Spares shortage worries engineers
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• Representatives from British Leyland, Ford and Vauxhall are being invited to take part in an open forum on the subject of commercial vehicle spare parts at the next Durham meeting of the IRTE. This invitation stems from the extent of the concern about spares which was demonstrated last week at the Durham meeting of the IRTE, during discussion on a paper by Mr. J. E. Johnson of British Road Services Ltd. (CM January 23).
There was strong comment from the body of the meeting to the effect that the industry was at present generally pool-1y served for spares, and it was suggested that many agents carried the sign and little else. Several members spoke of the difficulty in promoting any real live interest when calling for urgent spares.
Considerable interest was shown by members in the way that BRS Ltd. has lined up its maintenance requirements exactly with those laid down by the Ministry; there was a general discussion on the BRS vehicle and trailer monthly inspection sheets which covered every item in the Tester's Manual. It was explained that, if honestly applied, these covered the complete maintenance requirements and also provided the records which would have to be kept in future.
The fact that for continuous duty vehicle washing BRS used a hot water machine, in preference to a steam cleaner, drew comment from members. The busiest workshop deals with a minimum of four test vehicles a day and the absence of steam fog and the greater reliability for non-stop duty were remarked upon.
There was a long discussion on interchangeable equipment, overloading and axle weights. It was suggested that the SMMT categorization plates were not the easiest system to understand, in that drivers or yard staff could be involved in some study and calculation. The majority seemed to feel that the vehicle and trailer colour scheme introduced by British Road Services on articulated equipment was a big step forward, providing the best answer at this time to safe, simple and profitable matching of vehicles and trailers. Samples of the various adhesive symbols used were on display.