Bird's eye view
Page 50
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by the Hawk *Habit-forming
When R. R. Jackson, the South Wales LA, opened the BRS training school at Bridgend, he did so by driving a vehicle through the gate and breaking a tape. When John Hanlon, Northern LA, opened R. Durham and Sons' new premises at Billingham last week he performed the same feat,driving an AtkinsonCrane Fruehauf outfit laden with fertilizer into the new 14-acre yard.
If this catches on, will the LAs have to take the heavy goods vehicle driving test? Or will they, as Mr. Hanlon laughingly suggested, be able to grant themselves exemption on the ground that they habitually drive heavy goods vehicles?
*Happy innocence!
At the opening of the Durham depot there were 250 guests and it was understandable that managing director Bob Durham did not know every single one by name. But he had an embarrassing encounter when, in conversation with one of them, he apologetically inquired who his guest was. Smartly came the reply: "I am your bank manager." Bob Durham later explained this away by remarking that he hadn't been to the bank for ages.
*On the never-never
I don't know whether it's symptomatic of something, but in 1967 there were 140,733 goods vehicles on hire purchase in Britain, compared with 148,827 in the previous year, while coaches on h.p. remained at around the 2,370 mark. This is one of those interesting little oddments of information which is published in the SMMT's vast yearbook of facts and figures. I always find it worth a browse.
Among other interesting statistics are the total and average amounts paid in road tax. Goods vehicles paid £87,229,194 last year (an average of £61.13 per vehicle), while only as recently as 1964 the total was £53,789,000 and the average £37.87. No wonder some people are feeling the pinch. Quite apart from the rise in the cost of many other things, road transport in 1957 paid around £34m a year more in direct taxes than it was doing three years previously.
Armed with selected facts from this statistical mine, one could probably win some crafty wagers at the bar. For example, how many vehicles between 1 ton and 30 cwt unladen run under a C licence? Answer: 324,000.
And how many people, I wonder, realize that this SMMT annual devotes no fewer than 66 pages to a tabular explanation of Construction and Use Regulations throughout the world? A fascinating field for study.
*Time passes
George Evan Cook, after 13 years as treasurer of the National Association of Furniture Warehousemen and Removers, has handed over the keys to A. P. Godfrey. At the autumn conference of the Association in Windsor last week his colleagues presented him with an Atmos time-piece. I've often wondered how one selected an acceptable gift for a retiring colleague. Mr. Evan Cook supplied the answer when thanking conference. With a twinkle in his eye he said: "I used to say to you on visits abroad howl would love an Atmos clock-, and added wistfully that he could never afford one. Well in time the pressure paid off and Mr. Evan Cook, a young 71-year-old, now has time on his hands in more ways than one.
* Swansong?
Exeter busman James McMartin who retired last weekend after 41 years with Devon General reckons that women are among the best drivers on the road. This is praise indeed from someone who has spent such a large part of his life in an excellent position to see most of the game: so often the motorist sees only half the picture from his lowly position, and gets a false impression of how an incident or a near-miss started. But the bus driver surveys the scene from a good vantage point, and backs his view with the judgement of experience.
Mr. McMartin has been driving continuously since 1930, after three years as a conductor, and now has three sons driving for Devon General—Alan. Malcolm and Derek. He tells me he's enjoyed every minute of his driving life—which has not been without excitements. He particularly recalls the time when a swan with a 9ft, wingspan flew in through the open side window of a holiday coach he was driving at Looe. "The swan wasn't the only one in a flap!" But neither swan nor passengers were hurt, and luckily a passer-by was a dab hand at swanhandling, so it was soon extricated and released.
*400d a mile
Who has vehicles that earn 350-400 pence a mile and cost nothing to run? The answer: Joe Franklin, chief of Blackpool's trams and buses. The units concerned are the illuminated trams, the running of which is all covered by their advertising revenue; they operate for a 52-night season each September and October.
The news that Blackpool has on order 15 AEC single-deck Swift buses has caused some people to suspect that the great Lancashire resort is thinking of forsaking its rail traction interests. Actually these, which will be the town's only single-decker buses, will constitute a pilot fleet to test the possibilities of one-man operation. They are due to enter service in mid-1969. Mr. Franklin reckons that Blackpool's trams, which move 12-14m passengers a year, mostly in the course of five months, will justify their existence for at least another quarter-of-a-century.