"itaitivl Ike 6 9 tutu Rd me I was very interested
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in the article on tachographs by the Liverpool driver ("Figures fit for a tacho,CM February 4). He indeed must be a very educated man to have given the figures you have printed.
As a retired transport driver, I agree with everything he mentioned. Many times I have had arguments with employers regarding journey times, and was sometimes accused of
''hanging the bag on— a caption given to drivers who took longer on a journey than
other drivers.
I did indeed take longer on a journey because I never exceeded the speed limit, which was, until later years, 20mph. I always treated whatever vehicle I drove with the utmost care, always checked oil, water, tyres, etc before starting a day's work. But this was never appreciated by some hauliers I worked for. All they wanted you to do was make as many journeys, at breakneck times, as possible, and just for good measure offered a pittance of a bonus for you to do so. At that rate you ran the vehicle into the ground after around 80,000 miles.
I used to leave such firms in despair and disgust and had no regrets when I learned that they had -gone to the wall."
The last firm I worked for, however, did appreciate the care and attention given to their vehicles, and gave me a first-class reference when I left their employment on their moving to another district too far for me to travel.
The vehicle I drove for them had 2,000 miles on the mileage recorder, it was just over three months old. When I had finished with it I had recorded just over 90,000 miles and it was still in first-class condition and, apart from regular servicing, had cost the firm very little. The same make of vehicle driven by another, tearaway.. driver had cost them a new engine, clutch, gearbox, and many tyres because of tyre pressure neglect, and this was after driving less miles than me.
GEORGE BLAKE, Brentwood, Essex.