IN YOUR OPINION
Page 64
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Shop Floor Wages
nN November 27 "The Hawk" posed the question: "What is the man on the shop floor getting?" I can tell him. With a 10s. wage increase only last week I expect my gross wage up to next April to be at the rate of £745 p.a. I am a time-served fitter with 27 years' experience, but lack of these precious paper qualifications prevents me from attempting to gain one of these £975 per annum posts.
Other weekly wages in my area are: £11 7s. 6d. in public garages; 11-12 guineas for work in a large haulage company; 13 guineas for work in the local authority workshop and local Co-op.
Aberdeen, Scotland. JOHN D. PAYNE.
Engine Quality
THE letter from Mr. Rippon in your issue of October 23 conveys an impression that Gardne'r engines have builtin quality. They do. It does not convey that Cummins have comparable quality. But they do.
Mr. Thompson, in the same issue, writes of fuel economy, but which model does he compare with which Gardner? Cummins make many different types and models of engine. Let him run a Cummins NH180 against a 6LX. He will get quite a surprise, A lot of prejudice creeps into the correspondence on this subject because Cummins Shotts has an American parent. So what? There is still more British capital in America than American capital in Britain.
And who crewed the Mayflower, anyway?
Tripoli, Libya. M. A. GRANT.
Tipper Troubles
VOU published my letter in your edition of May 8, when A I wrote expressing concern at the decision of Feltham magistrates in the " Gravel Firm C-licence Test Case ". Now we read in your licensing pages that the appeal made by the Ministry traffic examiner before the Queen's Bench Divisional Court was dismissed.
Where do we go from here? There must be a solution to protect us licensed tipper operators. As I explained in my letter of May 8, we cannot compete with the gravel 026 pit owners who carry rubbish on C licence. They definitely have a lead of nearly 2s. per Cu. yd. when quoting a customer to cart away surplus excavated material and rubbish. We licensed operators have to pay anything from 12s. 6d. to 15s. per load to fill in these old gravel pits.
If only this matter could have been sorted out by the Licensing Authority in the traffic court, it would have given the Aand B-licensed operators a chance to express their views on the subject and to demand protection from the rate cutting that is bound to come with this C-licensed operation. If these gravel pit owners operate B-licensed vehicles in addition to those on C licence, are they entitled to oppose a licensed tipper operator in the traffic court? Or do we buy a disused gravel pit that wants filling in, and operate on C licence ourselves should we ever require extra vehicles in the future?
I am sure the Licensing Authority will agree with me when I say that we have reached a very difficult and unsatisfactory situation in the tipper haulage industry in the Metropolitan area. Surely the time has come for London operators to get together, like other areas have already done, and form our own protection group to deal with this disastrous situation. Or are we going to carry on to the end, with the rubbish carting rates getting worse and worse?
J. W. FANE,
Manager, Tankard Motors Ltd.
[N. H. Tilsley discusses this case in Licensing Casebook on page 33.]
Spare Parts Delays
I PERUSED with interest the letter submitted by Mr. G. W. Hughes in your edition of October 23 relating to supplies of spare parts from U.K. manufacturers.
It is regrettable it has to be confirmed that this is typical from an overseas point of view.
Spares delays have been and still are anything from 15 months to six months before receipt. Manufacturers who select agents for their equipment do not seem to insist that they hold sufficient spares. In some cases they place the orders direct on the manufacturer after submission by the customer. This has a damaging effect on U.K. equipment and has a tendency to divert replacement equipment orders to countries which can supply spares when required. Mr. Hughes' last paragraph is fully endorsed.
Georgetown, British Guiana. H. STONARD.