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27th August 1998
27th August 1998
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Page 1, 27th August 1998
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Page 6

No-licence subbies get haulier banned

by Michael Jewell • A haulier who knowingly used unlicensed sub - contractors, one of whom did not even have an HGV licence,...

BRIEFS • 1.1 _ ri , has posted firsthalf losses of

£40m, almost unchanged on 1997's figure. Freight volumes on its UK routes fell by 3%. As a result of the figures, six directors...

Impounding 'by 2000'

• Legislation to impound illegally-operated trucks should be introduced before 2000, the Department of Transport has confirmed....

Plastic paella

• A Spanish artic caused hours of chaos on the M25 last week when it overturned spilling its load of plastic granules. The...

Page 7

Second 'Fair play' rally attracts only 200 trucks

• Hauliers have expressed concerns about whether the Road Haulage Association's campaign of nationwide rallies to help defeat...

Two thirds under 000 barrier

• About 60% of transport workers surveyed by the Transport and General Workers Union in its Midlands region pay and working...

Checks raise Liberty query

by Karen Miles • Lorry drivers questioned by Benefits Agency or immigration officers in next month's national roadside lorry...

Nestle to close Cheshire site

• Nestle UK is to close its Warrington depot with the loss of 110 jobs, including 28 drivers, by next March because the site is...

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TAKING A LIBERTY!

ou can take liberty too far. And that's exactly what civil rights group Liberty risks doing when it claims that checking for...

Haulier faces prison for contravening farm ban

by Ian Wylie • A Leicestershire haulier, who has been in dispute with his local council over planning permission for four...

M5 driver 'slept' for 17 miles

• A lorry driver travelled 17 miles along the M5 while asleep before eventually crashing into a wood, Gloucester Crown court...

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Bomb leads to Irish hold-ups

by Karen Miles • Operators look set to face increased delays in Ireland following the bomb blast in Omagh. Irish road hauliers...

Rates squeezed to the limit

• Irish haulage firm John Breen of Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, has been Forced to cut rates by 5% and 10% to keep Iwo major...

Ferry crossing is not a rest break

• A lorry driver was fined £200 with £65 costs by West Bromwich magistrates for driving for more than nine or 10 hours after he...

Central London to increase walkways

• Hauliers delivering to the heart of London Can expect longer delays as plans to pedestrianise parts of Trafalgar Square....

Page 10

Campaign to keep A3 cafe

by David Craik • Britain's hauliers are being urged to fight for the future of a transport cafe which is being closed by the...

Ronay tries truckers' fare

• Truck drivers pulling into transport cafes could find themselves sharing a table with restaurant critic Egon Ronay who wants...

MacFarlane fined for non-functioning tack,

• Leeds-based MacFarlane Transport has been fined £250 with .C65 costs by West Bromwich magistrates after admitting sending out...

• Ten mobile catering traders on the A34 in Oxfordshire

are facing a battle to stop the local council closing down their layby facilities. One trader, Jacqueline Hartley, says the...

Page 11

Concrete loads asbestos warning

by Karen Miles • Hauliers should be extra vigilant about the legitimacy of concrete loads they are asked to dump following...

Glanville for court in October

"t Joe Glanville, the employee of Liverpool haulage company Port Losistics charged with 10 offences of handling stolen...

Page 14

P&O 41-tonne push is denied

by Charles Young • The managing director of P&O Trans European, Charles Rice, has denied rumours that he pushed for 41 tonnes...

Turners (Soham) buys British again

• Turners (Sohaml Ltd has bought II ERFs, its first Britishbodged tractive units for a decade. The East Anglian fridge and...

MAN's Premier Program promises compensation

by Sharon Clancy • MAN has introduced Premier Program, an operator support scheme that will offer free labour and two-year...

Southwark leads way on alternative fuels

• Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott MP unveiled the first electric Citroen Berlingo in the UK. The van was bought by the...

Page 15

Eaton AutoShift debut

by Cohn Barnett • Eaton will be introducing its latest transmission developments at next month's Hanover Show. Star of the new...

Daimler-Benz gets closer to the US

by Danny Coughlan As Daimler-Benz forges ahead with the creation of DaimlerChrysler, details are emerging of what this means...

Page 16

BRIEFS

• Renault is now offering an in-cab fridge for its Premium Long Distance models, mounted between the seats. The option costs...

Giant jig boosts work

by Steve Banner • Straightening twisted chassis is now much easier for technicians at Press Car & Cornmercial Bodyworks since...

British Midland invests on the ground

• British Midland Cargo has bought five new Scania tractive units and rigids, plus three Southfields triaxle trailers. Two of...

Page 19

United Carriers selects Bandvulc

• Independent remould tyre manufacturer Bandvulc has secured a contract worth about 4:500,000 a year to supply tyres to United...

Gas proves itself clean and quiet

• A new test completed by Millbrook Proving Ground has shown that CNG (compressed natural gas) offers fleet operators the most...

Oil speccing made simple • In a bid to clarify

engine lubricant selection, BP las issued a fact sheet, Talking specifications—how to select the right engine oil, for...

Taylor heads ERF aftermarket sales

• Andrew Taylor is the new aftermarket sales manager at ERF. He says: "I've joined ERF at an exciting time; With Part Attack...

