Lorries go to the wall
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
NINETEEN OUT of every 100 goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes gross were laid up during the weeks in 1979 when the Department of . Transport conducted surveys of road goods transport.
In the 20to 24-tonnes-gross class about 29 out of every 100 were off the road. In terms of unladen weight the most "idle" category was that for nine to ten tons, with almost a third against the wall.
This sombre intelligence comes from £5 worth of statistics published by the department. The figures for 1980 are likely to be even more depressing.
In case you doubt the authority of this misery, I assure you that the sample was drawn from a centralised computer record of all vehicles on operators' licences "on a quarterly basis in the form of a stratified systematic random sample of about 5,000 goods vehicles."
Now tell me you don't feel better already.