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bird 's eye view by the Hawk
Page 62
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0 Back door exports
Exporting vehicles to world markets is not the sole prerogative of the manufacturers as was instanced in a London court last week, when two gentlemen from the scrap metal industry found themselves on the wrong side of the law. It transpired that they had been appropriating vehicles and log books to match, selling them to an export agent who was shipping them to Singapore and then they were being resold to operators in the Chinese People's Republic. I wonder what Chairman Mao's thoughts were on this exercise! But even more important, how on earth were they able to offer an after-sales service? The whole scheme was discovered by an observant driver delivering to a ship in London Docks when he recognized, despite a repaint, one of his company's vehicles that had been stolen the previous week.
0 Mini problem
It seems as if they're having a bit of leftand right-hand trouble down at London Transport. On the one hand we learn that night services are so costly to operate that unless the fares are doubled the services will continue to lose money, currently estimated at £71,000 a year. It seems there is just too small a market for buses at 3 am to make them viable.
Now what about the other hand? Well, we are also told that London Transport is to operate four minibus services with 16-seater coaches (CM May 5). The cost of operating a 41-seater is around £200 per week, the cost of operating a 16-seater is about £100 per week.
What's wrong I wonder with using the minibuses on the night service? It's just possible, of course, that the night services and minibuses are controlled by two different committees.
CI Flying busmen Geoff Wainwright and David Whitham are a couple of men with an eye to the future. They run a coach touring business up in Halifax but recently they bought the old airstrip belonging to the David Brown Corporation at Crosland Hill in Huddersfield. The idea is to help business in the West Riding get to European customers with the minimum of delay. However, at the same time, the two men can of course, book tours in their own agency, carry passengers in their own buses to their own airstrip and then offer short air trips as an added attraction. Just to ensure they keep it in the family, David has a pilot's licence.
O Mating call
It is joy unbounded for the poor old Hawk this week. Just when I thought that the mating season for 1972 had passed me by I hear that a "Hawkess" has appeared on the scene. In one of thosesporty motoring journals — not one of ours — a young bird is using my headline "Bird's Eye View". Sorry dear, it is not original but thanks for the compliment. In fact we started this feature on August 12 1955 at the beginning of the grouse season and there are those who say we have been grousing ever since.
111 Old campaigners Tuesday night was the farewell performance for Willie Mafillan as RHA chairman. It seems that chairmen are destined to be lumbered with a topic which will take them through their term of office. Phil Turner had an exciting time fighting the Transport Bill; Noel Wynn never lost an opportunity to fight the training board; Willie McMillan, it seems, has had to spend his time trying to convince John Peyton that lorries are not offensive to the environment and that is precisely where he finished on Tuesday. In fact it was he who said that his speech had come to be regarded as a continuing dialogue between the Minister and the Association.
It looks as if for the first time ever the retiring chairman will hand over his party piece to his successor and that John Wells will become the new champion of lorries in the environment.
O Mystery name
There must be some good reason why the Essex Group Training Association should make a secret of its pending name change, though for the life of me I cannot understand why. The Group has decided to form itself into a limited company from August 1 but for the moment the only people who have been told of the new name are the members. So now the rest of the world will wait with baited breath for the big news, which will be leaked, unintentionally no doubt, before August 1.
O Another veteran
Last week it was the London to Brighton run, four weeks from now it will be Hull to Scarborough when Humberbus organize their annual "East Coast Run". This is purely a bus outing and as yet the Humberside preservation group own only 10 vehicles with an average age of 27 years.
The best place to see the cavalcade is on A165 some time after noon on June 11.