BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Page 70
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By The Hawk
Rescuing Monsters This is the season of the year when the heavy recovery units are at their busiest. Bill Jackson, managing director of Chaseside, of Enfield, tells me that his three-vehicle recovery team enjoys the uncertainty of what it will find when it answers a call, and the members yarn like war veterans about their accomplishments. Bill (who says be was born into the vehicle recovery business, and almost in a recovery vehicle itself, a Model T which got his mother to the hospital just in time) doesn't do so badly himself when it comes to yarning.
He tells me he'll never forget the company's first job, when they were called out to a truck slithering slowly downhill towards a bog. They hooked up their recovery vehicle, which slowly but surely followed the truck into the bog! That decided them to get the right gear for the job—either bought or made themselves. They've now got a I2-ton 6 x 6 A.E.C. Matador wrecker and two 20-ton Diamond T units with Chaseside cranes. But Bill Jackson maintains that, even with proper equipment, it's th'e skill of the operators that really counts.
Beaten by Treacle Two of the Chaseside men
with long experience of the really heavy jobs are A. Carter and P. Scott. Among their special memories are the 22-ton Foden with refrigerated container which was found upside down in a ditch; numerous petrol tankers trapped up to their axles in mud; tippers which had toppled right down into gravel pits; refuse collectors which, in their enthusiasm, had overtuined when ridding themselves of their unsavoury contents; and, not least, ready-mixed-concrete trucks getting set for a permanent stay!
The unit's motto: "We're ready for anything' was chosen before they met black treacle._ One wet night the team was called to a tanker upside down in the road with black treacle oozing from it. This sticky brute, says Bill Jackson, resisted the combined efforts of their three vehicles, which have more than a 100-ton pull. " We had to cut up this monster in distress and let it bleed tc death on the highway. But let no one say that we didn't stick to the job that night!
Southdown Ventures A number of new ventures were described by Mr. S. J. B. Skyrme, general manager of Southdown Motor Services Ltd., at the annual agents' conference in London, last week. The one which caught my attention the most was a new seven-day de luxe tour of "historic Kent, Sussex and Hants ". Based on two four-star hotels—the Imperial, Hythe, and the Polygon, Southampton, the tour includes visits to Canterbury, Chichester, Winchester, Salisbury and Guildford, the journeys all being made in a 28-seater coach with extremely spacious seating. The overall price of 38 guineas includes everything the traveller should need—including the morning newspaper.
A Tricky Problem Bill Glover was, it seemed, a
little taken aback when, during the speechmaking at the annual dinner of the North Devon Savages (to the uninitiated, the Savages are the members of the North Devon R.H.A. sub-area) the area chairman, Jack Gregory, asked the 200-odd people present to be upstanding to toast him (Bill Glover, that is). . .
Bill has successfully organized the annual dinner and dance for the past 19 years. But this year, I understand, he had a tricky problem. For some years past the function has been held at the Wray Arms Hotel, just over the bridge in Barnstaple. But the event has become so popular that a new venue had to be found that could accommodate the number attending this year. Bromley's Caf6 was chosen. But Barnstaple is a small place. The change of venue could have had repercussions which might have kept Bill from daring to show his face again in the Wray Arms. So what did he do? He invited the proprietor and his wife to the dinner!
Last Appearance? For the past five years, one
of the principal speakers at Barnstaple has been Jeremy Thorpe, who acquitted himself so well at the R.H.A. Conference brains trust at Brighton. Another regular speaker is local Conservative M.P. Peter Browne who is a haulier in the area, and a member of the Association. Highlights of the dinners has been the good humoured public " slanging " between the two. Unfortunately Mr. Browne is not to stand again for Parliament. He reflected during his speech that this was the last appearance of the "Crazy Gang "—or to be more explicit 'Flanagan and Allen "—himself and Jeremy Thorpe!