Opinions and Queries
Page 35
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CHECK TYRES WHEN HIRING TO THE ARMY
WOULD it be possible for you to give some space in your valuable journal to convey a warning to operators generally regarding the tyres fitted to vehicles they hire to the military?
The following case has been brought to my notice, and it is self-explanatory: A member of this Association hired a vehicle to the military some four months ago. A fortnight previously if had been completely fitted with seven new tyres, including one on the spare wheel.
The vehicle has now been returned to him by the military with the request that he should fit five new tyres in place of five which are completely worn out. On examining these he finds that they are not the tyres that were on the vehicle when the military first had it, and the authorities are disputing this fact. The remaining two tyres are those originally fitted; the bile on the spare wheel is still unworn, and the other is showing reasonable wear.
It may be that the Army will " climb down' on this matter, but at the moment its attitude suggests that it may not do so.
The safeguard necessary would perhaps be that the operator should obtain a receipt when the vehicle is taken over by the military, and amongst other things this receipt should bear the tyre numbers.
Chatham. P. S. WoonnousE, Secretary, South-Eastern Area, Associated Road Operators.
• SHOULD C.V. DRIVERS GIVE LIFTS?
I NOTICED amongst your recent " Passing Comments"
the suggestion that employers should give their drivers explicit instructions regarding the practice of giving lifts to men in the Services. May I suggest that it would be much mbre satisfactory if the Government would issue a definite "yes " or "no" on the subject?
Left to the employers, the matter would not be any clearer than it is now, because there is a large percentage of generous-hearted employers who gave their men permission at the outbreak of war, others still only appear concerned with their office, business, vehicles. and possibilities of accident.
This lift-giving business is one of broad considerations at the best of times, let alone in times of war, although I know that, without any restrictions, there probably would always be some drivers prone to give people lifts for purposes of " joy-rides "; but it is only fair to the large majority of drivers to say that the practice of giving lifts is far from any ideas of this nature.
The fact of the matter is that it is usually only on occasions of emergency that drivers may be found giving lifts. We drivers are bound to one another in an unwritten bond of comradeship and are compelled thereby to help any driver whom we find to be in need of assistance on the road.
Most of us have been glad of a lift at some past date and, in any case, we never know when we may need one in future; thus, when another driver hails us to stop and give him a lift, for all sorts of .reasons—he may have broken down and want to get to a garage or 'phone box, or perhaps a chap has missed his bus and might have to wait an hour for another unless some kind-hearted lorry driver will give him a lift—we feel bound to do it.
On one occasion before the war I was driving my wagon in an open country spot and heavy rain came on, giving anxiety to an aged couple trudging along with the week-end shopping—they had missed a bus and, with a long time to wait for the next, had started to walk five miles to their home. I overtook them in my vehicle, which had ample room to take them, and I definitely decided that I could not but offer them a lift —which I did.
When this question of giving lifts is looked into it will usually be found that it was sponsored by unusual circumstances.
There should be no need for any rules and regulations concerning this practice. Giving people rides for hire or reward is, of course, a. different proposition.
Bletchley. SY MPATFfETTC.
NO HEREFORD AGREEMENT FOR BEET RATES NiTY attention has been called to a paragraph•in your IVIissue for October 25 reporting a meeting of the Lincoln branch of the N.F.U. and Grimsby and Scunthorpe Transport associations, in which it was stated that the committee of the N.F.U. offered, as a compromise, the Hereford Agreement.
I have been asked by hauliers in the Hereford district to point out that there is no such thing as a "Hereford Agreement," the proposed schedule having been submitted to hauliers by the .D.T.O. concerned, and unanimously rejected.
London, S.W.1. ROGER W. SEWILT., Director and Secretary, Associated Road Operators.
WHAT WAGES SHOULD BE PAID TO C-LICENCE DRIVER?
I SHOULD be pleased if you could let me know what wages we should pay our lorry driver. We are country provender millers and the lorry driver, after loading his lorry with feeding stuffs, is out delivering same and collecting different feeding stuffs. He averages five to six hours a clay, actually driving.
The lorry is a Bedford 2-tonner operating under a
C licence and is loaded up to 5 tons. N. T. Sleaford.
[You are in a Grade III Area, The wage of a driver of a. vehicle operated under an A or B licence and carrying a 5-ton pay-load . is a minimum of Os. per 48-hour week. If your vehicle journeys into higher-graded areas, wages appropriate,to those grades must be paid: that is, Grade II 68s. per week, and Grade I 73s. per week. The above wages must be paid notwithstanding the fact that the driver does not actually work 48 hours per week. Although the wages thus enumerated and scheduled in RA-1.4, which embodies regulations made under the Road Haulage Wages Act, apply only to drivers of vehicles operating under A and B licences, drivers of C vehicles are supposed to receive those wages if they be doing similar work. There is, however, as yet, no compulsion and in your case it does not appear that your vehicle is being used for "hire or reward."—S.T.R.]