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OPINIONS and O UERIES

3rd April 1942, Page 32
3rd April 1942
Page 32
Page 35
Page 32, 3rd April 1942 — OPINIONS and O UERIES
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Food and Accommodation for Drivers

THE suggestion, made by Mr. Edward Thorpe in "The Commercial Motor" on March 13, that roadtransport associations could well run rest houses especially for drivers and mates, is one that will receive the whole-hearted support of many workers. You do not need to do much travelling by lorry before you are far too closely acquainted with the foul surroundings that seem to be regarded as the inevitable accompaniment of transport halts.

Last summer " The Commercial Motor" published an article dealing with a well-known and well-run house at Boroughbridge, showing how well drivers responded when they were offered something better than usual, but however good the owners of rest houses may be they have a poor lookout unless the Ministry of Food gives them a fair break. One hesitates to use Germany as an example, but in a book recently published in this country it is stated that German lorry drivers are among those who get double rations, as compared with ordinary civilians.

One of the most notable instances of an association supplying cheap and simple, but nevertheless clean, accommodation is the Youth Hostel movement, in which Is. a night ensured (and I suppose still ensures) a decent bunk. That case is not quite on a par with road-transport houses, but working on a non-profit basis there seems no reason why a clean bed should cost more than 2s. nightly. Incidentally, in the Youth Hostel blankets were supplied, but members brought their own cotton sleeping bags in place of sheets, a custom that the road-transport world might well adopt. Food, however, is the greatest problem.

The figures regarding canteen meals published in "The Commercial Motor" are of considerable interest in proving what industrial workers generally are obtaining through this system. In some notable cases certain canteen facilities have been provided by big factories for the transport workers who are serving them. Could not this arrangement be extended? Certainly something should be done.

I can tell you where to get a good lunch in most towns for about '3s. 6d., an evening meal' for 6s., or a bed for 5s. and upwards, but our crime is that we are not in the money! If we could have our allowance increased there would be fewer complaints heard regarding drivers; food and accommodation.

I am quite ready to believe that considerable efforts have been put in on our behalf, but most of us are anxious to see some definite achievements in the very near future. NORTHERN DRIVER. Wakefield.

THANK you for giving the prominence you did to my article, " Give Drivers a Square Deal," in your issue dated March 13. I have felt very deeply about this matter for a long time and had been going to try to get it opened out before. I think, on reading your excellent leader in the same issue, that things may tend to get better for the man on the road.

My object in writing was not to penalize any one set of people, but to try to have a new start made, to provide facilities as set out for the transport workers, and, on reading your later editions, I have a feeling that something is going to be done. Regarding the hostels I mentioned, there are two or three which might be taken as examples, one belonging to Alfred Bell, Ltd., at Friern Barnet, just off Tally Ho I Corner, the Border Oil Co., Carlisle, and one at Boroughbridge, Yorks—Kelly's Transport Café. The first two I have used myself, and have found them to be quite good ; the last mentioned is quite close to my home, so I have had no experience of this one, but, judging by the number of vehicles there every night, it must be all right. All these places are of the type required.

In the current issue of " The World's Carriers," mention is made of the difficulties which the road-transport worker encounters, and stress is laid on the associations and the Minister of War Transport, along with the Minister of Food, as a powerful combination which should have it in its hands to see that the present conditions are altered.

Mention is also made that many of the cafés are sold out early in the evening, which is quite true; also that many of them display notices that they close from Saturday to Monday—so what happens to the week-end driver? I do not know.

still think that the industry would be able to undertake this itself by providing its own accommodation. Surely we have men with big enough brains to grasp this and see what a big thing it could be made into.

Thank you for the trouble and time you gave to this matter. EDWARD THORPE. Ripon.

THANK you, Mr. Thorpe, and many others who have 1 commented on my letter signed" Fairplay "in " The Commercial Motor" dated February 13.

Mr. Thorpe's scheme for the accommodation and feeding of drivers is a good one, but we have in the industry quite a few black sheep, who make it bad for good men. I refer to both operators and drivers.

First, we will consider the good operator, who is strictly honest, and does his best for his men; he sometimes gets a man who will falsify his time sheets, idle over pin tables, milk fuel tanks, etc. This, naturally, turns a good master into one who trusts no driver, and so it has gone on until many innocent drivers become tarred with the same brush.

On the other hand, there. is the good, honest man who works for an unscrupulous operator, who cannot make his haulage pay unless he twists the concerns for which he hauls (this was particularly so in the sand and ballast trade before the system of calibration was introduced). Some of the haulage trade was built upon such an insecure foundation, and so each fails to trust the other. I speak with knowledge of the two sides, having been both, and am up to all the usual dodges.

