The technical side
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by anything which affects efficiency.
'The suggested limit of 15.5m length in London would make drawbars completely uneconomic in the capital. The proposals ignore the great benefits drawbar operation offers in safety, stability and manoeuvrability.
"I am also surprised by this banning proposal because the GLC has made great play with the idea of the break-bulk system, allowing load transfer to lighter vehicles, and ideal for drawbar units in the London area."
Ken Darya'', of Robert Darvall Ltd, Reading, has been using drawbar units for home runs and UK /Continental for seven years. He has been both a borough and a county councillor and is concerned that in local government both sides of a story are often not heard. He wonders whether that is happening in the present case.
If a ban does come in, he'. hopes that he could still get exemptions for removal operations, for example of Spanish
Embassy officials' goods back to Madrid.
"I can't understand the reasoning behind this idea to ban drawbars," said Ken. "It can only push up rates. If we could not get exemptions it would mean transferring loads from smaller vehicles to our drawbar units.
"Most people like to see their prized goods loaded and un loaded, and won't like transfers. Drawbars are easier to handle and are used a great deal on the Continent.
"Sometimes they have an added bonus when the front half of the unit can be used to go to a different destination from the trailer. Another advantage of a drawbar unit is that once it is unhooked it can be pushed about in a yard when necessary by three or four men."
Ray Bell, of Greenfield Leisure, Sunbury-on-Thames, used Scania 86-hauled drawbar units to deliver to his firms' shops in the West End and elsewhere. The trailers are fitted with dollie converters to allow flexibility.
He sees no necessity tor any ban, finding drawbar units more rnanoevrable than artics and ideal for his split loads. Their withdrawal would lead only to increased haulage costs. He would have to use an artic and a back-up rigid.
'Don't forget,'" he said, 'that a properly trained driver has more control with a drawbar they can't jack-knife''
TO FIND OUT how a technical expert views the possible ban I contacted Tom Dee, technical consultant for the Truck Equipment Division of the John H. Billows Group at Kettering, which supplies VBG drawbar systems. "The reaction of the GLC committee appears to be based on emotion rather than experience," he commented. "It is time the transport industry gave a concentrated and united answer to the snipes and swipes being made about it by the antilorry lobby.
"If the GLC wants smaller vehicles it should make it clear who is going to pay. In the final analysis it will be the general public who suffer. Obviously it takes more smaller vehicles to shift a given quantity and these additional costs can only be passed on to the product user."
Tom believes that drawbars are better suited to urban conditions than artics. A drawbar is really two small vehicles which bend in the middle and virtually track each other round corners. They are less likely to damage street furniture.
"In Sweden," he said, -the
results of their equivalent to our Transport and Road Research Laboratory by testing and computer simulation show a two to one safety factor in favour of the drawbar in directional stability."' Tom says that the feelings of the GLC are to some extent understandable; nobody wants visually intrusive lorries in urban or city areas, but lorries are necessary.
"Added costs through artificial restrictions, based on emotions or otherwise, have be paid for by the man in t street.