AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

The heroine is a Scammell

25th August 1984, Page 35
25th August 1984
Page 35
Page 35, 25th August 1984 — The heroine is a Scammell
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

BOB TUCK clearly eats, drinks and sleeps heavy haulage lorries. His book, Mountain Movers, sub-titled Heavy haulage vehicles at work (Patrick Stephens Ltd, £5.95), describes them in such a way that he appears to be involved in a long-term love-affair with a Scammell Contractor.

Throughout the book individual vehicles, which usually have pet names anyway, are further personified so that the reader almost feels that he, too, is straining to drag a 300tonne transformer up a hill. The detail is incredible. Heavy haulage jobs are chronicled gearchange-by-gearchange, inch-by-inch as a Scammell Contractor edges past some bollards in the road. Even the names of the escorting policemen are given in some instances. Bob Tuck was either present at the time or has conducted some exhaustive interviewing.

He has to be congratulated on this, but I found this style of unnatural over-personification somewhat tiresome after a while; it began to rankle.

Heavy haulage contractors Sunters and Mammoet Econofreight, both from the North East, figure prominently. This is understandable because both companies have some unusual vehicles in their fleets. Sunters has the Tractomas and Titans while Bob Tuck elaborates on Tom Llewellyn's (Mammoet Econofreight) belief in a heavy haulage Daf with Allison automatic transmission.

With their massive loads heavy haulage vehicles are naturals when it comes to photography and some fascinating black and white photographs account for some 60 or so of the 89 pages.

Patrick Stephens Ltd, Bar Hill, Cambridge CB3 8EL.

Tags

Locations: Cambridge

comments powered by Disqus