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Page 45
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SIR
FAIR CRITICISM • I have read with interest your roadtest (CM 8-14 June) on the diesel Landrover. We operate one of these vehicles, which has been in our possession from new for 21/2 years, and have had a number of problems.
Currently, the vehicle has a problem with the engine breathing system. Despite paying for a modification, it has still not cured the problem. Our vehicle uses an air filter every 500 miles.
We feel this is an unreasonable state of affairs but Landrover's dealer has declined to have the fault rectified and it would appear to us that we might ultimately have to pay for an engine rebuild, despite the fact that the vehicle is on a third-year warranty.
We feel that your criticisms, as far as engine power is concerned are fair.
Charles Bert,
TRS Engineering, South Wales. KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD: I • Can you spare space to congratulate the driver of a drawbar outfit C137 LHD, owned by Symphony of Leeds, for his considerable skill and brilliant quick-thinking, which undoubtedly prevented a serious accident on the A31 Ringwood/Bournernouth road at 1:30pm on Wednesday 7 June?
Approaching the Ferndoi.vn bypass roundabout, the westbound dual carriageway outside lane was coned off. A middleaged driver of a well-laden maroon Renault Trafic van, obviously hell-bent on suicide, roared past the line of slowmoving vehicles obeying the road restriction signs, only to find his path blocked.
Travelling far too fast to stop in the available space, the van looked certain to cross the unguarded central reservation and perhaps plough head-on into the two lanes of fastmoving traffic on the opposite carriageway, or plough into the side of the drawbar outfit.
Through his rearview mirror, the drawbar driver saw that a crash was inevitable and, in a flash, and with commendable courage, he flicked his huge outfit hard left where for several hundred yards he drove along the wide grass verge, which fortunately was flat and clear of obstructions, thereby allowing the Renault driver enough room to squeeze back into the inside lane and safety.
Witnessing the whole incident from my car following immediately behind the drawbar outfit, I have little doubt that this alert truck driver saved a very serious accident, for which he deserves just praise.
With truck drivers being criticised so often by the media, I feel the prompt reaction of this driver worthy of a published thankyou, which will hopefully be read by his employers.
Dave Fanner,
Southampton. KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD: il • Having read your Editor's Comment (CM 1-7 June) with interest, I thought it only right to support your comments concerning motorway driving.
Having spent the majority of my driving life on our motorway systems and A-roads, I can only confirm that the majority of my hair-raising experiences were caused not by HGV drivers, but car drivers who either travelled too fast or slow, in the wrong lane, using no mirrors, indicators and, more important, with no awareness of what was happening 150 yards ahead or behind them.
D Wood,
MRC Finance & Leasing, Oldbuty, West Midlands.