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28th March 2002
28th March 2002
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Page 1, 28th March 2002
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Animal regs make livestod trucks endangered specie

In by Guy Sheppard Proposals to improve animal welfare during transport could make 80% of current trucks used on long-distance...

AMICK WARNING

Luxembourg police are warning drivers to beware of armed robbers who are targeting trucks on A6 motorway rest areas between...

BYERS MEE=

The Freight Transport Association has met Transport Secretary Stephen Byers this week. An FTA spokesman says: "We were keen to...

JOBS LOST Car transporter firm Walon has made eight drivers

redundant following the end of production at Vauxhall's Luton plant. WaIon, part of AutoLogic Holdings, originally employed 33...

TOLL SUPPOIFL Scottish Transport Minister Wendy Alexander has signalled tentative

support for tolls in Edinburgh as part of a package of anti-congestion transport moves. The city council is consulting on...

...TOLL OPPOSITION Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has called for

the Skye Bridge toils to be suspended in a bid to help tourism in the North.

EMU' SUCCESS Lee Gundel, 18, the youngest holder of an

HGV Category C licence, has been chosen as Transport Apprentice of the Year. The award was achieved through the Young LGV...

FOUR IVES

The European Court of Justice has declared illegal the Italian practice of imposing higher fines on foreign drivers than...

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BP drivers: pay offer an 'insult'

• The Transport & General Workers Union has branded oil giant BP's latest pay offer to drivers an "insult" following...

Consignia plans 40,000 job cuts

to Consignia, the company formally known as the Post Office, has announced a massive restructuring of its business with more...

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Bosses warn: ED is industry death knell

• by Jennifer Ball An alarming 17% of fleet managers have warned that their firms will go out of business when the Working Time...

Too long for Ull

il Two British drivers working for Dutch haulier GM De Ho have been fined after pleading guilty to driving over-leN drawbar...

EU hours `will hike costs'

a The Freight Transport Association warns that planned changes to the EU hours rules could push up some operators wage billsby...

No date for Newport bypass

• A motorway bypass round Newport in South Wales has been postponed despite a £430m cash boost for Welsh road building over the...

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-licence changes to e made by computer

Guy Sheppard ers will soon be able to ge the number of vehicles lied on their Operator's ices by computer. a written...

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...

No room for sentiment

Reading ofiveco's decision to stop building Seddon Atkinson trucks at Oldham (just two weeks after MAN decided to switch all...

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MPs told: congestion charges will not work

• by Chris Tindall The Freight Transport Association has repeated its call for local authorities to reconsider their plans to...

'Nightmare scen

• Leading transport lawyer Stephen Kirkbright has warnei the impending corporate killing legislation is threateni become a...

Chips hijacked by armed gang

• Essex police are appealing for information about a Necking during which £4m worth of computer chips were stolen last month....

No delay on aggregates 'stealth tax'

• The government is pressing ahead with its aggregates levy on 1 April, even though the legal basis of the tax has yet to be...

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Irporate killing

he Courts, organised by the Institution of Mechanical ers. He warned: "Within seconds. minutes, and certainly of any major...

Truck crime: UK is seen as the pariah of Europe

• by Guy Sheppard Haulage customers are still unwilling to cover the cost of protecting their goods in transit even though the...

Ixt messages on a plate

iew text messaging service Mow drivers to send SMS ages and e-mails to other rs simply by using the drivers' number plates....

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Mobiles immobilised

• by Jennifer Ball The Irish government has introduced measures to ban the use of hand-held mobile phones while driving,...

No cut in drinking limit

• The government has ruled out lowering the drink-driving limit, angering a number of road safety groups and the police....

Single standard for HGV trainers

A government initiative is under way to develop a national standard for HGV trainers and instructors. Marty training...

From the dole to the cab

• Eurosafe Training has launched a driver training programme for the unemployed in a bid to combat the driver shortage. Under...

Congestion charges spread across the UK

Thirty-five cities across the UK plan to follow Lendons lead and introduce congestion charging. According to the Department of...

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Slow, steady and inexorable..

"Our policy is to offer a product that': got the benefit of manufacturin: in numbers." Ron Camfield • Anyone who...

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ace invaders

luestion: How do I replace six rigids on 4h-street deliveries with three rehicles able to carry bigger payloads lown narrow,...

• Klege Europ is a French bodybuilder which specialises in

insulated and refrigerated van bodies. It has marketed its product in the UK under the Thermovan banner since 1971. Outside...

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latching the clock

)rivers' hours timers are becoming an increasingly mportant part of the driver's equipment; Craig Sheer eviews four of the...

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a strategic alliance

• by Cohn Barnett As predicted in last week's Commercial Motor, Scania and Hino have signed an agreement for a "strategic...

Foden takes hold with Reid's

• In the space of two years, Foden has increased its presence in Scottish haulier Reid's Transport's fleet from zero 10 15...

BPW checks brake pads

• Failure to replace trailer brake pads in good time has serious consequences, both to safety and repair costs. BPW's new Brake...

• Independent fuel tests carried out by the Millbrook Proving

Ground indicate that operators can cut their fuel bills by up to 8% using a reefer that is a tonne lighter than the industry...

