The awful truth
Page 63
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This scheme reminds me of a visit I made about 25 years ago to the establishment at Farnborough, where random samples of equipment bought by the Government, ranging from portable generators to armoured cars, were completely stripped and checked. An inspector would visit the maker's factory to select an item on the production line and have it brought to Farnborough.
This was a revealing exercise. In one case a drop arm lived up to its name by dropping off as the vehicle turned into the inspectorate's gates. The average number of faults per product stripped was, if my memory serves me aright, 231/2 and the awful evidence was laid out at Farnborough for all to see.
In an article I suggested that manufacturers might set up a co-operative establishment to which they could send random vehicles for detailed inspection and confidential report by independent experts. This, I thought, would be in the best interests of the makers, their customers and Britain as an exporter_ The result was a furious onslaught by a maker who accused me of destroying Britain's export trade by publishing the truth about the waste of public funds and making a constructive suggestion to improve matters. He also threatened to cancel his advertising and I had great pleasure in inviting him to do so.
I can understand why he was a mite touchy. It was one of his eight-wheelers that might have killed a CM road tester when it parted from its steering wheel during an emergency brake application.