BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Page 28
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BY THE HAWK
• J Garlick of Hyde, Cheshire has written to the Hawk saying that he is worried about this picture of a Toleman car transporter which appeared in CM (18-24 October).
"There is a law," writes Garlick, "that red lights or red reflectors should not show to the front — this law is being broken every day by the car transport companies . . ." He refers to the rear reflectors of the back-to-front car sitting on the cab.
Garlick describes how he was driving in fog one day when a car transporter was coming over the brow of the hill in front of him: "It seemed the road bent to the right because my lights shone on the reflectors of the top car on the transporter," Garlick said.
A fair point. But are car transporting companies really breaking the law?
"The reflectors", according to Kitchin's Road Transport Law, "must be fitted at or near the rear of the vehicle, be vertical and face squarely to the rear . ."
Toleman's argument — and its stacking method does not differ from other major car transporters — is that the cars carried are not part of the vehicle but part of the load. "Cars at the front face backwards to provide a better centre of gravity and reduce the effect on braking," says the company.
But the experts have mixed opinions. The Department of Transport does not accept that the vehicle at the front simply constitutes part of the load. "Strictly speaking they are breaking the letter of the law," says a spokesman.
However, traffic sergeants • at Kent police mulled over the problem in their teabreak and decided that Toleman's interpretation is right: "As the law stands there is no offence. But for safety reasons, it would be better if they were loaded a different way."
Or the offending reflectors covered perhaps?
• How Green is your Transport? was the question posed by the environmental conference jointly hosted by Shell and the Freight Transport Association in London last week.
However, some of the hacks who turned up — uninvited — had a different question to put to the guest speaker, Transport Secretary Cecil Parkinson. They wanted to know the juicy details of a rejected offer by 'hitmen' to bump off Sara Keays, as revealed in Sir John Junor's recently published memoirs, and repeated in the Daily Mirror that morning.
Our Parky skilfully evaded the tabloid terriers by exiting through the kitchen of the Swallow International Hotel only to find them snapping at his heels outside the Inn on the Park, venue of his next speaking engagement.
But How Green is Your Transport Secretary is not in question. Not a word did Cecil say.
• Red faces all round after the Hawk ran a piece (CM 1824 October) pointing out the difficulty of ringing the Metropolitan Traffic Area Office — and printed the wrong telephone number.
Not that it was the Hawk's fault — gremlins changed the intended 071-605 0300 to 071605 03300.
The MTAO now "writes to customers giving them a direct extension to contact". Most wise.
• Somerset Fire Brigade has done its bit to cool things down in Jordan by donating a 2,000 gallon Bedford water tanker to the refugee camps. A built-in pump enables the vehicle to self-load in four minutes and a ring of taps allows six queues to draw water at the same time.
It is the third, and largest, tanker transported by Action Water, a charity based in Truro, Cornwall, which has received help in adapting the tankers for desert conditions from Westward Motors of Redruth.
With the likelihood of war more tankers are needed. Action Water has a possibility of sending two more — but needs help to get them out to Jordan. Ideas or offers of help? Contact (0209) 715385.
• Beanz meanz war in deepest Cornwall where an Mogan garage boss has cooked up a half-baked idea to embarrass Tesco's Cambourne garage which is selling petrol 20p a gallon less than he can.
John James of J Auto Services has retaliated by selling Tesco baked beans at 15p a can — three pence less than the supermarket price.
Although he has had to buy the beans from Tesco in the first place, James believes he is operating the same principle as the supermarket giant which he accuses of selling the petrol as a loss leader. "And we are selling a lot of beans," he boasts.
But does Tesco mind? "We should thank him for his custom," says a company spokesman innocently.