Hauliers invade high society
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WITH PRINCESS ANNE presenting the prizes at the Commercial Motor Lorry Driver of the Year Competition and the Duke of Gloucester as guest of honour at the RHA annual dinner, road haulage has invaded high society. I foresee the day when every debutante will be expected to hold at least an HGV3 driver's licence. Lady Fiona fflatte-ffete, whose Coming Out at Twickers last year was such a sensation, tells me she will be showing her form in the next Lorry Driver of the Year Competition.
Responding most agreeably for the RHA's guest, the Duke, who is a farmer and architect, admitted that he held an HGV1 licence but denied any knowledge of road haulage. His interest in the subject was, he said, similar to that of a vulture at a funeral. It was limited to the search for old lorries for conversion into farm trailers, which were tougher than the article bought off the peg.
As if to make sure that, come the revblution, his neck would remain intact, he mentioned that he had a cousin who drove a lorry — a kind of name-dropping in reverse.
Meanwhile, an egalitarian titled guest and a distinguished RHA member a few feet away from the Duke at a top table that seemed to stretch from Park Lane to Basingstoke knocked back pints of beer.