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That was the year...
Page 13
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CM was launched in 1905; for our centenary year we're bringing you stories from years gone by. This week we're back in 1929 and 1979.
1929
The Wall Street Crash heralded a global economic crisis. In Chicago Al Capone showed how businesses could survive the recession by making a takeover bid for a rival operation which we remember as the St Valentines Day Massacre,And the world said hello for the first time toTintin and Popeye
Rubbish survey
Refuse collection operators were indebted to Rex Bundy of Shekvoke and Drewry for helping them calculate their running costs more accurately: he compiled a table showing how the average weight per cubic yard of household water varied from town to town: Batley and Worksop were heaviest at 7cwt (356kg):Kendal was the lightest at 2cwt (102kg)
Early demounts...
An operator told CM how he managed to make a profit on a contract to move 220-ton loads of grain from ships to a warehouse; a distance of some 300 yards. He fitted an SD Freighter two-tonner with three demount bodies "which were capable of being automatically discharged from the chassis and remounted theron by the unaided effort of the driver".
... and early forklifts
"Another advance in the utilization of improved plant for the handling of inward cargoes has been made by Elder, Dempster and Co, the well-known steamship-owning concern of Liverpool".The pictures accompanying this report showed lightweight electric trucks "incorporating a new attachment for elevating and stacking miscellaneous goods".They were the forerunners of modern forklifts
1979
Margaret Thatcher became the UK's first woman Prime Minister, beginning 14 years of Tory rule. Lord Mountbatten was blown up by the IRA. The Shah of Iran fled leaving Ayatollah Khomeini in power; Poi Pot's regime collapsed in Cambodia Alien and Apocalypse Now hit the cinemas and The Tam released All Mod Cons and Setting Sons.
Lawless hearts
CM reported on a conference into the growing problem of vehicle vandalism and load security in, of course, the West Midlands. Delegates were told that practised thieves attacked the front rather than the back of the lorry as it took longer for the missing goods to be discovered; productspecific liveries were to be avoided.., and drivers should never leave the keys in the ignition.
No sexism, please!
A correspondent backed the idea of recruiting deputy TCs from the ranks of the fair sex because of their "common sense, discretion and intuition in the application of licensing regulations" while women were less likely to be "severely logical" about rules than men.
Fuels rush in
Despite a desperate fuel shortage up to a third of CVs were running unladen on UK roads. CM staffers took to the motorways. running spot checks to prove that "despite clearing house operations and backloading arrangements British hauliers could still be wasting precious fuel which is running out fast in some places..."