A news digest of road transport reports from all sectors
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• ERF distributor Thoroughbred Trucks of Grimsby to mark its first birthday has presented a powered wheelchair to a handicapped boy from Gainsborough.
• Moves by American standards and freight container organisations to have 491t containers accepted as an ISO standard were defeated at a meeting of the International Standards Organisation in London. European Community transport ministers had already said they would not be allowed on Community roads.
• The waste disposal industry is coming under in.creasingly close scrutiny as environmental awareness grows among local authorities, reports Motor Transport (28 June).
• BSI has published BS 7033: Part 1: 1989 Cleaning and polishing cloths, available at E5.20 from BSI Sales, Linford Wood, Milton Keynes, MK14 6LE.
• From December 1989, all vehicles sold and manufactured in Canada are required by regulation to be fitted with daytime running lights.
• Fareham, Hampshirebased Astro Technology has added an infrared laboratory to its demonstration facilities in Scunthorpe.
• The latest vehicle pare census by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders shows that in 1988 there were just under 26 million roadgoing vehicles in Great Britain ; 80.6% were passenger cars, and only 48.7% of these British.
• Scientists at the Government-funded Transport and Research Laboratory have discovered that air-suspension systems can cause more damage to roads than conventional suspension systems, although overall by a wide margin of cases air is kinder.
• The 1989/90 transport training levy has been cut by 25% to 0.6% as the first stage in the phasing out of the Road Transport Industry Training Board. • The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has published a code of practice for those involved in mechanical breakdown insurance schemes. Details from Graham Dymott, SMMT, Forbes House, Malkin Street, London SW1 7DS.
• The Government has given approval for a roll-on/ roll-off ferry at Rapness on the isle of Westray rather than Pierowall as first planned.
• European Community officers are working on technical specification proposals for all European commercial vehicles in time for the single European market timed to come in by 1993.
• Scania is revamping the engine range available for its 113 and 143 rigids.
• Tachograph analyst Data Maid (tel 0244 830432) is holding seminars on legislation and enforcement • Britain's hauliers are spending 15% too much on fuel and wasting millions of pounds on uneconomic vehicle management, according to an as yet unpublished report from the Freight Transport Association and Department of Energy.
• The AA has launched Milemaster, a mileage and driving calculation computer package to determine the quickest and cheapest routes. Contact the AA at Fanum House, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2EA.
• Vinyl Graphics in Corporate Identity is available free from Vinyl Graphics, 3-5 Tessa Road, Reading, Berkshire RG1 8HH.
• International Repair Services (Zeebrugge) has opened a repair and maintenance centre at Zeebrugge (tel 010-32 50 545 004).
• Major changes in annual commercial vehicle testing are expected following the interim report from a Government task force investigating the growing number of trailer test failures, reports Commercial Motor (13 July).