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4th September 2003
4th September 2003
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Page 1, 4th September 2003
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Page 6

Falling into a WTD loophole

A transport law expert thinks he's found a WTD loophole for haulage workers. Jennifer Ball reports WAREHOUSEMAN and other...

Page 7

Trans-Consult takes IC row further

TRANS-CONSULT has taken its ongoing row with the Traffic Commissioners still further, claiming a planned meeting with the...

Exclusive

CM exposes problems in new scheme THE GOVERNMENT'S planned distance charging scheme, due for launch in 2006. could leave...

Speculation on MAN/Scania tie-up

AFTER A quiet period, speculation regarding further consolidation in the European truck industry moved up a gear in August with...

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Comment

NEW-LOOK CM: NEWS AND VIEWS FROM YOUR INDUSTRY Welcome to the new-look Commercial Motor, the magazine at the heart of the road...

Page 10

Tem caught in Salvesen row

Christian Salvesen drivers walk out of Tesco depot. Guy Sheppard reports. ONE OFTesco's main distribution centres, based in...

Haulage boss stung for fuel bill after thieves go to town

A HAULAGE boss, whose fuel card was stolen and then used to buy thousands of litres of diesel, has been told he is liable for...

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TAN21 shops for servers

THE LONG-PROMISED TAN21 computer system is facing yet more delays as the Vehicle Operator and Services Agency installs more...

RGM driver gets E 10K for unfair dismissal

CAR TRANSPORTER firm RGM Motors has been ordered to pay one of its former drivers over 110,000 in compensation for unfair...

Volvo MD

Volvo's former UK MD Tommy Svensson has been appointed president of Volvo's Latin American region and managing director of...

Show star

Volvo has revealed the star attractions of its stand at the forthcoming European Road Transport Show at the RAI halls in...

Mahindra entry

Indian commercial builder Mahindra & Mahindra is gearing up for UK market entry with a new pickup range as early as next...

Animal protests

Live animal exports between Berwick-Upon-Tweed and Holland have been halted following protests from animal rights protestors...

Driver killed

A truck driver was killed last Saturday (30 August) after his vehicle crashed into a car being driven the wrong way down the...

Page 12

Fight for HGV parking spots

Local councillor backs drivers call for more HGV parking in Black Country A LOCAL councillor is joining truck drivers fighting...

Barrier crash driver in hospital

A TRUCK driver was treated in hospital after his vehicle crashed through a motorway barrier and came to rest on the West Coast...

Parting for HGVs

TAKE A TIP FROM EUROPE Barry Proctor can't believe the attitude of our councils when it comes to the thorny issue of HGV...

Page 14

Boss loses liberty for vicious attack; now may lose repute

Carl Baxter, who attacked a cyclist and his daughter, has repute considered HAULAGE boss and transport manager Carl...

Page 15

Shropshire hauliers on guard over truck thefts

Haulage companies in Shropshire have been urged to step up their security following a spate of truck thefts in the county....

Page 16

Murphy: 'Looking down the barrel of a gun is frightening'

Exclusive! We talk to Colin Murphy, who was hijacked at gunpoint, and forced to drive the hijackers away from the scene of a...

Page 18

Roads threaten to crumble

De-trunking plans could be a disaster. Jennifer Ball reports. VITAL UK roads could crumble away if government plans to detrunk...

Felixstowe causes drivers delays

ANGRY TRUCK drivers at Felixstowe container port have been facing long delays as the terminal struggles to cope with a surge in...

Page 19

Gatwick's Scania does '53' proud

THIS WEEK sees the arrival of the new '53' plate, and one of the more interesting new recruits is this £180,000 Scania. The...

Lonely trailers leave shores in droves

TRAFFIC CONGESTION and the threat posed by illegal immigrants may explain a sudden jump in the number of unaccompanied trailers...

Page 20

Seafield rides waves

Firm keeps head above water reports David Harris WORKSOP-BASED logistics firm Seafield has not lost a single customer despite...

Beware incentive schemes

STEVE TURNER, national transport secretary of the Transport & General Workers Union (T&G), says pay deals are too often...

ArvinVeritor still chasing Dana Corp

COMMERCIAL vehicle parts manufacturer ArvinMeritor has extended the date of its $2.2bn (£1.4bn) hostile takeover bid of rival...

Perkins put in the shade

THE ONCE dominant name of Perkins engines has taken a further setback with the news that one of its highest-profile customers,...

Page 22

IN THE NEWS

Stuart Thomas gives us his regular round-up of the way the newspapers have covered the road transport industry this week....

Tipper nicked at dealership

A SCANIA dealership is mystified as to how thieves managed to break in to its compound and steal a truck without taking the...

Red route for West 1Vidlands

l'HE FIRST congestion-busting red route outside London came into force in Solihull last week. Running along the A34 from...

Page 23

VW announces range

VOLKSWAGEN HAS announced that its new Transporter range goes on sale in the UK on 3 October. giving it a month's lead on its...

Daf ranges rock but don't roll

DAF IS to introduce vehicle stability control (VSC) as an option on its CF and XF models from November. VSC is designed to...

Page 24

TAN21: Why are we waiting?

Emma Penny gets tough on the long-delayed government on-line project T here's little, if any, chance that the Vehicle and...

Page 26

ROAD FREIGHT CRIME

Fi g ures from TruckPol show that the avera g e loss per incident has fallen to £24,000 compared to £29,000 in 2001. Household...

UK FUEL PRICES

The North of En g land has the cheapest diesel in the UK, the most expensive is in a remote corner of Scotland. Fi g ures...

