Pussyfooting is out
Page 63
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Frank Tinsdale argues that Brass Tacks needs a pointed reply from the whole industry before it's too late
WHAT A FUSS some people in the road transport industry have made about Brass Tacks, the somewhat slanted recent BBC TV programme. I am amazed at the furore it has caused; surely anyone remotely knowledgeable about our industry and the general attitude of the media could have expected little else than what they saw ...
I have been privileged to write in CM before calling for a concerted effort by the industry to present the case for the heavy truck, but it seems the whole industry will never join forces for a concerted attack on our critics.
In CM March 3 the directorgeneral of the Freight Transport Association complained about its editor "falling into the trap of poor and biased research" and accused the magazine of adopting the same tone as that of the offending TV item.
Now, the editor of CM does not need me to defend him, but I must say with all respect to Mr Turvey of the FTA, that perhaps the road transport industry has pussyfooted long enough.
The case for the heavy commercial vehicle is a sound one and recent events in France have shown what can happen when heavy vehicles come to a standstill. If we followed suit in Britain, this country would be at a standstill within a couple of days and maybe it is time the general public was reminded of that fact. I am not suggesting a strike or similar action, but I do strongly urge that the public and the authorities should be told, just how much the economy of Great Britain depends on heavy goods road transport.
Years of discussion, efforts such as York's campaign some years ago and the efforts of Commercial Motor have not produced much real success for us. As the industry will not come together to fight off the real threats facing road transport, maybe one should start to consider some other way to achieve what is, after all, a common aim.
The trouble is, each divergent part of our industry disagrees with the others in how the message should be presented. Management, trade unions, ownaccount operators, hire or reward contractors, manufacturers, dealers and all the many other institutions which depend on the heavy lorry for their health and livelihood want the benefits of road haulage put forward in a different manner. So long as agreement cannot be reached, so will our enemies prosper.
Can we not, for once, agree on the one simple fact and this is that unless the public and its masters can be convinced of the absolute need of the heavy vehicle, all sections of the road transport industry will continue to suffer from legislation, limitation and downright frustration.
The public will already have forgotten the Brass Tacks programme in detail, but, once again, the germ already in the mind of Joe public will have been nurtured and will have grown so that each attempted step forward by our industry will meet more and more resistance.
Talk to your average, nontransport friends and ask them what they think of heavy vehicles. The anonymous "K.M. of Reading" said it, according to Bird's-Eye View in this journal. Heavy lorries don't use rear mirrors and crowd motorists on to other often crowded motorway lanes without any thought for the other drivers. Well, I'm not anonymous and I'll come right out say I have seen it happen scores of times and have even been a victim myself. So what? Every driver has his off moments and most of us drive only a fraction of the mileage covered by the man with the hgv licence. While some of them are "cowboys", so are a great many other road users. The vast majority of hgv drivers have a lot to put up with on our overcrowded, constantlyunder-repair roads and motorways, but a few of them give way to the human errors of using their size and bulk to bully the private motorist.
Nevertheless, it is enough to mention heavy vehicles to raise the image of a tattooed ruffian at the wheel of a rig looking like a block of flats on wheels! Why can all sections of the road transport industry, the FTA, RHA, SMMT, unions, etc, not agree at least to fund a good and professional film on the benefits of our business and how the country would be affected if road transport came to a halt?
Such a film would be expensive to do properly, but there would be a lot of spin-off publicity for the participants. The various vehicle makes shown would gain as would the operators, wholesalers, warehousemen and all the sundry companies involved. The film would find viewers in all walks of life and might even get itself shown on TV. What a counterbalance that would be to the Brass Tacks episode.
Shell Oil, among others, has gained a lot of goodwill through its films and I venture to suggest that the main-in-the-street thinks more highly of the North Sea oil rigs and their personnel than he does of hgv and their drivers.
Surely the various sectors involved in transport could agree on such a relatively straightforward method for promoting the heavy goods vehicle? After all, it need not be in any way contentious. All that is needed is a damned good story-line showing these vehicles at work in our everyday environment and, who knows, the heavy goods vehicle industry might once again occupy the respected position it used to enjoy in the public mind.
If something positive is not done, and done soon, yet another TV programme will be broadcast and next time it may receive peak viewer treatment. After that, it may be too late to make any real effect on public opinion. Heaven knows, it's late enough already!