Passing Comments
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AN interesting suggestion is put forward by a member of a "hire a driver" service. The scheme was started two years ago, whea it was arranged to supply trained drivers for private and hire cars and goods vehicles. The intention now is to extend this venture to cover coaches. All the members have had over 15 years' experience and hold suitable licences. They are also members of the Order of the Road. The advantage of the arrangement is that operators can thus be covered against sudden illness of staff drivers or can, in emergency, put extra vehicles on the road without• the need for keeping men idle awaiting such work.
Emergency . . .
Is There Scope for IN America, it is believed, Bigger Fork Trucks in 'fork trucks and other Britain) mechanical-handling aids are built to elephantine proportions. Nobody over here wants a "race of giants" in the industrial-truck world, but there seems to be scope for certain types of specialized outsize. A well-known haulier of heavy machinery and similar plant was recently heard to be expressing a strong desire for a fork truck large enough to handle the
majority of Machine tools, etc. Always on the alert for methods of replacing manual effort by machinery, this operator, incidentally, employs an American ex-Service industrtal tractor as a pusher and/or tower for his heavy vehicles in yards and garages. The "shove from behind" method of starting reluctant monsters is brutal but effective. In this case an oft-renewed stout wooden beam is mounted across the front of the tractor. '
THE Goodyear Life-guard inner tube is being extensively advertised in America. We hope that it -will not be too long before it becomes available in Britain, as it constitutes an important factor in decreasing the risk of accident caused,by possible blow-outs. This type of tube contains two air chambers, but has only one valve. In case of a burst casing, only the outer chamber deflates, the inner one, with its reserve of air, being sufficient to keep the whole tyre. at a reasonable pressure. It is not intended that the vehicle should continue to be driven after a burst has occurred, but the device does enable it to be brought to rest safely. An American Goodyear Tube Which Avoids Danger . . . An Example co:the pOW does the British Mailed Fist in a Velvet "Transport Commission go Glove about the business of making
overtures to a haulage concern which it wishes to acquire? In at least one case, it is understood, all reconnaissance was carried out by telephone, in a disarmingly polite and impersonal way. Negotiations, in this particular case, are still taking their slow, steady course, but not a word has
been put on paper. Government representatives, apparently, were astonishingly wise as to the values, in price and potentiality, of all equipment, including vehicles. Inflated prices of ex-W.D. vehicles and plant which have been reconditioned do not interest them in the least. A and B Licences are DVERTISEMENTS a r e
not Saleable Comm° occasionally received by
dities "The Commercial Motor" in which the commodities offered for sale are A and B licences. Such ignorance of the regulations governing the issue of licences is incomprehensible, as the corditions under which they are originally obtained are such that the operator should know they are not transferable by a monetary payment. In all cases, even when an established business, complete with vehicles, is taken over, the transfer of the licences is still a matter for the Licensing Authority, although there is seldom any objection raised unless an application for increased tonnage is made at the same time.