IN YOUR OPINION
Page 64
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Too Much Licence
qo commercial vehicle operators are now having their private driving licences endorsed for small defects in their vehicles? I wonder how far-fetched the following exchange will seem when read in a couple of months' time.
Before the Cuckoofleld Magistrates: R. v. The Gigantic Transport Co. Ltd.
Police witness: I apprehended the vehicle at 3 a.m. in a heavy thunderstorm and found that one of the two driving mirrors was broken.
Clerk to the Court: Call the Transport Manager of the Gigantic Transport Co.—You are the Transport Manager?
Miss Mopsie Poppet: Yes, sir. The boss, see, he gets me to sign a service agreement to make me transport manager all legal, and my emol—emol
Clerk: -uments?
Miss Poppet: Yes, that's what I meant. Two quid a time, he
says, every time I gets called into court. •
His Worship: I find the case proved. I shall fine the company, and order your driving licence to be endorsed.
Miss Poppet: Ooh, you don't catch me that easy. No licence. I aren't seventeen yet, see?
His Worship: But after the first three, she would thereby have endorsed. Any previous convictions?
Clerk: Fourteen imaginary endorsements upon her imaginary licence your worship.
His Worship: But after the first three, she would thereby have
been disqualified from committing the crime of obtaining a licence under-age for the purpose of presenting us with something upon which to make further endorsements, would she not?
Clerk: That would appear to be so.
His Worship: Has she anything else which we could endorse? Clerk: Not in this Court, your worship.
His Worship: Call Mr. Ernest Marples!
Nursling, Southampton. P. T. PATTERSON,
Director,
Thomas Patterson and Son Ltd.
'The Automatic Choice'
I WAS interested in the comments of Mr. E. G. Corke I (The Commercial Motor, July 26) referring to my article "The Automatic Choice" in the July 5 issue. He claims that the Routemasters at his local depot give a vicious lurch during automatic changes from second to third gear.
As indicated in my article, there appears to be appreciable variation between one journey and another in this respect. I have had some trips of the kind experienced by Mr. Corke, but I have also been in other buses when the gearchanges in" automatic" were comparable to those of an exceptionally careful driver. The majority of buses probably lie between these extremes, although I would put
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the average level of refinement a good deal higher than Mr. Corke.
The change from second to third gear is certainly that most prone to jerkiness, but I am informed by London Transport that the makers of the transmission are developing a refinement which should ensure smooth changes_ I notice that Mr. Corke refers to fluid flywheel slip accompanying the final change into top gear. I suspect that this may have been slip of the fourth-speed clutch in the gearbox, which in my experience sometimes persists for about 2-3 seconds after a change into top gear. I have noticed this on a small proportion of buses with epicyclic gearboxes of presekctive, direct-acting and fully automatic types, and the phenomenon is thus by no means confined to the last-named. The cause would appear to be inadequate thrust on the fourth-speed clutch plates; one has the impression that the delay is caused by failure of the oil films between them to break down,
Manual gearbox control was adopted for the Green Line Routemasters because their drivers do not have to cope with prolonged periods of driving in heavy traffic or the frequent stops of their Central bus colleagues. It so happens that I recently made a series of journeys on these vehicles, and whilst the standard of gearchanging is usually very good, I have noticed that the occasional driver makes jerky gearchanges, so that the human element plays its part on both types of transmission,
Sunningdale, Berks. A. A. TOWNSIN.
Stop the 'Rat Race' First
THE Licensing Authorities are concerned (The Commer.
cial Motor, August 2) about low standards of maintenance, are they? Well, speaking as a small operator, so am I. It may come as a surprise to my own L.A. to know that we hauliers realize we cannot earn money from a stationary lorry, but has he ever considered things from our side of the fence?
There has been a general rat-race for loads for the best part of two years, and rates get lower and lower (it's no good the Road Haulage Association recommending increases to me). So if the gentleman concerned will kindly stop handing out general licences to every contract man and C-licensee in the area, and so ease the stupid race
for loads at any price, have a go at earning proper rates so that I have time to take a vehicle off the road now and then.
Until he does, I'm afraid it's a case of "first things first" for me—and Number I on my list is earning a living. For very obvious reasons I sign myself only,
DESPERATE.