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Page 45
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view by the Hawk
• Dogged does it
Pat Mullen is deaf and dumb and is unable to read or write but he's got plenty of determination. Already in possession of a licence to drive a car and working as a van driver for a firm in Kent, Pat decided he would like to join the real professionals and get an hgv licence.
His first hurdle was to persuade the South Eastern Licensing Authority that he was a proper person to hold such a licence. His first application to hold a provisional hgv licence was refused but after a couple of court hearings the LA relented.
Pat's next difficulty was to get himself the necessary training. He approached the East Kent group training association in Deal and ordered lessons which he paid for himself, and after one week's instruction passed the test. He is now the proud possessor of a Class I hgv licence.
Instructor Ron Jones says that he is not passing on his training method just yet but admits that Pat's ability to lip read was a help. Despite his reticence, Ron gave me the impression that he is just as proud of Pat as Pat is of himself.
• Thumped
Anyone who doubts whether the EEC has teeth should read the reports of four cases involving the Commission which I've just been scanning. And although transport is specifically excluded from some of the monopoly rules under the Treaty of Rome, operators should nevertheless be aware that neither companies nor governments are spared when the Commission gets the bit between its teeth.
In the first case, an American drug company and its Italian subsidiary were said to have abused their dominant position in a certain market. Result: a fine of over 200,000 dollars and a ban on the trading practices concerned. Plus a ,$1080-a-day fine for each day's delay in paying the fine!
Case number 2 involved a record company charged with trying to stop exports by which traders were making crossborder profits. Result: a fine of $65,000.
Number 3 was a cement cartel's request for exemption from the anti-trust laws. Result: exemption refused, and a ban on fixing quotas. In the fourth case, the Commission has thrown out price-fixing arrangements in the Belgian cement market which have been applied for years.
• The protectors
Everyone's getting into the act. It started when ratcatchers became rodent operatives. At the Brussels Show CM photographer Dick Ross snapped this sign on the side of a municipal contractor's cleansing vehicle.
• Costa travel
This column gets read pretty far afield, I find. My New Year outburst on calendars has brought a reply from Colin McLauchlan of Almacen Electra SA, of San Jose, Costa Rica — who encloses his company's own attractive calendar depicting Land-Rovers and Range Rovers in colourful and exotic surroundings. It'll bring a touch of Central American warmth to my winter walls. Thanks.
• Leisured Reg
I had occasion to phone transport consultant Reg Block last week (CM readers will, in particular, remember his Costing for Maximum Profit) and discovered that this young 64-year-old is now at St Leonards-on-Sea where he's preparing for his eventual retirement at the end of the year.
Although still very active in transport matters, he confesses that after 47 years in transport management (he was founder and md of Blox Services) he is now working at a more leisurely pace. When I suggested that he would never really retire, he assured me that his phasing-out plans (how typical!) were proving very attractive, especially as he enjoys a garden and sea view from his office window.
He asked me to pass on his good wishes to transport friends and clients past and present and to say that the new 19th hole is at 1 Branksome Road, St Leonards, if they're feeling dry.