonstrations, lobbying of MPs, etc will have even the slightest effect on politicians and senior civil servants, all of whom are so divorced from reality that they may just as well take up residence on Venus?
The only message that will get through to these timeserving, paper-shuffling wastrels is the complete nonavailability of goods and services in their shops and offices.
John Benton,
Moxley, West Midlands.
DRAWBAR DETAILS
The article "Win lose or drawbar" (CM22-28 July) has one fundamental error that needs attention. This is the phrase "the locking pin can last anywhere from nine months to seven years..." The locking pin—or to use the correct terminology, the lock/indicator, is an integral part of the coupling's automatic locking mechanism and as such is fundamental to road safety. The lifetime of the lock/indicator is that of the coupling mechanism and the coupling bolt (pin).
What the article should say is "the drawbar eye support ring can last anywhere from nine months to seven years...". The drawbar eye support ring carries the drawbar eye in the coupling and takes out the vertically induced wear occurring in the connection—particularly relevant with centre axle trailers. Correct servicing according to the Rockinger instructions frequently result in the Rockinger drawbar coupling outlasting the life of the truck to which it is fitted10 years or longer.
Toni Deo,
Rockinger.
POOR RESPONSE
An open letter to the Road Haulage Association: I feel that I must put into writing my utter disgust at the attitude that you have when asked a few simple questions.
I arrived in my office this morning to find a fax on my desk asking for support in a day of action. I then telephoned you to ask questions about this day. Much to my disgust I was told "if you don't like it then don't come." Before I had a chance to make a comment the phone was slammed down on me.
While I am under no doubt that your staff are under pressure, they are not the ones whose families are under threat from this Government.
Your member of staff was not talking to somebody who goes along for the ride—it was my truck that was on the front line on the M6 go-slow and lam the one going to court for this action. I am a founder member of Trans-Action and a long-time member of the RHA.
I personally am going to give you as much support on Monday as you have given to all members of Trans-Action in the past—which is nothing. I will not be pledging any vehicles to the Monday day of action.
JS Cook,
JS Cook & Son UK Traction, Corby, Northants.
DIESEL CRUSADE?
I heard on my wireless this evening that our Government has launched a new crusade on behalf of the British public, which includes a comparison of prices of consumer goods which are, they tell us, far higher in "Rip-off Britain" than in the rest of Europe.
'Can we now, therefore, expect the cost of diesel to be high on their list of priorities for such urgent investigation and remedial action?
Perry,
Bromyard, Herefordshire.
MILLENNIUM WORKING
The article in this week's CMon working over Christmas and the New year has already been addressed by our company. All our agents have been contacted and we have had a response to the effect that we as a company will be giving a service during the period.
We at Nationwide Transport Breakdown Services are in full operation with a backup of service agents.
SW Brawn,
Nationwide Transport Services.