Waste disposal streamlined

• Waste management is big business these days, particularly if you run a bodyshop as part of your operation. Rob Cook,...

Round-the-clock air service in Wales

• The Air Compressor Group of Ingersoll-Rand has appointed Wales Fluid Power of Cardiff as its new authorised distributor...

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Quick-build work bench simply slots together

• One of the latest releases from Rapid Racking is the Rapid Work Station, which is a heavy-duty structure that slots together...

Full range of ADR cabling

• Allen Industrial has introduced the Trailflex range of ADR cables, The cables have gained TiN approval for use on trucks and...

Copper joints under pressure

• HRP has introduced the Vulkan Lokring which is said to be a revolutionary jointing system, replacing the need for brazing and...

Degrease and blast at one time

• All the key benefits of pollutionfree, simultaneous degreasing and wet blast-cleaning are now available to a wider market...

Versatile four or six-poster Engine oil across the fleet •

Hetra is launching a mobile vehicle lift called the Universal. In common with others in the range it will have a lifting...

The new product is suitable for use in many hydraulic

and transmission applications, as well as a wide range of engines, thus removing the need for workshops to stock many types of...

Page 22

' TC raps lax operator

• Operators have been told to move with the times and invest in their infrastructure as they would their vehicles. Scottish...

Tesco triumphs

• Tesco Distribution has won authority to base 102 vehicles and 295 trailers at Bletchley, despite opposition from residents....

Drink drives boss off road

• The former transport manager of Wetherbybased AB Couriers, who was convicted of drink-driving in a seven-tonne truck (CM 6-12...

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Environment Agency thwarted

• Magistrates have thrown out an attempt by the Environment Agency to convict an operator that lost its waste transfer notes....

Danson chief must wait

• A decision on a new licence for Danson (Midlands) has been adjourned while West Midland Traffic Commissioner David Dixon...

Convicted haulier's 0-licence reprieve

ki • A haulier with several convictions for vehicle defects escaped action against his operator's licence after West Midland...

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haulage factfile

CH's Haulage Factfile pages provide busy operators with brief news items on: forthcoming events, services, business products,...

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letters

Do you want to comment on any of the stories in Commercial h1otor? Does someone in the industry deserve a pat on the back—or a...

Smoother sixes

I was amused to read the honesty of the Iveco Ford advert for its four-cylinderengined Cargo, saying "No one will touch it"....

Apathy rules, but fuel fight goes on W e all say we want thin e - s chatwed. We all

despair when another of our colleagues goes under, seemingly every week now, strangled by the Government's outrageous increases...

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Piggyback forklifts

W ith reference to your Fleet Focus feature on piggyback forklifts (CM 2026 August), the statement made in the second paragraph...

Thank-you from Coventry drivers

O n behalf of the Coventry drivers of Exel Logistics working on the now defunct Mirror contract, we wish to express our thanks...

Knight of the road

C ould you please publish this letter in the hope that the trucker who came to my assistance last Tuesday (18th August) on the...

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bird's eye view by the hawk Commercial Motor takes road

haulage very seriously. However, once a week our quirky correspondent, the Hawk, steps off his perch to take a humorous look at...

Poetry in motion?

0 potted by one of my eagle-eyed spies was this crane bearing the name of one of Wales's most distinguished sons, the poet...

Driver in the frame

0 he Hawk has always known CM readers . are folk of many hidden talents. It is no surprise to him, then, to learn of the...

May the force be with us El ere's a cracking idea:

Ride and Drive for Police is an event to promote harmonious relations between hauliers and the force. Derek Lanham, chairman of...

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The Magnum has helped revitalise Renault's reputation in recent years.

But, despite the plus points such as cab comfort, the AE420's unladen weight is a constant problem. • The Magnum started life...

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ON THE MIND

Sharon Clancy reports on how manufacturers and operators are coping with legal restrictions on lifting pacify and looks / ahead...

Page 38

Despite recent tragic events the people of Northern Ireland have

not lost hope in the peace process. The elected Northern Ireland Assembly meets next month for the first time and will provide...

Page 46

Despite the relative simplicity of the brake relining procedure, worryingly high

numbers of mistakes are still being made. Chris Graham looks at this safety-critical issue. C utting corners to save cash is a...

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WORKSHOP WHEEL ALIGNMENT

Poor wheel alignment remains a frequently ignored fact of commercial vehicle life. Chris Graham struggles to understand why....

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Jonathan Jempson is managing director of Jempsons based in Rye,

East Sussex. The company operates a fleet of 70 vehicles and 150 trailers on general haulage and carrying plasterboard and...

Page 54

When used pays off

While some franchised deal. ors show little interest in the used market, selling second-hand commercials is paying off at North...

Daf award•winner

Ford & Slater of Leicester has won this year's Leyland Daf Approved Used Vehicle Dealer of the Year award. Highly-commended...

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ROUND-UP

CHILTERN • Renault Trucks Chiltern is launching a commercial vehicle rental operation from its Dunstable site in September. The...

Volvo opens depot for FM

Factory-owned distributor Volvo Truck & Bus (South) has opened a £2m depot on Coventry's Middlemarch Business Park in the...

Second-hand market struggles through

took pre-emptive action six months ago to cushion the downturn in the economy, according to independent dealer Malcolm...