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1st August 1991
1st August 1991
Page 1
Page 1, 1st August 1991
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CODE OF SILENCE

• Who wants to be a snitch? Not road hauliers, it seems. North Yorkshire's trading standards chief in charge of vehicle weight...

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Law Lords support lorry ban hush kits

Every truck of 16.5 tonnes or more using London streets at night or at weekends will have to have air brake silencers. Last...

Rai'freight Distribution woos hauliers • A "streamlined" Rai'freight Distribution will

increase its links with hauliers to serve UK and Continental markets over the next 10 years. Railfreight Distribution's Future...

Tarmac calls m strikers to pay up

• Derbyshire tippermen who went on strike at Tarmac quarries last October have been told to pay the company £500 apiece and to...

Tax dodgers targeted

• Truck road tax dodgers face a massive police crackdown in a nationwide three-year campaign launched this week. The campaign...

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Red Star sends a report to the DPP

• Red Star has submitted a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions following an internal audit ordered by managing...

Four meat trucks torched in depot

• Four meat haulage trucks were damaged in an arson attack on Monday. The Masons Brothers vehicles were fire-bombed at about...

Panic Link boss jailed

• Panic Link parcels boss Eric Norman has been jailed for a year for causing death by reckless driving after killing a former...

Building tumbles • Hauliers are being hit hard by the

continuing slump in the construction market ; a survey shows this week. Building materials association BACMI says sales of...

Smith happy • Driving school boss Nick Smith has withdrawn

his threat of legal action against the DVLA over delays in provisional licence processing. He says he is now receiving...

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HGV failures fall by 3%

• The number of HGVs failing their annual tests fell by almost 3% in 1990/91, according to the Vehicle Inspectorate's annual...

World mail • TNT is linking with post offices in

Germany, France, Holland, Sweden and Canada, to offer an international timed delivery service. The parcels giant will own half...

Safe driver survey

• Truck drivers are among the safest drivers in the UK, behind women and the police, according to a survey of 500 road users by...

Operators encouraged to become informers

• Hauliers are being urged to inform on anyone running an overweight truck. North Yorkshire's trading standards officer Robin...

French letters • BR is considering setting up an express London to Paris parcels service,

NC deadline • Northern Counties' creditors have told the receiver to keep the bus bodybuilder trading until March.

Davison in 0-licence bid

• Former John Dee boss John Davison will make his first attempt to break back into haulage on 21 August when he appears at an...

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First 2429 rigid for Eire

• The only Mercedes-Benz 2429 rigid in the UK or Ireland has gone into service with Dublin-based haulier Blueflite, which is...

4x4 45s go into service

• The first 4x4 conversions of the Leyland Daf 45 Series by Tamworth-based firm J Roberts are to go into service with a local...

White out • Volvo is to close its White GMC

truck assembly plant in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. It currently makes 12 vehicles a day.

Russian steps • Engine catalyst maker Carbonflo has registered its

product in the USSR and is looking for a distributor there.

1991 Eurotest ERF fuel figure

• In last week's Commercial Motor an incorrect fuel cornsumption figure was stated in the ERF advertisement featuring the E6.21...

Autumn launch for VW Polo

• The new VW Polo van is due to go on sale this autumn. The van is based on the Polo, which was launched at Birmingham last...

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Big TL is on ice

• A 32-tonne version of the AWD TL is not dead but has been put on ice until the market recovers. AWD managing director...

Raising the roof

• MAN is to launch a high-roof F90 cab later this year or early in 1992. The company was considering having one available this...

Stratos for Seddon 4x2s

• Seddon Atkinson is now building 4x2 rigids using the Strato cab, Four J-reg sleepercabbed Stratos plated at 23 tonnes are...

Now you can sleep with your 45 Series

• Don Bur subsidiary Longton Commercial Vehicle Services has produced a sleeper-cab conversion for the Leyland Daf 45 Series,...

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Striking workers sacked

/ Trailer maker Craven Tasker has been accused of union bashing after sacking striking workers at its Scottish assembly plant...

Merchant ahoy • Pandoro, P&O's Irish freight operation, reopens the

Liverpool-Belfast route this month with the launch of a RO-RO ferry, Merchant Venture, which is capable of carrying 50 vehicles.

