• Tavern talk
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It takes little imagination to conjure up pictures of 16th-century seafaring men plotting and .planning 'neath the oak beams of South East .London's Mayflower Tavern. Transport men in the 20th century do quite a bit of planning there too. It is a frequent habitat of many, including John Wells, RHA vice-chairman, Jeff Attwood of Trinity Transport, Ralph Hilton of HTS and Jack Brown of Atlas Express.
Last week, suitably disguised as a parrot and perched close by, I observed and overheard Jack Brown, George Burrows, the RHA security officer and Tony Poole, Air Call's md, planning and plotting. As a result, those brigands and buccaneers who knock off cargoes of freight are in for a sticky time.
Air Call's 3,100 subscribers throughout the country will be notified every two hours when a cargo has gone adrift and this will be done on a nation-wide basis. Added to the VOC's 800 participants, Seeuricor, Security Express and the police this is a formidable force and it looks as if the lorry thieves would make more profit by turning their attention to the Spanish Main.
Talking of profit, did you know that if you find a stolen lorry with load, the VOC give you a £10 reward? If it's empty the reward is £2.