Now is the time to get this all straightened out. We ate both getting a fairly good living to-day. Let us co-operate and get the job done, and so take the stigma off the lorry driver. Some people seem to think that we are the scum of the earth.

Let us get that drivers' association going. Insurance concerns and operators could help in this. After all it is the drivers who do the practical operating and who have the responsibility of receiving loads and delivering them. As regards the hostels like Trust Houses that Mr. Thorpe ivrote about; if a man who was dirty in his habits was reported to his employers most probably nothing would be done about it; if, however, we had a driver's association we could suspend or expel him, also bring the bad operator to book, thereby cleaning up those differences between driver and operator.

A transport supervisor on a big ordnance factory site once insinuated that we were not to be trusted when, actually, he was to blame because of his lack of knowledge in his supervision. He was a square peg in a round hole, and we have a lot of them in the industry to-day, estate agents, insurance brokers, bakers, grocers and all sorts, who have taken good jobs in the haulage industry. Some are good at it, but they are very few and far between, like the cafés.

I strongly believe that foremen and managers should be taken from the ranks of drivers. There are plenty with brains, and they should be given the chance to prove it It would be a great help if drivers would send in lists of good cafés and rest houses. There still are quite

a few. E. CARTER. Lichfield.

GIVE DETAILS WHEN ORDERING SAFETY GLASS WOULD you mind inserting this letter in "The ifY Commercial Motor " in order to help not only us but also users of safety glass? It may save a lot of paper by eliminating letter writing to query orders.

Some orders reach us in a rather incomplete form, in that they do not contain all the information necessary to enable us to execute them accurately. The following are essential details;—.

.(1) The quantity; (2) the description; that is, laminated sheet, laminated plate or toughened plate;' (3) the thickness; (4) edge finish, i.e., as cut, arrised, rough ground, polished ; (5) the dimensions in the case of square or rectangular pieces; (6) special instructions as to limits, if any, on dimensions.

Finally, templates for special shapes should accompany the order whenever possible, unless a sketch can be drawn giving the exact dimensions and showing notches and dimensions of notches.

London, S.W.I. J. W. URBAN,

for Tyneside Safety Glass Co., Ltd.

POWER STEERING GEAR FOR THE HEAVIER VEHICLES AMONG the "One Hears" in your issue for March 20 is one in which it is stated that a military pan suggests as novel the use of power-steering for heavy industrial motor vehicles. Such a suggestion is, however, by no means new.

On more than one occasion I have proposed the appli

cation of hydraulic or pneumatic steering gear, especially in connection with the heavier types of commercial vehicle.

Moreover, in the course of a technical review of one of the commercial motor exhibitions at Olympia, several years ago, I specifically advocated and propounded this method of control, as a much-required improvement. I am still of the same opinion. JOHN ARMSTRONG. Bournemouth.

This correspondent is not quite correct in his statement that Major Beaumont (who, incidentally, is a well-known consulting engineer) suggested that power steering for heavy motors is novel. The latter merely indicated his belief that it would soon come into being on a larger scale. This remark was contained in an Institution paper. We have known of the actual application of power steering to heavy vehicles for some years. One of the bigger Renaults was shown equipped with such a device at the Paris Salon of 1938, whilst previously we had seen it on large German vehicles at the International Motor Show in Berlin. The first Tanks, of about 1916, were, in a way, power steered, for their tracks were controlled individually by brakes, which made them pivot around the braked track under engine power.—ED.] LOOTING NOT CONFINED TO ROAD TRANSPORT AFEW days ago I real' a leading article concerning looting from. vehicles. This is particularly prevalent on the railways, and, from figures given in the article, has increased in one case by 70 per cent, and in another by 400.

As a transport manager I have often commented, in conversation with road-transport colleagues, upen the ease with which road vehicles can be driven into Certain railway depots, loaded from trucks and driven away, no interest being shown by railway employees.

Recently, as a test, I sent a garage hand to a. wellknown London railway depot to take a load from a truck on the siding. I handed the driver a piece of plain paper upon which was merely written the truck number —and that in pencil. I said: " Drive in, go along the 'roads,' find your truck, load your vehicle and bring it back to the works." The garage hand seemed puzzled and remarked: " But don't I have to see anyone about it? " " Oh, no," I replied. `-` You just do what I have told you. ,Nobody will interfere with you." Well, he brought the load back, and his remark was (excluding the accompanying adjectives): "I can't make that out.

-• I had a good mind to get a load of coal for the old woman." Such slackness was bad enough in pre-war times. Now it is asking for trouble.

Incidentally, I may add that I have read "The Commercial Motor" regularly since 1912, and obtained my present position through your journal some 16 years ago. J.E.

London, E.10.

Tags

Organisations: Ministry of Food, Youth Hostel
Locations: Wakefield, Berlin, London

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