PROFESSIONAL TRUCKERS • As an occasional reader of Commercial Motor
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I was interested to see the various views expressed about Truckers. Personally, I am not over impressed, and how many people really take the series that seriously? In fact, I went 'cultural' and watched the Australia programme on Beeb 2, where viewers were treated to a shot of a helicopter taking off hurriedly as a road train approached (some 100 tonnes of it!). Truckies stop for nothing!
I write as a motorist, though highly sympathetic to professional drivers, and you have had my support in the past. The number of times I have been relieved to be in among wagons. I know that one set of road users know what they are doing, and are aware of their vehicles' capabilities.
Perhaps with the general public's attention aroused, could not the transport industry produce its own industry documentary? Few realise the responsibilities of loading, the tachograph, and care on the road.
It would also be a golden opportunity to educate people about roadcraft — especially caravan users (if that's possible.
Sure cowboys exist, they do in my job (I teach, and doesn't the gutter press love a bent teacher?). In the summer I was responsible for loading a mini-bus and trailer to take 14 to the South of France. What a bunch of cowboys they were! I filled in all the 23 tacho charts, because nobody could do it properly, or seemed to realise their significance. Thank God the gendarmes didn't stop us!
If nothing else, there is one motorist who appreciates the work of the professional and is rather jealous of their professionalism.
Ron Bulmer Bolton Lancashire