Spares needed NOW!
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With reference to your article "What happens if you break a half-shaft in Frankfurt ? " (CM October 10).
The remarks made by some of the " leading " vehicle makers appear to be utterances by chairbound experts who have never seen, never mind faced on a dirty night, operators with a broken half-shaft or whatever. These are the people who want and have always wanted their spares NOW! Not with promises of 24 hours delivery (optimists !).
The remark by Bedford—" if the call was received before noon "—defies comment. If they can make a vehicle that would break down to any given time, we could all take advantage of this service.
After all, Ford did inform us once that "We are pleased to advise you that we have improved our 24-hour VOR service down to three days ! "
I remember that while employed at the AEC at Southall, we received a call for a preselector gearbox at three on a Saturday afternoon. With the assistance of the AA it was dispatched and was in Zurich at midnight, and the coach operator was mobile for his next journey at 8.30am. And this was nearly 20 years ago !
This must be virtually impossible today owing to the dreaded computer. Once you asked someone for help and you got help; now it has to be programmed.
We all know that you cannot make anything break down to a time schedule or near home, so come on you manufacturers, get some parts in your stores and some service out of your service department and let's have some genuine service, not platitudes and bumph.
You Could ask most operators the question "What do you think of it so far ? " And we all know the answer to that W. A. WALTON, Market Harborough.