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ippie wife watches husband win is driver competition
Martin Watkins ;ST-TIME entry William .ey of Crosville Motor Ser:s won the "Bus driver of Year" title at the National al of the competition last iday, watched by his wifeclippie at West Kirby. He . the lowest number of pent points after completing :e vehicle Manoeuvring ;s, a vehicle inspection and wering questions on the ,hway Code.
'he annual competition was anised by the Road Transt Industry Training Board was held at Motec 1 at ;h Ercall in Shropshire. The irds were presented by ddie Wood, chairman of National Bus Company. iational bus drivers were ch more in evidence at the weition this year, as a 11. of 36 drivers from the stituent companies took t; 18 of the finalists came n municipal bus fleets, but y four came from Passenger nsport Executives. Five rers from the independent tor were due to compete, as the two drivers from ton Transport were withwn only three drivers were . from all the independent Tanies.
;'or winner William Casey moment of glory was only rt-lived for at Barn on Monr, only 12 hours after reving his trophy and a free iday voucher for two from Wood, he was due back at rk at West Kirby depot.
'one of the four RTITB yeles he had to drive were iiliar to the winner so he s at some disadvantage npeting against drivers ,d to handling Arlanteans I coaches. He has always yen conventional front;ined double-deckers since qualified as a psv driver h Crosville in 1969. He ied the company as a conAar the previous year.
:.'ompetitors were marked five different competition tions. First of all they had answer questions on the ;hway Code, on which an incorrect answer could result in five penalty marks. In the vehicle inspection section the drivers had to spot six faults on a Leyland Panther within two minutes. These faults included the emergency door buzzer not working, the bell not working and a loose passenger seat.
The three practical driving tests were all taken in different Road Transport Industry Training Board vehicles.
Test one was taken in a double-deck Leyland Atlantean; competitors had to judge the minimum spacing between two cones through which the bus would pass and minimum height of a horizontal bar beneath which the bus could be driven. Afterwards the vehicle had to pull into a bus stop keeping parallel to the kerb and 12 inches away from it with the rear in line with the stop.
In test two the driver had to manoeuvre into •a parking bay within a restricted area without touching any cones or barriers. The vehicle used was a manual Leyland Leopard. In test .three the competitor had to obgatiate a narrow, curving corridor without touching any cones and stop with the nearside rear wheel as close to the centre of a painted target as possible. Most competitors tended to stop short of the target on this test for which a manual AEC Reliance was used.
Runner-up in competition was Mr D. Jones, of Islwyn Borough Transport, who had only one more penalty point than the winner.
The award for the best lady driver went to Mrs Rose 'Bradley from West Midlands PTE; and the team award went to Cumberland.
A good number of supporters were attracted to the event and were well entertained by the amusements and by a Goodyear wheel-changing competition. Rides around Motec were provided in a restored Hastings open-top bus.