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7th November 2002
7th November 2002
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Page 1, 7th November 2002
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PIEN11111

Readers who didn't receive their free road maps (CM 2430 Oct) should send 44 stamped addressed envelopes to CM Maps, c/o Jeremy...

MING HIGN

A driver had to be winched to safety by an RAF helicopter on Tuesday (5 Novi after his tanker became trapped in the River...

81111110EIPMNIS Resurfacing works will begin on Monday (11 November) on

the Al between Barnsdale Bar and Darrington. A 10mph convoying system will probably be In place until mid-December.

PORN PAUSE

The new Netherlands government has frozen plans for a road charging scheme based on time spent on the road and vehicle emissions.

PENNY PALLETS

Pall-Ex is donate a penny for every pallet passing through its system to Transaid Worldwide to fund driver and technician...

SAFETY AWARDS

Renault Ult, Sainsbury's, TDG, TNT and Bibby Distribution are winners In the Fleet Safety Forum Awards for Excellence.

SCANIA RUES

A Widdowson Group Scanla R124 6x2 tractor, reg Y265 )(RV, was stolen in Wednesbury. West Midlands on 9 August. C:: 0116 232 2686.

NSW Ulif

The Museum of British Road Transport In Coventry will launch a new website on 12 Nov. Contact: vnvw.mbrt.co.uk.

RENAUU RECNINT

Mick March Is to become sales director at Renault Trucks UK; John MI nsbull Joins as national accounts manager.

EU drops demand for driven to have 420 hours' training

by Chris Tindall Industry bodies have welcomed news that the European Council's final draft proposal on the Driver Training...

Repute 'tarnished' by unauthorised centre

• John Butler, MD of Cambridgeshire haulier Ken Thomas, has told a Bristol Public Inquiry that his predecessor, John Thomas,...

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:PC finally calls n the liquidator

Id INVESTIGATION by Dominic Ferry Ilet network Express Paliet stems (EPS) has collapsed lowing months of speculation. In the...

Stowaway gangs busted

m French police believe that they have broken up six gangs that helped illegal immigrants board trucks and freight trains in...

RHA calls Southampton meeting

N Escalating problems at the Southampton Container Terminal have led the Road Haulage Association to call a meeting in an...

Annual test failure rates rise again

III Truck and trailer test failure rates have gone up for the third year running, showing a continuing lack of attention to...

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Eddie Stobart Ltd pays £14,000 in sex discrimination case

II Eddie Stobart Ltd has been ordered to pay a Carlisle woman more than 114,030 compensation after a 15-month battle to prove...

Salvesen site faces closure

• by Dominic Perry Logistics firm Christian Salvesen is expected to close its chilled distribution centre in Evesham, putting...

FTA seeks green discounts

• The Freight Transport Association is to investigate whether hauliers could win discounts from London congestion charges by...

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Aiming for test failure

It's a crushing indictment of how seriously operators take the annual test that the single biggest failure item for HGVs is...

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Agency drivers: 'four times more crashes'

• by Chris Tlndd Agency drivers are increasing the risk profiles of companies by an alarming 400% by being involved in...

Bridge vandals put lives at risk

• Police in Devon and Cornwall are warning drivers using the 838 through Plymouth to beware of items being thrown from bridges...

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Customs relaxes the tobacco guidelines

• by Miles Brignall International drivers who smoke can sleep a little easier in their cabs this week after Customs announced...

Foreign hauliers must check out every month

• Foreign registered vehicles carrying out internal haulage in the UK under the cabotage rules will have to leave the country...

MG plays safe with HGVs

Starting young... AAG Distribution Is running practical lessons for C,ambrkligsslirs school children to make them safer near...

EVENTS

26 26 September-3 December FTA Truck Driver 2002 seminars: Designed to help drivers get to grips with the latest legislation...

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Scots get real time road news

• Hauliers across Scotland will soon be able to access a range of real-time traffic information and predicted journey times via...

• A thief who mowed down a delivery driver with

his own van as he tried to stop it being stolen has been jailed for life after being found guilty of his murder. Matthew...

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Worth their weight in pit?

The Transport and General Workers Union's call for an 8-io% pay rise for its members in the hire-and-reward sector has provoked...

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H ome extension

from Scania We've seen the sleeper cab of the future. It's called eXc. Less than two months after Scania revealed its...

eXc THE TECHNICAL STORY

• Scanla's Mc concept truck is a R164 NA6x2NA 580 6x2 tag axle tractor with its chassis sharing the same 3.9m i steer-to-drive...

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eXc A BIG NIGHT OUT?

