Mrs Castle makes a new regulation!
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And you benefit. With York-24 tons gross on 3 axles means 17 tons payload.
The new transport laws contained a big surprise: an increased gross operating weight for 3 axle artics. The previous 22 ton gross limit is boosted to 24 tons gross. AND IT'S EFFECTIVE NOW!
What does it mean to you?
With a YORK trailer it means 17 tons payload on a single axle trailer. That's more than with an 8-wheel rigid at a fraction of the cost.
Here's a comparison of operating costs:
Pay. . . US-style
THE secrecy and "closed doors" approach to wages negotiations in this country contrasts oddly with the rather more open approach in America. There the latest round between the Teamsters Union and truck operators began before television cameras, newspaper reporters and almost anyone else who could cram into the room.
However, even the States do talk privately sometimes, and on Wednesday the talks continued in traditional "closed door" fashion. In true style, the teamsters modestly claim their demands will entail a rise of between 5 and 7 per cent—in line with government requests. The employers' computer, however, thinks that in total the demands (pay plus conditions) amount to 11.43 per cent.
As a matter of, I trust, no more than passing interest US truck drivers earn a basic wage of between 22s. and 26s. an hour. Employers' average contribution per employee towards fringe benefits amounts to some 118s. a week.
And one of the things the unions now want is more time off— presumably to spend all that lovely cash!
Women at Work
THE all-women sales force engaged by Tartan Arrow Service early in October to sell parcel and container transport in the Glasgow area has been so successful that it is to be extended. Already two saleswomen have been appointed in Edinburgh, and now Tartan is considering extending the experiment to its London depot.
So pleased is Tartan chairman John Chester that recently he took his eight saleswomen to lunch.
All the women say that at first traffic managers and executives were surprised when they called, but they met with unfailing courtesy. Says Mrs. Christine Howard, former telegraphist, with a boy of nine and a girl aged six. "I think most customers, first time round, came out to see what I looked like. A woman selling transport, I think, was expected to look like Ena Sharpies and act like Sir John Wilder. Now, however, those who use the service arc so pleased with it they don't care, and the majority of those who don't still come out and chat."
Clippies Night Out
TWENTY-FOUR Worksop depot conductresses of East Midland Motor Services Ltd. went to a Chesterfield night club one night recently. But the man who footed the bill died last year. He was bachelor-miner Donald Norman, of Dinnington. And he "left" the night out to the clippies by bequeathing them £40 in recognition of the courtesy and cheerful service given to him in his 23 years of travel by East Midland buses.
The conductresses chose the 24 night-outers themselves—by picking those with the greatest length of service (350 years between them).
The night out? The girls voted it a "fare do!"
Getting With It
As the Common Market hits the headlines again, the average Briton's insularity is embarrassingly revealed by an almost universal lack of any language save his mother tongue.
That, unfortunately, is not the only shortcoming to be surmounted. One must also get with it as regards current official jargon.
In the January issue of the EEC Bulletin, I read that a problem to be solved in arriving at a common transport policy is "the establishment of coefficients of equivalence relating to the degree of infrastructure capacity utilization".
No wonder the 1962 "Action" programme is not yet in orbit!
Not Getting With It
my colleagues and I have our stint of silly season queries to answer. Like the spare-parts stockist who hopefully thought someone might be able to tell him how many headlamps in a certain range manufactured from 1933 onwards were still fitted to licensed vehicles. Considerately, he was not insisting on information earlier than that.
At the other end of the scale is last week's classic. A large commercial vehicle manufacturer wanted information on maintenance carried out by a large-scale operative. BRS was suggested as one possible source.
"How do I get in touch with BRS?"
And you see their vehicles in BRS livery every day!
When Silence Is. . .
AN application to vary a licence came before the Metropolitan LA last October. The case was adjourned. It was reopened and adjourned again in December. Last week it was reopened not as a variation but as a renewal because it was by then out of date. Masses of documents were presented in support. They proved—an illegal operation on the part of the applicant. Result: no variation, and one vehicle suspended for three months.
Sometimes it pays to say "nowt".
Tired Gauges
BEDFORDSHIRE county council's decision to buy a master gauge to test air pressure gauges at garages has been amply justified by the results of its first 32 tests. They showed that 24 per cent of the gauges had errors of more than two pounds per square inch, the average error being four pounds per square inch.
The council bought the master gauge as a contribution to road safety after investigations on a national scale had shown that more than half the air-pressure gauges on garage forecourts were inaccurate. Because the council has no statutory right to test gauges, the tests are being made voluntarily.