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bird's eye view by the Hawk

11th May 1973, Page 66
11th May 1973
Page 66
Page 66, 11th May 1973 — bird's eye view by the Hawk
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• The new broom

Ralph Hilton Transport Services without Ralph Hilton will take a lot of getting used to. The new (temporary) chairman, ScotsCanadian chartered accountant Jim McNaughton, is a very different animal — a new broom who certainly seems determined to sweep pretty clean.

But where did he come from? Who invited him in? The answer to the latter question is not one of the large institutional shareholders or a large lender of funds — it was Ralph himself!

Jim McNaughton's story of his coming as told to James Millen, deputy editor of Accountancy (and an ex-CM staff man) rims:— "I had taken over the managing directorship of a paper merchanting company that was in deep trouble. It had a turnover of about £4 million. I signed a contract with them for four years, but stayed with them for five.

"I was in Japan in June of last year when the first whisperings of serious trouble for HTS were appearing in the financial Press. About two years before, in 1970, I developed a revolutionary idea in paper merchanting and needed to get a carrier who could move goods overnight, with guaranteed delivery at six o'clock in the morning. I used Hiltons.

"So when my chairman read about Ralph problems he came down to see him next day and said: "Ralph, you know Jim McNaughton; you've met him a few times. He's going to be on the market very soon — and if you've got troubles I would recommend him.

"Ralph phoned me up ."

Poor Ralph. He's still got troubles.

• Ringless

The new Labour GLC didn't waste any time in strengthening its ranks. Hardly had the aldermen donned their gowns than they were appointing J. Michael Thompson as their transport consultant. Michael Thompson is chairman of the London Amenity and Transport Association and was the leading professional critic of the transport proposals made by the previous administration. He was at one time at the old Ministry of Transport and was a transport economist at the LSE.

Any faint hope that the Ringway plans might have been rescued would now seem to have evaporated with Michael Thompson's appointment. But no doubt he has his own solution to London's transport problems.

• Full chat

Several readers have this week sent me copies of a cutting from one of those sporty motor magazines, advertising cars capable of achieving 140 mph. Which, it says, "may be properly used in countries without archaic speed limits": So, heaven be praised, we shall be spared the danger to nerve, life and limb of these low-flying machines.

However, you may think it strange (I certainly did) that the advertiser should then take a knock at heavy lorries and join the anti-lorry brigade with the demand that the Government shift goods traffic from road to rail. Presumably this to allow the developer of these "superb cars" to turn the motorways into gigantic racing circuits.

The one mistake which all these supposed environmentalists make is that they say "put the goods back on rail", assuming, quite wrongly of course, that the present road customers all used rail in the first place.

• What hounding?

A petition is doing the rounds at the moment demanding that action be taken against lorry drivers on M6 who are alleged to be hounding motorists on the centre lane by driving up close behind them and flashing their headlights until the car moves out of the way.

The petition comments "One can appreciate the advantages these drivers gain from this conduct in that they achieve small increments of ground and time for each successful victim they claim. Its increasing popularity suggests that they have discovered a new sport".

If it is a sport I know many motorists who play it The petitioners go on to suggest how to stamp out this "menace". They propose random checks on motorway bridges, extensive press and television coverage and a legal minimum distance between vehicles, with strict enforcement.

Soon after reading about the petition I happened to travel on M6 from the Porton service area at the top end all the way south until it joined Ml. Along the way I did my own extensive checks.

I found that heavy lorries, except when overtaking, occupied the inside lane. But despite the fact that there was room on the inside lane I encountered private cars using it in the ratio of only about one to every eight miles. Instead, the cars were using the centre lane as a slow lane, where the average speed was less than 50 mph, thus causing the outside lane or overtaking lane to be almost permanently occupied by motorists who wanted to get on with it.

Motorists who want to dawdle really should use the inside lane and allow others, car and lorry drivers alike, who want to travel at a sensible but safe pace to use the motorways in a manner for which they were constructed.

• Very hot

The single ERS house magazine has gone and has been replaced with nine newspapers of standard format. There is one for each of the districts, one for the car transport division and, of course, head office.

The editor is nothing if not bold, since, the headline in the April issue of each edition screams out of the front page to the drivers "We know you are the best!"

There was a time when such a declaration would have brought a queue of shop stewards to the manager's desk demanding a substantial wage increase. Perhaps the queue is waiting for the autumn thaw, or it may be that the men remain unconvinced of their Mohammed Ali status, but let's not be uncharitable; it could very well be that BRS enjoys good industrial relations. Nevertheless, I still think that the editor was a brave man.

• Blow-outs

At least every 21 minutes of every day of the week in the year, a long-distance vehicle has a puncture away from home. I say at least because these are the calls which are attended to by the companies of the new National Tyre Service — W. Briggs & Co, the Marsham Tyre Co, and the Gorrills group, which claims to have 40 per cent of the emergency service business for commercial vehicles in the UK. A quick calculation tells me that this means that there are about 180 blow-outs among the long-distance men every 24 hours.

This is the kind of situation that the NTS has geared itself to meet, with service areas adjacent to most motorways and trunk roads and an exceptionally good emergency advice booklet available to drivers.

• Between the lines

You often have to read between the lines to get at the truth of things, but it isn't often that readers of CM are expected to read literally between the lines to get the sense of things.

I make this sweeping statement because some readers may have wondered what on earth had happened at the top of page 32 of our April 27 issue. The answer is that if you do read between the lines you will detect the words "This is what Michael Keogh said in CM June 23 1972 about the haulier; now read what he has to say about. . ." And then follows "The anatomy of the manufacturer."

Only on some copies the opening statement was so greyly between the lines that some readers obviously missed it. Sorry!


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