AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

1st November 2001
1st November 2001
Page 1
Page 1, 1st November 2001
Close

Page 6

NO ACTION Plans to curtail the working hours of workers

including drivers of off-road vehicles have been put on hold for five years after a vote in the European Parliament, during a...

DRIVER IDEAS Increasing respect for drivers, developing role models and

industry champions, and sharing best practice on training are among the FTA's recommendations in its report, Solving the Skills...

FUG. PAPER The RHA is preparing to launch a paper

called Fair Play on Fuel. Towards Parity with Europe, in which it supports moves to create fair conditions for hauliers. More...

DUTCH ROUTES Stena Line is to launch two extra weekend

sailings on its Humberside-Hook of Holland route. The service features a crossing from Killingholme at 07:15hrs with a sailing...

TOLL FEAR Hauliers may have to pay tolls of up

to £9 on the new Birmingham Northern Relief Road when it opens in 2004, according to the GMB union.

MAZE ALERT A tanker driver narrowly averted disaster at a

Brighton petrol station when he noticed his vehicle was on fire. The blaze was safely extinguished.

F. 1 i.J.1(11

In our story "T&G slams Ford over TUPE regs" (CM11-17 Oct) we incorrectly stated that the United Road Transport Union had been...

Tribunal criticises TC Simms in ND 0-licence judgement

ii by Cliff Caswell Eastern Area Traffic Commissioner Geoffrey Simms has been criticised for failing to carry out "the correct...

Rugby and TNT deny operational problems

• Rugby Cement and TNT have refuted claims by Rugby's last remaining owner-drivers that the company has lost a significant...

Page 7

P&O denies driver pay dispute is over

• A claim by the Transport & General Workers' Union that the pay dispute between 90 drivers and P&O Trans European is set to be...

Level field for livestock

• British livestock hauliers hit by the foot-and-mouth outbreak received a piece of good news this week which could help level...

Stowaway fine verdict soon

by Lucia Cockcroft A High Court judge has this week postponed his verdict on the action brought by hauliers and drivers over...

Whiplash transporter driver sues

A truck driver left disabled after a crash in 1997 is suing car transporter giant Axial for about £250,000 damages after...

Page 8

Mont Blanc Tunnel to reopen in December

• by Guy Sheppard Serious congestion in the Alps following last week's fatal blaze in the St Gotthard Tunnel has prompted a...

The cost of time...

"The Working Time Directive changes things so fundamentally that it has to be made clear to customers that you can't just...

Cash boost to find drivers in the North

• A regional development agency is to help fund four recruitment fairs as part of a drive to revitalise haulage in the north of...

020 8652 3689

We like to hear the stories readers think we should be following. CM is happy to preserve the anonymity of readers who provide...

Page 10

T14,0 demands 30% more for 48 hours

• by Guy Sheppard Union leaders are demanding that the pay of up to 50,000 drivers in the hire-and-reward sector rises to...

Upping the ante to retain drivers

• Hauliers are trying to combat chronic driver shortages by introducing pay rises well above inflation, according to a new...

FTA wants more time

• The Freight Transport Association is upping the ante in Brussels as it desperately tries to avert a compromise over the...

Directive has teeth

• It will be a criminal offence to fail to comply with the requirements of the Working Time Directive when it is introduced. It...

Page 11

BHA to lobby Brown on VED

by Miles Brignall Hauliers are unlikely to see any repeat of last year's concessions in Chancellor Gordon Brown's preBudget...

Irish Customs seize cannabis worth 130m

• Cannabis with a street value of up to £30m has been seized by Customs at Dublin Port. Some 3,992kg of herbal cannabis was...

Page 12

TCs are revoking more 0-licences

Hauliers who play it by the book probably count themselves lucky that they rarely come into contact with the nation's Traffic...

Page 14

The new engines

t -3 . The New Fil12 will be available with the current 1)12C 12-litre engine at nominal ratings of 340, 380 and 420hp, but two...

Page 18

Renault shows forward planning

In keeping with its avantgarde image, Renault has been demonstrating various aspects of its view of the future. Colin Barnett...

Page 19

• General Motors puts even Mercedes-Benz into the shade when

it comes to fuel cell history: its first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle was the GM Electrovan in 1966. Their latest development is...

Page 20

JOST SO

Jost GB is marketing Rockinger products in the UK following the recent take-over of the German coupling company by fifth-wheel...

RECYCLING RIGID

SB Waste Management and Recycling of Wolverhampton has expanded its fleet with a Volvo FM12 8x4 fitted with a Hyva hook-lift...

AK MINIM

Glanbia Food Service has ordered 25 Iveco Ford Cargo Tectors on a full fiveyear service contract-hire deal. The initial order...

HALF-MILLION DEAL

Runcorn-based business-to-business company Daman Vehicle Rental has ordered 106 vehicles in a £500,000 deal with Volkswagen....

