Lorry Driver of the Year
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THE Lorry Driver of the year" is Peter D. Privett, of Messrs. W. G. Privett and Sons, Drayton, Portsmouth. This was decided at the final contests of the national competition. organized by Coventry and Portsmouth Road Accident Prevention Councils, at Coventry, last Saturday, at the Banner Lane premises of the Standard Motor Co., Ltd.
Second place was gained by G. W. Forrester, of G. A. Day, Ltd., Hilsea, Portsmouth. Both he and Privett drove eight-wheelers, Privett an A.E.C. Mammoth Major 12-cu.-yd. tipper and Forrester a Leyland Octopus platform lorry. Third place was taken by E. L Brooks, nf Ernest. Batley, Ltd., from Coventry, who drove a Dodge 2-3-ton drop-sider, and fourth by D. Acreman (British Road Services), driving a Bedford articulated van.
Seventy-two vehicles arrived at Coventry for the competition. There
were no road tests or examinations of drivers on their knowledge of the Highway Code: the competition simply comprised three tests. The first involved driving through a lane of pylons and braking to rest with the frontwheels across a line, the second to reverse into a narrow opening and come out again, and the third to drive into a confined rectangular space and manceuvre out.
A handicap system was evolved for the final tests in the afternoon, based on the times returned by the five best contestants in each group in the morn ing. Smaller vehicles had a bigger handicap than the larger models, but the articulated vehicles were scratch in the third test because they could drive into the rectangle, turn round and get out without having to reverse.
Forrester and Acreman earned applause in the reversing test, likewise V. Ashby (Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, Ltd.), in a Leyland Comet-Taskers "Queen Mary." I. W. Aitken (Royal Navy), arrived with a tedford articulated vehicle 70 ft. long. The 20-ft. rear overhang was an embarrassment in the reversing test, but he accomplished the third with aplomb.
Privett handled his vehicle in determined fashion, and demonstrated how to get wheelspin on a dry road with an eight-wheeler.