Operators hit by WHL liquidation

/ Hauliers are among creditors owed nearly £90,000 following the winding up of Lancashirebased WHL Container Transit last...

Fast Lane into Europe

/ The Lane Group has teamed up with Paris-based freight forwarder Logfret to launch Eurolane, a daily European distribution...

Profits fall / Lex Service's first-half profits have tumbled to

£4.2m from S.:23.3m for the same period last year. The company, which owns contract-hire firm Transfleet, says that the...

Healthy work / United Transport Logistics is talking to regional

health authorities in a bid to win distribution, warehousing and transport contracts within the health service. It says it...

Asda moves to backloads

• Supermarket giant Asda claims to have cut its distribution costs to below 3% of turnover — and it plans to reduce them...

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New deals for ANC team

IN Parcels carrier ANC's standardised franchise agreements are now in place with the 40 independent operators which form the...

Flying high ▪ Iveco Ford dealer Dagenham Motors has won

a five-year contract to maintain more than 800 British Airways support vehicles at Heathrow Airport, The 24-hour,...

Asda way ▪ CSL Truck Rental of Whitwood, West Yorkshire

has stepped up its supply of vehicles to Asda distribution centres in Yorkshire with an order for 32 Volvo FL10 32-tonne...

More work for Wilcox

• EM Wilcox is recruiting six additional welders to cope with new orders. The company, based in Market Deeping, Lines, was...

Lynx Swans into the paper work

• Lynx has won a contract to distribute paper products for Swan Mill Paper company of Swanley, Kent. The contract, which is...

Eezee Euro shuts two more depots

• Eezee Euro Services has shut depots in Grays and Felixstowe, leaving only one depot open out of the nine it took over when...

Potter Group wins Speedlink deals

• Yorkshire haulier Potter Group has picked up extensive rail freight business for its Ely rail siding following the closure of...

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Dowsett found not guilty

• A driver, who hired his vehicle to his employer Hallett Silbermann, which specified it on its 0-licence, has been found not...

Recovery costs are ruled unlawful

An attempt by RH Stevens (Containers) to deduct the cost of recovering a vehicle from a former driver's wages was unlawful,...

Free wallthart 1111 In this issue of CM you will

find the second wallchart in our Law on the Wall series. It includes oil the facts and figures on weights and dimensions....

Insecure charges dropped by court

• Wakefield magistrates have thrown out charges alleging that Thomas Harper, a partner in Selby-based Aldred 81 Harper...

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Dalgety holds back decision

• Scottish Deputy Traffic Commissioner Ramsay Dalgety is to consider disqualifying Andrew Wilson, a director of Inverclyde...

Serious charges case passed on

• Leigh magistrates have decided that a series of charges against Hugh Joseph Carberry, arising out of the use of stolen...

Driver was not to blame

• The company secretary of London-based haulier JR Range was cleared, and one of its drivers given an absolute discharge, when...

LEGAL

DIRECTORY • Commercial Motor has compiled a nationwide directory of specialist transport lawyers, expert witnesses, consultant...

Requests ignored

• Worcestershire operator Ronald Calder has had his 0-licence revoked, for disregarding requests for information and using his...

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FSV saves Dormobile

• Minibus and ambulance manufacturer Dormobile has been rescued from the receiver and is already being primed to enter the...

Mercedes doubles its 0.404

• The Mercedes-Benz 0.404 coach, which will make its debut at the Kortrijk fair in Belgium this October (CM 25-31 July), will...

Robert Wright is to diversify

• Minibus bodybuilder Robert Wright & Son (Coachworks) of Ballymena is diversifying into full length PCVs, with a more rounded...

Stagecoach signs • Stagecoach has signed the contract to take

over the Scottish Bus Group subsidiary Fife Scottish after a long battle with the management/employee buyout team.

Job losses • About 230 drivers at London Forest Travel

are to lose their jobs in November. They have been on strike for two weeks over a revised employment package. The Transport &...

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Revamp for the Astravan

• Vauxhall has released the first details of the new Astra, which will form the basis of a new Astravan towards the end of the...

More deals on Vauxhalls.

• Vauxhall is offering further sales incentives in addition to its "cashback" deals on Nova and Astra vans (CM 11-17 July)....

