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20th January 2000
20th January 2000
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Page 1, 20th January 2000
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ROAD PRICING The M1 has been valued at 121bn by

the Department of Transport; the Highways Agency's network of trunk roads and motorways is valued at £55bn.

TC forced to revoke 0-licence

• by Michael Jewell The first haulier to lose his Operator's Licence since changes to law governing good repute came into force...

• Steve Bryant, the Essex truck driver still protesting his

innocence of drug smuggling from his Moroccan prison cell, has started his second hunger strike. Bryant, who is about to start...

• A Lincolnshire farmer has saved the life of an ownerdriver who was buried under tonnes of frozen vegetables.

Reg Crabtree, 61, was at the Habertoff farm owned by Nigel Hancock shovelling animal feed off the back of his truck when an...

ACTION DELAYED More than 70 hauliers attended a meeting in

Suffolk last week to discuss the problems facing British haulage. Organisers Brian Palmer and Cohn Frost say they will delay...

OUTLOOK FAIR The outlook for jobs in transport and distribution

is in line with the national UK average—the sector retains its number 11 position in the middle of the job prospects league...

HEALTH RISKS A Department of Health study has criticised the

government for exaggerating the health risks posed by road traffic. It says road transport is "rarely responsible for anything...

FIVE WINS Volvo has won the International Truck of the

Year 2000 award for an unprecedented fifth time for its FH12,

MST Da Exel Logistics it to trade as Exel to

reflect a stronger focus on "global supply chain solutions". A new corporate identity will be phased in over two years from...

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Escalator stays says Redwood

• The government has no intention of ending the fuel duty escalator, according to Shadow Transport Secretary John Redwood....

French drivers plan more blocks Farmers stop

• Demonstrations involving around 2,000 French truck drivers are threatening further misery for international hauliers who are...

Are UK hauliers competing?

by Guy Sheppard The influential parliamentary Transport Select Committee is to investigate how effectively the UK haulage...

meat delivery

• Irish meat haulage ground to a halt last week when farmers began a nationwide blockade of plants in protest at new meat...

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Court seeks details of flagging out rules

• by Karen Mlles An eagerly awaited test case on flagging out could still go ahead despite courtroom confusion last week over...

COMMENT

Wrong arm of the law... And so the inevitable has happened: the first operator has lost his licence under the new regulations...

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Bridge basher's load was a foot too high

ig A lorry driver was fined £180 after claiming he crashed into a railway bridge because he thought his container was a foot...

Truck sales rise in Easi

• by Melanie Hammond Sales of heavy goods vehicles in Eastern Europe continue to outstrip sales in the UK, according to a study...

P Nine people were taken to hospital after a 38-tonne

truck carrying a full load of bricks ploughed into a queue of rush-hour traffic on the outskirts of Cheltenham. The five-axle...

customer and fails

• A Lancashire haulage firm has ceased trading, leaving 56 drivers out of work after the loss of a major distribution...

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Food transport set for closer scrutiny

by Karen Miles Transport operators handling food are likely to face even tougher scrutiny under European Union plans to set up...

False waste reports cost Leigh /100,000

in A leading waste management company is to pay out more than £100.000 after faking the amount of potentially harmful waste it...

Screen flags fail the test

• k haulage boss has protested to Derbyshire police after the driver of one of his four trucks received a prohibition notice...

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Rating changes hit warehouses in north

by Guy Sheppard Warehouse operators in the North-west, Yorkshire and Humberside can expect to see the largest rises in the...

lipCon spirit lives

• The Road Haulage Association is holding a new annual conference to fill the gap left by TipCon's inclusion in the huge...

Vans enter fray at Truckfest 2000

Demand from drivers means • Truckfest 2000 will include a competi f tion category for the "best kept light commercial...

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RVI's lightweight set

to boost 10% target show o:itftetturroeit • by Peter Lawton Renault VI's replacement or the Midliner will be launched at the...

• What may well be the first of a new

breed of pickups has been unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show. The Dodge MAXXcab concept vehicle is claimed to be the first...

Overall sales decline hides the peaks

• Some significant increases in sales are hidden among the overall fall in registrations reported by the Society of Motor...

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Added value will tip balance for Transit

• by Toby Clark For Ford, 23 March will be an important date: the new Transit will go on sale, backed up by a new TV...

DRIVING IMPRESSIONS

• A visit to Jere, Spain was our first opportunity to drive the Transit on real roads, and it was a pretty good test We drove...

