IN YOUR OPINION
Page 54
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Unlimited Liability \/YOURreaders will by now be well aware that under 'OUR Marples' new laws the proprietor of a non-limited company owning a fleet of vans is liable to have his own driving licence endorsed should any of his vans be found to be dangerously defective whilst on the road. Your leader of July 19 drew attention to this matter.
Being the owner of a fleet of fairly modern vans I know from my personal experience that there are many small temporary mishaps that can occur even on new vans, usually due to bad assembly, which would certainly render them dangerous upon the highway. • It is thus possible that the owner of a fleet of vans of any age, may very quickly receive three summonses and thus have his driving licence confiscated for six months under these new laws, even though he personally had never seen the defective vans in question.
These penalizing circumstances act mainly against the owners of non-limited companies and as such seem to be a powerful case of discrimination against many thousands ,of smaller business owners. If on the other hand these conditions also apply to the company secretaries of limited companies their position in regard to the security of their personal driving licences could be precarious to say the least—particularly in the case of companies having large transport fleets.
Should not this section of the law be quickly amended to delete this unfair penal threat to the business community?
Harrow, Middx. DOUGLAS CAUSER.
Noise ?—Yes!
REGARDING the article in your journal of August 9 headed Noisy Commercial Vehicles ?—Baloney ! You
state that under varying trunk road conditions certain tests produced absolutely no evidence that commercial vehicles are offensively noisy, but do you really believe that ?
Mostly Very Noisy
Let's face it; all power-driven road vehicles with the exception of electrically-driven vehicles and say Velocette L.E. motor cycles are noisy—most of them very noisy. If you don't believe this, try sleeping in the first floor front bedroom of my house. I guarantee you won't be late for work, the noise of the traffic at 6.30 a.m. will ensure that ! But you will certainly be tired after having been kept awake until after midnight by the noise outside.
We sleep in the back of the house now—we couldn't stand the row at the front any longer.
Acton, London, W.3. L J. ABBOTT.
P.S.—Bring your gas mask.
Noise ?--No CONGRATULATIONS on your efforts of August 9 to
• -." prove our own contention to the Minister of Transport that his figures were way out and would do absolutely nothing to reduce the noise from the roads.
Although we cannot agree with you that commercial vehicles are the silent ghosts you try to paint them, we know that other road vehicles make a lot of noise, particularly motor cycles and sports cars. But manufacturers are now changing their advertising from "makes a shattering noise guaranteed to turn every head within earshot" to "quiet power ". And of course, there is nothing to stop Sir Henry Spurrier and other, makers of noise-producing equipment from doing the same.
There is nothing mechanically impossible about making a commercial vehicle quiet, at a level of say 60 dBA.
JOHN CONNELL,
Old Bond Street, Founder and Hon. Secretary, London, W.1. Noise Abatement Society.
Low-rate Problem I READ with interest " Desperate's " letter which appeared I in your issue of August 16. I, too, feel very strongly about this low rate problem, although I am in a totally different part of the haulage industry. In my opinion it would be of very great advantage to the haulage industry if there were a oneor two-year pause on all haulage licences with a standstill on C licence fleets of over one vehicle over 15 cwt. Should a surplus of goods require moving, then let the railways take up the slack to our advantage as tax payers.
NOT DESPERATE YET!