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2nd July 1998
2nd July 1998
Page 1
Page 1, 2nd July 1998
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Chemicals firm slams 44 tonnes

by Karen Miles • Chemical manufacturing firm Albright & Wilson (A&W) has warned the Government that it will cancel its plan to...

BRIEFS

• Somerset haulier Framptons International has bought BOC Distribution's maintenance and parts business Tachograph Services,...

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No plans for direct action

• Hauliers are to be offered an alternative to direct action as the Road Haulage and Freight Transport Associations launch...

MFI slashes staff as profits slump

• Furniture group MFI is to lay off 1,500 staff this year after pre-tax profits slumped 14% to £.60m. Jobs will be lost in all...

More diesel price misery

by David Craik • Three more established hauliers, one with 100 years' trading behind it, have been hit by the recent diesel...

French unions threaten hours action

• UK hauliers should prepare for more French lorry blockades. At last week's Franco-British Transport Forum, Joel Le Coq,...

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DOT will monitor consignor liability

by Nicky Clarke • The Department of Transport is to keep a close eye on new consignor liability legislation in Ireland as it...

Smu mg Germans jailed

• Two Germans have been jailed for attempting to smuggle 13 Asians into Dover hidden in the back of a truck. At Canterbury...

COMMENT

LEAVE IT TO THE MARKET! R oad hauliers are well used to being plagued by legislation and taxation. But now, it seems, a new...

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Belgium targets tacho keys

• International operators have been warned by Belgian police not to keep keys in their tachograph heads but to leave them back...

Pensions at White Arrow

• White Arrow Express has agreed to introduce a pension scheme for all its workers, following talks with the Transport &...

Hauliers helped by PSV priority

by Ian Wylie • Edinburgh traffic chiefs say a bus priority scheme designed to encourage the use of public transport has also...

Director's driving ban is cut to save jobs

• Haulage company director Maxwell Downton had his six-month driving disqualification shortened today after he told Gloucester...

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Prepare for the Euro!

by Rob Willock • Hauliers have been warned by the Treasury to prepare quickly for the impact of the European single currency....

Court ruling will push up VED bill

• Vehicles carrying "fixed equipment", such as drain cleaning trucks, face having to pay more VED following a High Court ruling...

SNP pledges to end Skye tolls

• The thorny issue of tolls on the Skye Bridge is fast becoming an election issue in Scotland following a pledge by the...

Tragic accident

• A small County Durham haulage company is in mourning after one of its trucks crushed and killed a two-year-old while...

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Asda home deliveries will create 110 jobs for drivers

• Asda is creating 170 driving and warehouse jobs for the South London home delivery service which it plans to launch at the...

Sacked drivers urged to claim

by Karen Miles • Truck drivers who lost their jobs in the late 1980s because of mistaken drinkdriving convictions are being...

Bootle ng driver made 50,000—and goes to jail

• An out-of-work lorry driver who admitted bootlegging hundreds of pounds' worth of drink and tobacco through Dover has been...

TUC backs down on 'shame' list

• Six months after promising to "name and shame" Britain's worst haulage bosses, the TUC has abandoned the idea. The TUC...

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Put your feet up with EAS

Are you tired of heavy clutch pedals? Is driving in congested city centres getting you down? Mercedes-Benz's automatic Actros...

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Pickups to the four!

• Nissan has launched its new Pickup range for the UK. The basic 4x2 is available now; its stablemates will follow on 1 August....

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TC makes an exception

1 • North Eastern Traffic Cornmissioner Keith Waterworth has reminded an owner-driver that he is governed by the exactly same...

--BRIEFS

One down • Maintenance problems have led to one vehicle being suspended for a period clone week from the licence held by...

Fined for lack of a limiter

• A defective speed limiter cost Stafford-based haulage contractor Swinnerton Transport £750 in fines and costs when the...

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Trailer was moved by wrong van

1 • Kennedy Construction Group has been ordered to pay 2755 in fines and costs after one of its employees used a trailer...

Haulier proved bridge reading was inaccurate

• Clitheroe-based JH Myers was cleared of an overloading charge after Newport Gwent magistrates accepted defence arguments that...

Absent driver pays for hours offences

• A Port Talbot driver was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £200 after being convicted by Llanelli magistrates of a...

Records offences blamed on client

• The falsification of tachograph records by Kirkpatrick Fleming haulier Kenneth Williamson and five of his drivers was blamed...

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Czechs bounce back!

by Bill Godwin The big news at the Brno Commercial Motor Show in the Czech Republic was that US firm SDC International had...

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letters

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

Trailing behind

hris Curzon's excellent summary of the current situation in the European Union deserves a comment or two in support of the poor...

MPs take note

T enclose a copy of a letter which I have sent to my MP; I urge fellow hauliers to write to their own MPs requesting action on...

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haulage factfile

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

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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...

Full steam ahead

a wo recent issues of Steaming magazine have provided the Hawk with a pleasant diversion from the endless football and tennis...

Street robbery

0 f you find yourself in the saloon bar of the Flute and Alligator one night and a shadowy figure sidles up beside you and...

a he smoothy's smoothy, TV presenter Des Lynam, has been recruited

by Parceline for its latest promotional campaign. Des will appear in a series of seven advertisements which highlight what the...

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HAULAGE

BULLETIN VOLUME 2 NUMBER 10 JULY 1998 Safety first? Transport operators are constantly berated about their apparent lack of...

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Environment: Survey/intermodal/ emissions/packaging

Freight Moved by FIG Vs The annual report of the Continuing Survey of Roads Goods Transport* shows: • Freight moved by HGVs...

Trainin g: Licences/ tests/diabetics

Driving licence fees New regulations* bring into effect revised driving licence fees from 1 July 1998 (Haulage Bulletin...

Financial: Electronics/ late payments

Electronic commerce =V I With the development of electronic business dealings, the Department of Trade and AZ Industry has...

Health and Safety: Sea shipments

a Carriage by Sea The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has updated its guidance on Dangerous Goods in Cargo Transport Units:...

Em ployment:

Tribunals/part-timers Dispute resolution The Employment Rights (Dispute Resolution) Act 1998* has now been passed and will...

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VAT: Groups/agencies

VAT groups Customs & Excise is consulting* on changes to the VAT group treatment provisions to ensure that the group treatment...

Borders: Czech Republic

Czech Republic An agreement between the UK and the Czech Republic provides for haulage and passenger service operations between...

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Everyone knows the old adage that oil and water don't

mix. Everyone knows you can't put a square peg in a round hole. So why do truck drivers keep trying to drive high lorries under...

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PROFILE CLEMENTS

The Clements department store celebrated its centenary with a new livery that earned it a class win in CM'S 1997 Livery Awards....

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Did Cummins' Celect engine management make the EC10 8x4 a

better tipper? It has its faults, but in general the operators we spoke to seemed to be impressed... • When it comes to new...

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Vehicle electrical systems have mushroomed in complexity over the past

decade: conventional wiring systems are reaching the point where they can no longer cope. However, a new technology called...

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Controlled temperature distribution is already one of the most tightly

regulated and expensive sectors of the haulage industry. And now reefer operators are likely to face yet more controls in the...

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S E A?

Over the past few years hauliers have benefited from price wars between ferry companies. But with the merger of P&O and Stena,...

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Richard Diment, chief executive of BRF, warns that our roads

are crumbling and explains the-itiesjAsinisation will be campaigning on in the months ahead... 'At present too much of the...