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'Cavalier' attitude strips Oldham haulier of licence

An Oldham haulier has had his licence revoked after North Western Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell said he showed "a cavalier...

MO UNMET=

Maintenance problems and an hours and tachograph conviction have resulted in the licence held by Dunfermlinebased Ian T...

HOURS MOWN=

Alleged breaches of the hours and tachograph rules and changes in available finance have led to the licence held by East...

NO UNTO

Driver Jason Arnold was fined £620, with £70 costs after admitting 13 offences of using a vehicle when the speed limiter was...

FORTNIGHT SUSPENSION

Maintenance problems have led to the Operator's Licence held by Honiton-based FJ Jackson & Son being suspended for two weeks....

Driver referred to Crown Court

A Manchester truck driver caught falsifying tachograph records has been sent to Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing because...

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Leeds haulier slammed for dangerous vehicles

A Leeds haulier has been slammed as a "crook" by North Eastern Traffic Commissioner Tom Macartney at a Leeds dis ciplinary...

Greenwich firm ets fine of i5K

A Greenwich owner-driver has been fined more than £5,000 by Barking magistrates after he faded to appear to answer a number of...

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DEBT SPIRALS

I saw yet another report in Commercial Motorof ownerdrivers engaged on quarry work struggling to make ends meet due to savage...

TEST CASE I am writing to you in the hope

that your magazine may be able to make the right people sit up and listen to a growing problem in our industry. The subject is...

THE LAW ON RECOVERY

I refer to an article printed in your Any Questions column (CM 7-13 Feb). lt includes a reference to an enquiry regarding the...

NO CHANCE TO COMPETE

I enquired about a load today being offered by a UK firm from London E16 to Area 72 in France—a total of 378 miles. I would...

FODEN'S VIEW OF intr's END

With regard to the various comments made in the press about the virtual closure of th ERF assembly operation at Middlewich. I...

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Do you have any titbits of industry gossip? If so,

please contact Backfire, Commercial Motor, Rm H203, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Su rrey SM2 SAS. or fax 020 8852...

By our Northern Correspondent Eric Strongitharm Oswaldtwistle.

Never let it be suggested that the Spagthorpe Motor Company isn't willing to experiment (isn't that enough negatives for one...

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orking on Commercial Motor s roadtest team is not just

a case of donning denim and work boots and becoming a hairy-armed trucker at the wheel of the latest 44-tormer. Nothing if not...

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The suspension of Channel Tunnel rail-freight services earlier this month

is putting hundreds of extra lorries on UK roads—hut for some hauliers the damage done to rail freight's already battered image...

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Are you wondering what can be done about the driver shortage?

Tim Maughan visited DFDS which is not waiting for outside help—it is tackling the problem head on by training raw recruits,...

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MI ix months after CM launc its Driver Drive campaig; . 2000 to highlight the shor t

of truck drivers (predicted t( between 50,000-100,000 vers over the next five ye; the government announce response. In March...

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The DFDS experience.

• CM met up with two Class 1 DFDS trainees at the company's Tamworth depot. Peter Broom used to work as a hill farmer; Peter...

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FOR LONG SERVICE MAN 35.364

IIII AN eight-leggers were always solid performers but when the ageing F90s were finally put out to pasture in the spring of...

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MONDAY

I generally start the week at 6am along with the demolition gang who have already set off for their sites. We then get the skip...

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JOS buys new site

• Renault dealer J DS Trucks is in the midst of a major expansion programme. It has acquired Renaultowned dealership Renault...

Sweet sale for Manheim

• A Mercedes-Benz Actros tractor was the star turn at a recent sale held by Manheim Auctions at its Colchester branch. The...

Eight-mile queue fi lowie sale

II An estimated 2,500 people attended a controversial auction of vehicles and other equipment used by Snowie Holdings to move...

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Top managers are hard to find

• Franchised truck dealers are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit top calibre managers from within the trade. As a...

BIG BASE Bryan Brothers has opened a £2rn Iveco dealership

in Cardiff. "It's got a 200-metre frontage," says general manager Mike Jakeways. The workshop has got half-a-dozen drive...

DEALERSHIPS SOLD

Ryland has sold its Daf and LDV dealerships in Preston and Edinburgh to Lawrence Vehicles. Lawrence's sister companies hold...

DEMAND SOARS Demand for 400hp-plus used tractive units with big

cabs and capable of operating at 44 tonnes is continuing to soar, says independent trader, Robert Reynolds. "Oafs 95XF is...

POLAR PURCHASE

Brighouse, West Yorkshire, Iveco dealership Northern Commercials has acquired the former Polar Trucks business based at Morley...

VAUXHALL REORGANISES Vauxhall has reorganised its van network, cutting the

number of dealers allowed to sell the full range from 170 to 111. Those retaining what it refers to as the heavy van franchise...

MYSTERY ADVERTS Mystery surrounds full-page adverts taken in the car

trade press by website www.trucksave.com offering - massive savings" on new Mercedes-Benz Atego 815 and 818s and MAN L2000...