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Tke tug waif
Page 79
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'Recently I was detained at Freightliners depot at Birmingham along with about 40 other drivers. The depot was almost at a complete halt due to the breakdown of the overhead cranes.
The only machine on site that was working was a monstrous side loader which looked as much at home as a bull in a china shop. This machine, driven like a lorry into position, then stop lifts or lays boxes then moves back to a wider piece of the yard to drop the boxes onto the vehicles. Each box took about 15 minutes to be picked up and put on road vehicles.
Freightliners would be better selling this massive machine and using the cash to purchase small or medium front-lift trucks. This would ensure a quicker turn-round for lorries which are not being paid to sit around Freightliners yards.
A further distressing sight was that when one of the overhead cranes was repaired, it immediately went on to lifting • Freightliners' own boxes from their lorries onto the train, still leaving this huge queue of hauliers to wait for the forklift. Waiting time is not paid for. I. M. GONNIE