Sleeper pods for Express work

• Zanussi has taken delivery of three specially built Peugeot Talbot Express Luton vans with a novel sleeper pod over the cab....

...and new deals on Toyota range

• Toyota has followed other light CV manufactures by offering low-rate finance deals on its commercial range. Hilux pickup...

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Men in the vanguard

Both Ford and Renault have recently appointed new LCV sales managers. We spoke to both men about their future plans. • Ford is...

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On the RAC A ndy Butler of recovery operator South

Hanningford Motor Engineers tells the Hawk that his firm has sponsored a car for this year's RAC Rally in November. "We hope...

Go west young man in search of work

ews reaches the Hawk that the good old US of A is short of truckers. Employers represented by the American Trucking...

By popular demand: the Sausage H'Otter hits the road

ress releases fall on the Hawk's desk like confetti at a wedding but most fail to excite. However, now and then one grabs the...

Veterans corner

ack by popular demand! Well, this picture is anyway, showing our former leaderene waving farewell to No 10 in the days when she...

Gas tap

illagers in Lytchett Matravers, Dorset were surprised to find petrol coming out of their water taps recently. Water board loud...

Every one's a winner

Id he Hawk is shelling out copies of Shell's Britain on Country Roads to three readers who are no fuels when it conies to...

Hats off to Billy

1 orry driver Bill French has cured his baldness by having hair drawn on his pate by a tattooist, according to an article in...

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BUSINESS MOVES Air ride sales

• Granning UK is to market Granning and Lynx air suspensions and axles following Granning's takeover of Americanowned...

Whittle grows

• Preston-based removals firm Whittle Movers is expanding its head office after acquiring land in the Bamber Bridge area of the...

EVENTS Market days

• The Freight Transport Association and HM Customs & Excise are organising a series of one-day regional seminars on the...

Trail for Belgium

• Trailer 91, an exhibition of trailers and bodywork, takes place on 22-26 November at the Kortrijk Halls, Kortrijk, Belgium....

STANDARDS

I ADL I ADL makes mark • Maidstone-based Applied Distribution (ADL) has won BS5750. The company handles third party contract...

PUBLICATIONS Hauled together

• The Road Haulage Association has published the 1991/92 RHA National Directory of Hauliers. This edition replaces individual...

SERVICES Free fit

• ERF dealer R and A Scott Auto Services of Gainsborough, offers free fitting on all factoryreconditioned Cummins engines....

Looking for clues

• The Forensic Science Service, formerly part of the Home Office, has been hived-off into an independent agency and is now...

Hot link

• Scania is introducing a 'Linkline' telephone number from 1 August for its 24-hour emergency service. The new number, (0800)...

SCANIA

Scania (Great Britain) Limited Chunnel departures ▪ British Rail has released its first draft timetable for intermodal...

PRODUCTS Black to white

• A reflective vinyl film which allows vehicle liveries to appear black in daylight and shine white in vehicle headlights at...

Ozone-friendly Mistral

• Carrier Transport Refrigeration of Warrington, Cheshire, is using environment-friendly HCFC 22 refrigerant in all its Mistral...

ROAD NEWS Dearer roadwatch

▪ The cost of calling AA Roadwatch will rise to 36p a minute cheap rate and 48p at other times from September. Contact 081-954...

ROADWATCH

Motorway works • Work has begun to widen junctions 5 and 8 of the M20 near Maidstone and will last 18 months. There will be a...

Servicing the M40

• Esso will build a new motorway service area at junction 10 of the M40/A43 at the Ardley Interchange in Oxfordshire....

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It's no accident that Leyland Dal's revised 45 Series has

arrived well in time to steal the new Cargo's thunder. But does it deliver the goods? • Remember The Prisoner"? "I am not a...

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Under the hammer

Name: Robert Reynolds Job: Used truck dealer Chosen best buy: Foden 4400 Auction price: £12,000 • "Bargains galore" is the...

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ONO AMMAN

This month Jim Duckworth finds out what the police are allowed to know. • Taking people to court is part of the job of police,...

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BANKING

CM looks at how to approach your bank manager for a business loan. • Few people relish a visit to the bank to ask for a loan,...

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Light work

• Most HGV operators complain about cowboys cutting their rates. But does anyone stop to think about light haulage operators?...