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viewby the Hawk
• Invisible image
Where have all the symbols gone? The Road Haulage Association has issued thousands and thousands of transfers of the new RHA symbol, yet how few one seems to see on its members' lorries. What do they do with them?
There are also far fewer signs of the old RHA badge on vehicles; traditionalists will no doubt suggest that this only goes to show how bad money drives out good, following that well-known law. But I think perhaps it is simply a reflection of the way in which trade association badges have become ousted in the move towards more consciously designed liveries.
• Family firm
Talking of road haulage's image, the BBC TV serial The Brothers, now resting until the autumn, has probably done a great deal of good for road transport in a subtle way; not a bouquet that one can normally award the B BC on transport matters. This serialized fiction turns out to be nearer the truth than most of the slanted "factual comment" that
I have seen on the box.
Whether or not operators think that this BBC series about a road transport family faithfully mirrors their own working lives, I'm sure it has nicely caught the endless argument between the more cautious traditional haulier and the new generation of transport executives well versed in accountancy, marketing and modern business methods.
• Passing the hat
Just who is going to pay those NIRC fines of £55,000 on the TGWU is becoming an intriguing topic in its own right. After general secretary Jack Jones had made it clear that he felt his union was doing a front-line job and should get the money from the trade union movement, the TUC agreed to find at least part of the lolly. I understand that this agreement to pay was not entirely unconnected with a suggestion that if the TUC did not cough up, the transport union would think twice about paying its annual affiliation fee to the TUC, which is well over £100,000.
One or two of the big unions, including the engineers, have no intention of con
tributing and one or two of the white-collar "non-political" unions have made it clear that their fees cannot go towards such a payment as the NIRC fines.
If the TUC now plans to pass the hat round to get token amounts in order to fulfil its undertaking, perhaps it had better ask for a small bonus as a first contribution to any compensation claims which the TGWU may face — the union could be open to a host of such claims as a result of the blacking of container lorries.
• Hard-working guys
One of the interesting regular items in the BRSL staff paper Hotline is the record of service of some of the group's vehicles. The May issue takes a look at the average performance of five Guy Big I 24-ton-gcw tractive units during 1971. They were all Perkins V8-powered models and they averaged 9.79 mpg over the year, with best results at 12.63 mpg and worst at 7.5 mpg. Average oil consumption was about 650 miles to the pint.
The average mileage covered by the tractive units in the year was 43,425, the average load was 13.28 tons and the percentage of mileage that was run loaded ' was 83.
Interesting, too, to note that while oil consumption was pretty consistent across the whole batch, the mpg figures for the different vehicles varied considerably.
M Clean records
White as the driven snow — and so they should be — are the on-the-road records of 175 drivers of Advance Linen Services. They qualified for RoSPA safe driving awards and recently had them presented in Stockport, Birmingham and London.
Good work by the drivers, but alsc comforting for the company to be told (as I understand it was recently) that its 280-vehicle fleet which covered over 4m miles last year is rated by its insurers as having one of the finest road safety records of any commercial company in Britain.
MI Dodge the 'mile'
Goods vehicle drivers visiting central London for the first time should be aware that the area bounded by St Martins Le Grand. London Wall, Houndsditch, the Minories Tower Hill, Eastcheap and Cannon Street is taboo for vehicles over 3 tons unladen. Kingpin, the journal of the Hope Anti Jack Knife Drivers' Club warns that very few excuses are acceptable to the City police. If you trot out the old reason that you are taking a load to some place inside the "square mile", the law then wants a look at the documents. If you can't produce them it's almost certain you'll be done on a second charge of failing to keep a record of work!
Collecting a ticket means a £2 fine: believe me, it's not only cheaper but a greal deal quicker and less nerve-racking to gc round the City rather than through it.