JANUARY SALES
Page 45
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• I am currently obtaining quotations for a new truck and have come to the conclusion that the industry must surely be in a very bad way if my experience is typical.
On contacting various manufacturers and distributors I have been offered trucks at a third off the list price.
If you can afford to, now is definitely the time to pick up a bargain, (but don't sell your old truck — they're worthless).
I also suspect that I am not alone in finding it more and more difficult to get paid on time. This is no doubt a direct result of current interest rates.
Just before Christmas I went up North in my car. Snow stopped play. Do snow ploughs and grit lorries actually exist? Why is it impossible to clear the M6 when the Ml three miles away has all lanes open? Whose fault is it? Why do the police not really offer good information on routes? Why should I worry? I spent a pleasant weekend cut off in Warwick.
This makes me wonder. Did I pick the wrong time to stop being a Scania salesman and go into transport?
David Holmes, Twickenham, Middx.
SPEED LIMITERS • I have just read your report on speeding drivers. As we all speed sometimes, I think the penalty should reflect the circumstances.
For instance, speeding near a school or town centre is usually more dangerous than on a motorway. However, an HOY at 112km/h (70mph) is virtually a 38-tonne missile.
think the answer to stopping these drivers from speeding lies with the transport managers who are in turn answerable to the Licensing Authorities. Transport managers should check all tachograph charts so that a problem such as speeding can be stopped in the early stages. As charts are kept for 12 months recorded proof of persistent offenders cannot be legally destroyed.
I think that a lot of these drivers seriously need retraining. In the case of tailgating, the people in the car are within two seconds of being crushed to smithereens in the eventuality of a mishap.
The irony of it all is that very few drivers are paid job and finish; most are paid by the hour. If they only realised that driving half as fast is easier, safer and above all much more relaxed, pleasant and less stressful. The hourly pay would be the same and each hour would still have 60 minutes. Show me a speeder and I'll show you a fool.
P Wilson, Mill Bank, Halifax, West Yorkshire.
Commercial Motor welcomes readers' letters, which can be phoned in on 081-661 3689 (24-hour service). Letters may be edited for length and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor.