Next Week
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NEXT WEEK CM looks at the North East, often described as one of the most industrially depressed areas of Britain. CM reviews prospects for haulage in the area, and finds hauliers are still plagued by low rates and uncertainty about future growth.
• We look at how individual hauliers are coping in a difficult market. Jack Semple reports on how hard work is beginning to make haulage pay for a small parcels operator.
• We also look at road planning in Tyne and Wear, one of the eight areas studied by the British Road Federation in its report Room to Move.
The report doubts whether the current Transport Supplementary Grant for the region will be sufficient for the council's ambitious road development programme to be carried through.
• Karrier Motors' Dodge G12 is aimed at the top end of the 12-tonne gross vehicle weight band, across which the excise duty rate remains constant. Around our Welsh test route it gave a performance that suggests it will become as popular as its 16-tonne counterpart. Bryan Jarvis gives the details next week.
• One event not in the North East but undoubtedly meriting Noel Millier's full attention is the annual British Coach Rally at Brighton. More competitors and vehicle exhibitors than at any previous other rally make this the premier European event of its kind. A full report appears next week.
• The North East did not escape Noel's attention. He visited a municipal bus operator which is reporting reduced engineering costs and increasing passenger loads despite operating in an area with around 20 per cent unemployment.
• CM also has visited what must surely rate as the smartest tipper fleet in the North East. R. & A. Young is a young company but has very quickly established itself as one of the leading tipper operators in Co Durham. In just a few years the company has gone from a two-vehicle concern working on contract to other hauliers to a point where it employs the sub-contractors. How has this been achieved? David Wilcox has the story.