L EYLAND'S managers must be feeling rather confused . .. For
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years, they've been the scourge of the Conservative party, representing a company which had an insatiable demand for money and which had no short-term prospect of making a profit or becoming attractive enough to be privatised.
But now, as soon as it seems somebody might want Leyland, the Conservative back benches have adopted the company as a cause celehre, a vital national resource which must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the nasty foreigners.
If the prospect of a sale arouses such nationalistic concern and interest among these people, perhaps we could get General Motors to put in a bid for the national road network, the M25 service area leaseholds — or even the paperwork for the European 4()-tonne-vehicles legislation, UST what thoughts were passing through the minds of a London suburban couple a colleague glimpsed on his way home the other day?
There they were, standing bemused, scratching their heads and peering at a newly erected GLC lorry ban sign at the edge of their estate. Could it have been the "except permit holders" wording, well below the symbol of a lorry, which had them worried?
For all the world, that sign could be for a hitherto unannounced residents' parking scheme.
And my colleague adds that in all the time he has lived in the area, be could count on one hand the number of times a lorry of over 16.5 tonnes has been seen on the avenue in question. And that was when part of the road was being resurfaced. FEARLESS Greater London Council transport committee "chair" Dave Wetzel is determined that the London lorry ban (sorry, "control") will be enforced even though all the signs are still not in place and the Metropolitan Police have shown about as moth interest in the subject as they do in endorsing dog licences.
Here is Mr Wetzel during a recent chilly sortie from County Hall to a little known stretch of the Edgware Road. He is using sign language to try to explain to two non-English speaking German drivers heading for Dover that they will have to turn around and take exit 6 from the Ml.
Before any North Londoner with better eagle eyes than my own writes to say that this piece of tarmac clearly is far too .free of potholes to be the Edgware Road, I had better come clean. Actually, it is part Rovaniemi airport in lionhern
Finland, as the bus destination display confirms.
ARE we going helicopter-mad? First there was the Westland affair, It has been given enough column centimetres to paper a helicopter landing pad.
Next came the television commercial for the new Peugeot 3(19, which appears to be about a man who dreams he has a new helicopter, only to find when he wakes up that it is just a car.
Now, I have just seen a television commercial for the new Ford Transit, co-starring yet another helicopter. Speaking as the Hawk, I strongly resent this intrusion in my air space.
ISEE that British Rail is rewarding its most loyal supporters by naming some of its engines after them. One of the first to be so honoured is the shipping group Ben Line, whose locomotive was christened in true nautical tradition
(though using a bottle of eight-yearold Benveg Scotch rather than champagne) last week.
This development should come as no surprise to the hundreds of British hauliers who have been decorating their vehicles with their customers' names for decades. But what I want to know is whether BR is going to extend this courtesy to its big motor industry customers — will we shortly see a Class 47 diesel proudly bearing the name Ford or Vauxhall or even Dal Trucks?
CONGRATULATIONS to a Daily Telegraph sports writer for the correct and original use or the word juggernaut. My dictionary defines it as: "relentless destroying force". A report in the newspaper last week described a rugby team as a "juggernaut pack". I don't suppose any of them was called Laurie.
by The Hawk