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Relevant training
Page 18
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MR CROPPER ASKS if your readers have heard of TEC and the courses for technicians in the transport industry, which must include private and commercial vehicle servicing and repair.
These courses are not about to start. They have started in very many colleges throughout the country and they replace City & Guilds technicians cour'ses, which are being phased out.
The material in TEC courses is largely the same — the tech nology of vehicles has not changed overnight — it is the format of syllabuses, the assessment methods and the modular approach which are different.
The whole essence of TEC motor vehicle courses has been the result of extensive consulta tion between industry, RTITB, colleges, professional institu tions and other interested par ties and I personally have been impressed by the interest deve loped, the work which has gone into careful preparation, and the dedication of those determined to do the best for the industry and the young people joining it.
The relevance of the material in TEC courses is not in doubt.
Professional people have been consulted and look forward to the natural progression which must occur in both the technology of vehicles and the technology of educational methods. GEORGE JONES, Vice-President 1RTE, Paddington College, London W2
Full-frontal realities
I WOULD like to make clear an issue which is of significant importance to the transport industry as a whole.
In the past, drivers in the hire and reward sector of the industry have been at great pains to protect their customers' interests. The recent drivers' action has caused great concern in industry as a whole. Should this be a forerunner of the drivers' actions in the future, then undoubtedly industry will need to reassess and reappriase the methods by which it carries its goods.
This reality needs to be brought home to the workforce in the hire and reward sector. Unfortunately, as a country we do not like facing realities, but in the same way that the Japanese now have a bigger share of the world markets than the United Kingdom, so the balance will change in the methods of moving goods if a factory or a depot can be stopped by a haulage contractor who may be moving only a small part of that company's products.
Similarly, with the competitive state of industry, particularly in the retail trade and exports, it will not be possible just to pass on the additional costs as accounting calculations.
I always held to the view, and still do, that the haulage contractor has a responsibility to his customer to indicate ways and means by which costs can be contained through additional efficiency and productivity. These are not threats, but are the realities of life if British industry is to revive.
LEN PAYNE, Distribution director, J. Sainsbury Ltd, London SE1
Complete control?
NORMAL control or forward control, which is best? As a driver of a 7.8 gvt Bedford TK, I don't rate the forward control vehicle very highly.
Once I had to brake sharply and the vehicle swung around in the road, ending up almost facing the other way. It's very light at the rear end, backwards and forwards movement of the seats is limited — mine moves about an inch before it comes up against the engine cover, the gear lever is ridiculous and armaching to operate, there is little room between the steering wheel and the driver's knees, I have fallen out of the cab on more than one occasion because I caught my clothes in the handbrake and got my foot trapped between the clutch pedal and the part of the engine ncover under the driver's seat, the seats themselves are hard and narrow — give me the normal control any day.
P. PHIPPS, Reading, Berks
Dismay at Hestair
AS ONE of the founder members of the commercial .vehicle industry in this country coming back into the commercial vehicle market, we were rather dismayed to find that the wrong inference was placed (CM, March 16) upon our insertion on page 56 of the two-axle rigid goods vehicle tabulation.
The inference is that we fit the Perkins 6.354 engine and a five-speed gearbox as standard equipment and that, should you wish to pay more, you can have the Perkins T6.354 or Perkins V8.540 as an option. This immediately creates the impression that we have an underpowered vehicle which is struggling to -do its job, whereas we fit the Perkins T6.354 as standard, with a six-speed overdrive gearbox, thereby providing nearly 10bhp per ton, and a transmission line that is eminently suitable for a 16-ton application.
Since the 16-ton market covers one of the widest spectrums in commercial vehicle usage, it is impossible to have a specification to meet all requirements. Therefore, we have a lower specification of the Perkins 6.354 coupled to a fivespeed direct-top gearbox and a two-axle iii order to cover shortdistance, distribution work. When this specificatior called for we make an allowa from the list price. There are times where a higher specif tion is required, in which c the Perkins V8.540 is availal together with the six-spr overdrive gearbox and sini speed axle. In this way we we have the spread of requ ment needed in this most ci plex section of the market.
I trust from this that you understand our psychology ; therefore see how important that the normal specificatior the T6.354, six-speed overch gearbox and single-speed axl highlighted and shown a basis from which the other specifications spread. My wr is that an operator running thumb down the column brake horsepower against gr vehicle weight could easily w off our vehicle as not being c able of doing the job for wh he would buy a 1 6-ton vehic P. H. GREEN Hestair Dennis Ltd, GuHdford, Surrey.
0-licence exemption
I was interested in your art on the London company Mc (CM March 9). One thing wF did confuse me, however, the picture of two Ford 7.38boxvans, and the caption say that the company needs nc licence. As an owner-dri oper,ating a similar service cc you tell me why this is, beca when inquiring a b purchasing a similar vehic was told an 0-licence is es tial?
J. G. EDNEY, South Darenth, Kent
Mr Edney was informed corre when told he does need an 0-hc( for vehicles of this weight. (There certain exemptions such as vein being used by a local authority road cleansing.) Moves does, of cot hold an 0-licence and we regret the caption referred to said that company, which runs many veh under 3.5 tonnes gross plated we does not. — Ed.