• I like as good a feed as the next
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Hawk. I especially like a good fry-up in agreeable company, and my sympathies go out to the Transport and General Workers Union which is staging a campaign to halt the ever reducing number of truckstops and transport cafes in Britain.
Oddly enough, I think I can help provide evidence to support the union's case. Some poor hapless soul at Commercial Motor is currently compiling our annual guide to truckstops around the country. He is finding the going tough. For instance, the Northdovvn Cafe and Hotel on the Canterbury Road just outside Canterbury informs us it is now a residential home. The Pike House Inn on the Gainsborough Road at Saxelby in Lincolnshire has returned its form with the succinct message, "sorry, service for truck drivers no longer available."
Wavecrest on Marine Parade, Lowestoft, tells us it is now "looking for tourist trade only." A former truckstop on the Al, which had better remain nameless, simply told us "the truckstop has been sold and closed down. We're now a Happy Eater."
Ocean View at Rhyl has turned its bed and breakfast service into holiday flatlets and the Westbank Hotel at Oldham has firmly, but politely told us "we do not wish to be included in the annual guide to truckstops."
What on earth can the matter be? Perhaps the colour of the transport industry's money is too greasy? Or was that the colour of the food? I forget now.
• On a similar tack, we recently produced a guide to the UK bodybuilding industry, listing the different types of body each company manufactured. We had to ring about a bit for the information.
One bodybuilder in Wales, who requested anonymity, said "sorry mate, I only make hearses today." C O'Doherty in Strabane, County Tyrone, has' obviously spotted the same boom market. "We don't build truck bodies any more" the company told us, flatly, "we're into coffins now."
One spectacularly astute businessman in Yorkshire was typically blunt. "No, I don't want to go in your guide," he said, "it just means I get loads of phone calls, pestering me for prices." He should be so lucky, eh?
• Since its launch in 1970, the Range Rover has been moved steadily up-market by the manufacturers, Land Rover. What started life as a two door luxury workhorse with rubber mats on the floor, and a formidable vee-eight engine, is now the toast of the ostentatiously rich Kensington kerb leapers, and the huntin', shootin' and fishin' mob. As Land Rover itself puts it, "the Range Rover is (now) a luxury vehicle that just happens to be a 4x4."
Surprisingly, there are still two groups of 'operators' who still recognise the value of 203Nm of torque in a lightweight bodyshell, with some of the best off-road handling in the business.
Our local Surrey police get their Range Rovers from Land Rover's special vehicle department. They are two door models, with the Buickderived fuel injected yee-eight petrol engine, manual gearboxes, and precious little carpet by the time they have been kitted out. In their work on the M25 motorway, the vehicles provide sterling service all year round, hauling cars off the motorway, and acting as pursuit vehicles on occasions.
The other group of 'operators' are a group of armed men who stole some £750,000 from Sunderland's main Post Office recently. They gained entry by driving E981 ECV, a blue Range Rover Vogue with an automatic gearbox directly at the Post Office gates. The vehicle had been stolen from North Eastern Motors of Lemington one week before especially for the purpose.
Commercial Motor wishes the Sunderland Police the best of luck in catching these criminals, adding the advice that 'it takes one to catch one'.
• These are the faces of grit and determination. David Furnell (above) and Simon Dyson (top) are set to jet around the world in just seven days to launch and publicise an international project which will benefit people needing bone marrow transplants. The lifesaving project called Chance has taken off as part of the Round Table of Great Britain and Ireland appeal to mark its Diamond Jubilee.
The trip will take off from London on 3 September and will take the fund raisers to Dublin, New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Auckland, Sydney, Hong Kong, Bombay, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and back to London on 11 September. For further information contact Mr Kidd or David Furnell on (0442) 61778.