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A BRIEF HISTORY OF CAR TRANSPORTING

1st November 2007
Page 62
Page 62, 1st November 2007 — A BRIEF HISTORY OF CAR TRANSPORTING
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Until the 1950s car ownership was rare enough for deliveries to be made by trade platers — often in convoy with a motorcycle outrider. The first double-deck transporters appeared in the 1950s with room for four or five cars. Carrimore and Hoynor, both using designs by Alan Cooper, were among the pioneers. Although triple-deckers appeared in the 1970s the trailer of choice became the seven-car, single-axle Hoynor Mk3.

As cars grew in size and weight, more innovative combinations were sought, usually drawbars, with most of the load on multiple adjustable individual decks.

Tightly unionised car transporter men were, along with their tanker colleagues, considered among the top echelon of drivers, commanding wages significantly above the UK average. Time was when hopefuls waited years for the a chance of a job in this sector But now many operators struggle to find suitable applicants willing to drive unwieldy vehicles restricted to primary routes and usually spending at leastfour nights a week away in comparatively small cabs.

Transporters at the bourgeoning lighter end of the market (hauling anything from one to seven cars on chassis and trailers up to 18 tonnes) tend to belong to own-account operators or owner-drivers on specialist work.

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