Sprinters head for home

• A new on-line grocery supplier has placed a multi-million-pound order with Mercedes-Benz for a fleet of Sprinter chassis-cabs...

Net manager

• Volvo Truck has launched Dynafleet Online, an Internet-based vehicle management system. The new service is an extension of...

weighing by remote control

• Weighing systems manufacturer PM On Board has launched a hand-held, remotecontrolled weight indicator that can be used by the...

Merc [conics going to waste

• Waste management and environmental specialist Nigel Grist from Devizes has added two Mercedes-Benz 6x4s to his fleet of 22...

King-size

re King Trailers has delivered a multilength step-frame lowloader to Midlothian haulier JB Mclean. The company specialises in...

Page 21

New Vehicle Excise Duty for Lorries

Following the Chancellor's announcement in the Budget, the Government is introducing a new system of vehicle excise duty (VED)...

Page 22

Haulier awaits IC's verdict for drivers' tacho offences

Dkehampton-based Bryan Haulage has appeared before Western Traffic Commissioner Philip Brown after 34 of its drivers were...

FINANCIAL STANDING The licence held by Paisley haulier John McDowall

Baird was revoked on the grounds that he no longer met the requirement to be of appropriate financial standing. Baird appeared...

LOBO UV

The licence held by Prestonbased Howton Pine Furniture was revoked when the company tailed to appear at a Leeds disciplinary...

INFER'S SUSPENSION West Midland TC David Dixon has suspended Birminghambased

Barry Ragg's licence tor a week because of his failure to declare convictions.

Keep your promises warns TC

A County Durham haulier who was granted a licence in his own name despite maintenance problems has been told that he must live...

FINAL WARNING Philip and Sharon Knight, trading as Ammanford Transport

Services, were given a final warning about their maintenance standards when the company was called to appear before Welsh TC...

Page 23

Law on the net

• You can check out all kinds of legal information on the Internet using thent Commerdal Motor/ Chris Hodge Trucks legal pages,...

Driver loses HO licence for speed

limiter and tachograph tampering Truck driver Mark Baker lost his HGV licence for four months after being convicted of...

Driver fined for pulling the fuse on limiter

A driver cost his firm more than £1,000 in fines after he pulled the fuse on his speed limiter and travelled at up to 100km/h...

Page 24

EQUALITY FOR ORE AND ALL

Your feature "Equal before the lee regarding equal opportunities in the HGV industry (CM4-10 October) prompted me to write to...

WHOSE RIGHTS?

I write on behalf of all drivers and plant operatives at our company concerning the EC Working Time Directive. We work at a...

STOP THE BLAME GAME

I read in a recent issue of Commercial Motorthe quote about the number of people with HGV licences who are simply not using...

DEFENSIVE POSTURES

I read with interest the contents of your article concerning prosecutions abroad and in particular Europe. For my part can I...

Page 26

By our Northern Correspondent Eric Strongithann

Oswaidtwisde. Never one to pass up the chance to make a fast buck ( respond to new marketing opportunities surely Ed), Six Jos...

Rarkfire was 019,40!terl tel hear from one our "aged" readers

(his wards got ours) who spotted the deliberate mistake in our 11-17 October News from the North. The so-called Spagthorpe we...

Just about everyone in this industry now uses a mobile

phone. So whether you're sitting in a truckstop or in your depot, you can have some fun by deciding whether someone Is a...

Page 28

SIIIII NPR

The Japanese invasion of Britain in the form of Isom light trucks began in 1996 with the NPR 6.2-tonner. Five years on and...

Page 34

enace

L ewisham Council in London has been plagued by what it calls a serial fly-tipper who has been dumping rubbish around the...

Page 35

PROSECUTIONS AND PENALTIES

• Offences committed under section 33 of the Environment Protection Act can result in a fine of up to £20,000 and/or three...

Page 38

C LA

1#1 DOWN Last month police forces across Europe took part in Operation Mermaid: a coordinated clampdown on rogue operators....

Page 39

Operation Mermaid is a relatively new concept. PC Bob Knocides

of West Midlands Police founded the operation: he realised that cowboy operators trucks which were based far from the West...

Page 42

THE ROA

A round-up of hundreds of trucks belonging to cowboy hauliers is due to begin in December when the Vehicle Inspectorate will be...

Page 46

REAC

I GT E LI Ii f you normally run your 7.5-tonner on a busy motorway, get used to putting on the handbrake and switching off the...

Page 48

With some 3,000 units, Swiss firm Bertschi is a major

player in European bulk liquid transport. Like most big companies, the firm has numerous depots—enter Bertschi UK, a busy...

Page 52

d As a family owned and run company established for

nearly 30 years we've come across many obstacles in our time, but today we face two major issues affecting our industry: the...