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A lcan goes articulated by R. D. Cater . . . and has its drivers trained accordingly

14th January 1966
Page 31
Page 31, 14th January 1966 — A lcan goes articulated by R. D. Cater . . . and has its drivers trained accordingly
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

INCREASING demands on the transport

organization of the Alcan Industries factory at Banbury, Oxfordshire, caused the company's transport manager, Mr. V. C. Harrison, to make a close study of the merits of articulation against those of rigid vehicles. The answers that he came up with confirmed his first thoughts that the artic was the most useful vehicle and four new outfits were duly ordered.

Two of the 17 vehicles already operated from the works were articulated, and in the past this low ratio had not presented any difficulty if either of the regular drivers went sick or was absent.

Mr. Harrison quickly saw, however, that in increasing the ratio of artics he might well run into difficulties when trying to replace drivers, and for this reason he decided to enlist the services of The British School of Motoring to convert all his driving staff into artic drivers.

Last week I was invited to accompany the BSM commercial vehicle course manager, Mr. D. F. Sutcliffe, on one of the routine assessment circuits that he has for the past two weeks been carrying out with the Alcan drivers.

The BSM vehicle is a Ford 6D Trader and York 12-ton single-axle semi-trailer laden with 10 tons of concrete ballast. The driver on this run was 60-year-old Gerald Stanton, who has been with Alcan for 24 years, but never before had he driven an articulated vehicle.

In his usual manner Mr. Sutcliffe collected all his pupil's particulars and described the vehicle controls before explaining the differences between driving a rigid and driving an artic. When this was done he drove the vehicle for a short distance to demonstrate the points that he had been making. Mr. Stanton then took the wheel and started off on his first-ever trip with an artic.

Mr. Stanton was gently coaxed along for the first 10 minutes, with Mr. Sutcliffe giving advice on the general handling of the vehicle, how best to stop it safely and how not to— and, when the first right-angle turn came along, how best to get round without getting into trouble. I could see that the pupil was very soon at complete ease with the instructor and that the gently given advice was sinking in extremely quickly.

Throughout the 20-mile test, advice was imparted to the driver and at the time of arriving back at the Alcan works, he was in my opinion handling the machine confidently, if not expertly. The real test would come, of course, when he tried to back into a loading bay.

Sure enough the reversing procedure came hard to Mr: Stanton who, after all, had put "right lock" on to turn right for something like 40 years. After several attempts it was clear that he was not going to make a job of it, and Mr. Sutcliffe rightly ended the test there and then. His report, which followed closely my own jottings made during the test, was that Mr. Stanton had passed with flying colours on every count except reversing. He considered that two hours' instruction in this field was required.

Mr. Sutcliffe was the instructor when early last year I took the BSM commercial vehicle drivers' check test, and I know from the findings then that he is extremely capable in assessing the ability of a driver. From this knowledge I am sure that he was not far out in his assessment of the time needed to teach Mr. Stanton the method of reversing an artic.

He went to great lengths to impress upon me that he did not produce an expert handler of articulated vehicles. What he did, or tried to be certain of doing, was to make every driver that passed through the course conversant with the requirements of handling an artic and the right way of going about this.

A significant point that came out of my visit to Alcan was that about two-thirds of the drivers employed there needed instruction in reversing an artic. This, I feel, justifies in no uncertain manner the action of Mr. Harrison who, after consulting the drivers' union, decided to embark on the scheme. He told me that he thought very highly of his driving staff and considered that they played an important part in the company's activities, particularly with regard to customer relations. A second significant point was that every driver without exception showed a very high standard of general vehicle handling and roadcraft, and it is to their credit that they have accepted the test and advice given by Mr. Sutcliffe.

The World's Carriers' Year Book

Pr HE 51st edition of The World's Carriers Year Book is now available, price 20s. (23s. postage paid), from Carriers Publishing Co. Ltd., 147 Victoria Street, London SW1. It contains a diary for 1966 with three days to a foolscap page, whilst 67 pages of the editorial content comprise the legal section. Addresses of organizations associated with road transport are also given.


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