EUROPEAN FUEL PRICES

The UK remains by far the most expensive European country in terms of diesel prices. Fi g ures from the International Road...

TRANSPORT INDEX

Figures supplied by the IRU show that while the UK haula g e industry is g rowin g at a slower rate than GDP, it continues to...

Page 28

Action, not words...

Truck theft rarely comes at the top of the policing agenda. But Detec tive Sergeant Mark Hooper, head of the Metropolitan...

Page 32

Fight this rampant racism

Surely it would not appear unreasonable if our industry leaders requested that Lord Hutton, at the completion of his present...

Training is an investment in our future—so why don't you do it?

HAVING JUST read Bob Russett's 'Sound Off' (CM 14-20 August), I can only draw the conclusion that it's no wonder that the road...

A little Germanic clarity

I WRITE REGARDING apparent inaccuracies in an article entitled 'Toll protest stops traffic' (CM21-27 August). Firstly, the...

Page 34

Distance charging: Just another tax on trucks?

Will distance charges be "revenue neutral" as promised? The CM news team doesn't believe so... T he way the industry pays its...

LI1uI •111010 t■M

Will you be paying more? First we attempted to work out what operators are paying at present. Taking an example, a typical...

Page 35

QUOTE UNQUOTE

Laura Weathedey, MD of Williams Aggregates, Orpington, is worried about the charge: "We already pay enough as it is to use the...

Page 37

Customs coughs up £4,000 A HAULIER in Northern Ireland has

been paid nearly £4,000 compensation by Customs & Excise after it wrongly seized his vehicle,suspecting duty evasion on fuel...

Page 38

Haulier branded 'a liar' by TC

EASTERN TRAFFIC Commissioner Geoffrey Simms refused to return two impounded vehicles after branding their owner a liar. The TC...

Wrong tax on trucks delays new licence

FORMER DIRECTORS of a failed company may not be granted a new international licence following a dispute over wrongly taxed...

Page 39

Truck held but licence granted with "considerable hesitation"

A SCOTTISH haulier has been reluctantly granted a three-truck licence ; but refused the return of an illegally operated truck,...

Sole trader licence not specific enough for partnership so come clean, says TC

A HAULIER was called before a disciplinary inquiry after it emerged during a routine maintenance investigation that the...

Page 40

Speaking up

New legislation means employers who fail to consult their workers could face a £75,000 fine and a spell in jail. CONSULTATION...

The ke uestions

PENALTIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE If an employer fails to set up Information and Consultation procedures following a valid employee...

Page 42

Ten things you need to know about the Working Time Diredive

Some hauliers are tempted to bury their heads in the sand and pretend it doesn't ex ist but, love it or loathe it, it's here to...

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LEGAL ANALYSIS

Dealers deregulated by new law FANCY SUPPLEMENTING your income by becoming an authorised parts and service dealer for a truck...

WHAT DOES BLOCK EXEMPTION MEAN?

Block Exemption regulation 1400/2002 comes into force on 1 October 2003. ED Truck manufacturers will not be able to turn down...

Page 46

PASSING GLORIES?

The Magnum is one of the most venerable truas on the market, though with UK sales barely topping 100 a year, time seems to be...

Page 52

RICHARD HUTCHINGS

WE MET RICHARD HUTCIIINGS, up from Sturrninster Newton, at BP's Crick Truck Stop driving a Scania 113 380. Once settled in the...

Page 53

OUR VIEW

Renault's Magnum remains one of the most distinctive trucks on the road, but distinction doesn't count for much in the highly...

COMPARISONS ASTHETABLE illustrates, the Magnum's big cab and well engineered

chassis isn't unduly hampered at the scales, offering a fraction under 26 tonnes of payload.As you'd expect it isn't in the...

Page 54

Circuit breaker

It's March 1979 — few have heard of Maggie Thatcher, Brighteyes is about to hit the Number One slot, Jensen Button isn't even...

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— I l*1l : Is1I fl Welsh route — distribution trucks — 367.2km

Distribution trucks of all types from 6 tonnes upwards head west. Our Welsh route starts at the ancient monument that is the...

p wi • alum'

Used truck route — 441.8km The newest of CMs routes was specially conceived to offer used trucks a similar challenge to the...

Page 58

I. ME 8t IA G

Unhappy with your size? Unable to deliver a full load? Why not upgrade for more length and height? CM checKs out Ford's new...

Page 64

LLERIN E TANK

There could be something nasty lurking in your diesel that could not only damage your engines but also hamper performance....

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How to get your diesel tested

Hampshire-based Spectro offers fuel, oil and hydraulic fluid plus filter and debris analysis services to operators worried...

Page 67

ON THE ROAD TO CHANGE

It's 10 years since the route from Europe to Asia was established to aid world commerce. To test it, CM is going to take an...

Page 70

FROM MASI!

To RICHES Harsh circumstances can make or break a man, and in Roger McDoweirs case, thankfully it was the former. Dominic...

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Getting ready for the big '0'

Rob Salter kicks off our new diary series. Each month, he'll describe how he and his two-yearold Midlum are faring in Telford,...

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CM keeps you informed...

T he used vehicle market is a strong and thriving industry the foundation on which the UK transport industry is built.To give...

Page 76

CAP asks the used truck question...whan it worth?

Want to know what the market's doing? How much your trucks will be worth? John Watts of CAP gives us a regular insight into...

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The comfort of strangers

Specification This week's subject is an example of the range that gave the worthy but staid MAN brand a welcome boost on its...