LEEDS LDOY COMPETITION I by Ashley Taylor
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Woman driver reaches finals
ALARGE marquee at the Leeds Lorry Driver of the Year round labelled "Ladies Dressing Room, Competitors Only", suggested an influx of women entrants but it turned out that it had been left over from the previous day's event at the Montague Burton Recreation ground. In fact there was again only one woman driver, Mrs. J. Clough of WVS Food Flying Squad, in a Civil Defence Austin Light Food Tanker.
And it was Mrs. Clough who proved to be the best of the six competitors in Class B but retired in the finals run-off which was won by D. G. O'Reilly (Petrofina (G.B.) Ltd.), Dodge, who had won in Class D from H. Tew, (British Oxygen Co. Ltd.) Ford, by 28 penalty points to 53, his second successive premier in this category.
In the final O'Reilly had a comfortable margin over last year's overall winner W. Hartley (Yorkshire Electricity Board) Morris. The two tied on width judging and Hartley showed a slight superiority on the bay test. But he was ten behind on kerbing. Their respective penalty points were O'Reilly 31 and Hartley 38.
E. Brook (Ministry of Public Building and Works) Bedford, narrowly secured third place in the final from M. Easton (SPD Ltd.) Commer. Although Brook was down on the kerb test he was better at the bay and on width judging.
The ten finalists drove class C Bedford vans. The prize for the best Crown or Services driver went to Brook who led the MPBW team to victory with 290 points. Second and third places in this section were filled by two teams of the British Oxygen Co. Ltd. A new award for the oldest competitor went to 61-year-old James Howie (Schweppes (Foods) Ltd.) Bedford. Under a blazing sun the vehicles made a quick start although at times the proceedings flagged and it was not until 1.50 p.m. that the first results were posted up.
The Frank Cousins trophy for Roadmanship, judged on Highway Code and Road Circuit results went to L. Hormby (Shell Mex and BP Ltd.) Leyland, who lost only two in this section. There was a triple tie among the runners up here, five marks each being lost by N. Rawson (Barnsley Brewery Co. Ltd.) Albion, J. Blackburn (British Oxygen Co. Ltd.) Scamrnell and S. Hammill, (Yorkshire Imperial Metals Ltd.) Atkinson.