• Within minutes of pulling up at our overnight parking spot just outside Scania's main factory the eXc had attracted a host of...

eXc EVERYTHING...

mincludingthe kitchen sink I From the driver's seat forward, eXc is pure Topline including the bunk mounted off the front...

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eXc ON THE ROAD

• CAlls the first 111( magazine to drive Scania's eXc and we did it during a four-hour round-trip made up of motorway and...

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D own to the last detail • III What do you

call a company that wants to "make customised trailers—but in big volumes"? How does it achieve a close-toio o% record of...

STAS: AN AFFINITY WITH ALUMINIUM

• UK bulk hauliers have regularly flirted with all-aluminium trailers in the quest for maximum payloads. However, the...

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$A sells hard on Big A

• by Brian Weatherley Seddon Atkinson plans to rekindle interest In the Sig A' marque as a 'mainstream' truck...

Suzie errors leave trailers unbraked

• Braking and suspension systems manufacturer Wabco Automotive UK has warned vehicle operators to be particularly careful with...

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Firm ticked off for cavalier approach to its obligations

1E:2 A Birmingham company has lost half its fleet for a week for failing to notify the Traffic Area Office about the death of...

LICENCE SUSPENDED Maintenance problems led to the licence held by

Swanseabased Stephen Norman being suspended for two weeks, by Welsh TC David Dixon at a Pontypridd disciplinary Inquiry.

LICENCE REVOKED

The licence held by Port Talbotbased Afan Couriers was revoked when the company failed to appear before Welsh IC David Dixon on...

IESKIBIT OVF_RMDE Mitcham-based Retreaders Requirements was granted authority to base

six vehicles and four trailers in Cumnock, despite representations from neighbouring residents. However, Scottish OTC Richard...

FORMAL WARNING Problems over maintenance resulted In the licence held

by South Shields-based FJ Reeves (Northern) being cut to nine vehicles and two trailers at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry. North...

Driver 'unaware' he was banned

An east London lorry driver caught driving without insurance and while disqualified has been ordered to do 200 hours of...

The licence held by Alexander Smith. trading as Spenriymoor Haulage,

of Bishop Auckland, has been revoked, Smith had been called before North Eastern DTC Elizabeth Perritt at a Leeds disciplinary...

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forkshire company blames 'rogue fitter'

A West Yorkshire company has had its licence curt from 10 vehicles to seven for six weeks following two timing letters and two...

inchecked 'enthusiasm'

DI A 'conscientious and enthusiastic" driver who committed a series of ivers' hours and tachograph 'fences, left his employer...

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CALLING THE REGISTER Len Fuller is right in one respect

in his Sound Off article ( CM1218 Sept) when he says that trailer registration won't stop trailer theft, Unfortunately much of...

IS THE TEST TOO TOUGH?

As someone very new to the industry (I'm currently doing my Class 2), and coming from a retail background, I'm surprised at how...

JOINED UP THINKING

In your new weekly telematips page (CM310ct-6 Nov), Mark Clissett from Lex Transfleet hit: the nail on the head with his cat...

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HE PRICE OF IECRUITMENT

ead with interest your article iout drivers' wage increases l'A431 Oct-6 Nov). We have found it necessary give class C+E...

TAMING THE BEAST

I write with regard to your article on Home Office plans to increase the penalties for overloading ( CM26 Sept-2 Oct). The...

BLACKSMITH'S GREEN LIGHT

After being a long-distance truck driver for over 35 years, I have now had to give up the job and life that I loved after being...

CAUTION ADVISED

Should we raise the 40mph limit on single-carriageway roads CM24-30 OcOP I am very much against the raising of this limit, in...

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flo you have any titbits of Industry gossip? If so,

please contact Backfire, Commercial Motor, U, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 51/S, or fax 020 8652 8069....

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D or the past three years European based manufacturers have

been busy setting up used truck divisions to handle their buy-backs and fleet tractors. The smaller, more versatile truck...

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hat sort of person would want to run a six-day,

150-mile race across the Sahara in temperatures of 100°F, carrying all his own supplies? Andrew . Kay, for a start. He also...

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Oil NG ESSAGE

Trucks and trailers have always been used as moving billboards by hauliers; now some operators are beginning to hire out this...

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Using a mobile phone while driving may soon be banned,

with fines of up to £1,000 for those who can keep their mouths shut. Adam Hill reports. I you have recently seen a swarm of...

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Jonathan Lawton, high-profile transport lawyer with Nil Dickinson, warns that

the law governing overloading is in urgent need of a redraft_. • if you want to sound off about a road transport issue write...