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• by Colin Barnett Iveco recently invited CM to spend

some time driving a pair of its tractors equipped with EuroTronlc automated 12-speed transmissions. The first vehicle to be...

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• Ever-tighter emissions legislation has demanded more technically advanced engine

control, which is usually provided by electronic systems. These systems can communicate with electronically controlled...

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Tribunal backs site rejection

A Lancashire firm has lost its appeal against the refusal of North Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner Patrick Mulvenna to...

BETTER DEAL Lochgelly-based Adamex Products won some relaxation of the

0-licence conditions which restrict vehicle loading outside its operating centre when it appeared before Scottish DTC Richard...

Haulier penuitted hours offences

Drivers' hours offences committed by Burntwood, Staffordshire-based John Shein, and permitting simi lar offences by his two...

DECREASE STANDS Maintenance problems have led to the licence held

by 7erthshire haulage company Fenton Transport being cut from 14 vehicles and 20 trailers to 10 vehicles and 11 trailers....

HEADY MD Exceeding the permitted front-axle weight of a vehicle

carrying marble by 9.9% has cost DRS Partners, of Clay Cross, and driver George Wilson, £1,195 in fines and costs at Lichfield...

11(1111nmmc Sevenoaks-based JP Ryan (Brokers) has failed in its bid

to ease timing restrictions on its licence, following objections from the local authority and representations from neighbouring...

REVIEW ORDERED South Eastern & Metropolitan TC Michael Turner ordered

at an Eastbourne disciplinary inquiry that Maurice Knowles, trading as T&MK Haulage, should have a licence performance review...

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Convictions cost repute

TSC (Barnsley) had its twovehicle licence revoked by North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Mark Hinchliffe on the grounds...

Licences suspendel

Hauliers have to grin and bear the present eco nomic climate and operate within the law or give up—operating outside the law is...

White Arrow offenders sacked

Falsifying tachograph charts to hide the fact that they were driving for more than 4.5 hours • • without taking the required...

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SMALL IS NOT BEAUTIFUL I ash to comment on the

reply from Vince Welsh, director of customer support, MAN Truck IL Bus (CM21-27 Oct 1999). He appeared to be writing on behalf...

TRUCKS TARGETED Congestion charging is promoted as the means of

getting people out of cars and onto public transport. It could bring slight relief for those trying to service our urban...

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HOW CAN WE COMPETE?

Open ietter to the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott: lam a haulier operating in the UK and on the Continent, and I would...

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SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS PAST

If you are smarting because you still haven't received a Christmas card from your favourite transport journal then allow the...

ROBIN POWER

As an avid Robin fan, The Hawk showed a keen interest in this new quarter - tonne pickup from Reliant. Features on the truck...

Everyone likes to look their best for a photocell, and

Bob from Sheffield is no exception. With his sleek white vest and wet black nose, Bob, Sheffield RSPCA's longest staying...

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inter wonderland doesn't quite give an accurate picture of Kent

when we had the Ducato Maxi in the run up to Christmas. The weather was the most miserable and inhospitable of the whole year,...

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There is a "virtual Klondike" going on at the moment,

with companies rushing to stake their claims in cyberspace. And for what? If you simply want a web site because your...

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Need access to the web?

If you've got a computer and want to surf the web but haven't got access, why not try out roadtransport.net, the free Internet...

What to put on your site

• Remember that speed is the key. Bear in mind the "goldfish" mentality, plus the fact that there are loads of web sites and...

Third-party providers

CM spoke to three companies with differing agendas: • Oneview.net targets the small and medium-size business sector, and...

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LEGS GOOD

cY LEGS sir - ) BETTER? E ngineers who specialise in retrofitting lift axles to tractive units might not be lighting their...

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A s a youngster Tom French was alway nated by the

trucks that came and w his father's farm in Cronberry, Ayrshi captivated in 1968, he bought a Atkinson tipper and started his...

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Branching out in business can pay dividends—but the reverse is

also true. Do you speculate to accumulate or play it safe? Mike Sherrington spoke to five operators and found compelling...

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• Since a change M the law at the beginning

of October last drivers face losing their 0-licences for the most minor ( according to leading transport lawyer Stephen...

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National Insurance down

Do you remember Gordon Brown saying in March 1999 that he would reduce the rate of employers National Insurance from 12.2% to...

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There has been much talk about the cost of fuel. There

U have been many objections from the transport industry to the fuel escalator. There have been many transport companies going...