Bird's Eye
Page 52
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View BY THE HAWK
Le (Ugh!) Caff
SEE what the French tell British drivers about France's roadside cafes—and ours—in the current Guide des Relais Routiers:— "The Relais Routiers are just like your country pubs, homely, simple, providing superb well-cooked food with a small bottle of vin ordinaire for 10s. or 1 is. In our restaurants you will not get beans on toast or eggs on soggy chips and it will not be washed down with sickly sergeant-major tea served in a chipped or broken cup.
"Nobody will ask for a four-letter-word sandwich or demand to know the way to the four-letter-word toilet. Indeed, eat in the Relais Routiers and you will avoid the indescribable squalor, bad food and filthy language common to British transport cafes."
Weighty Matter
OBVIOUSLY, Northern LA John A. T. Hanlon is out to get first-hand knowledge of loading to weigh against reports he hopes to get from manufacturers about discrepancies between their recommended carrying capacities and weights generally accepted as safe by the industry.
For at the end of a Newcastle hearing (CM last week) at which 29 tipper operators were granted Contract A-to-B-licence switches, he told quarrymasters present that he'd like to be invited to see a four-wheeled vehicle being mechanically loaded with 14 tons of quarried materials—without the rear axle being overloaded: "I would be interested to see it at any weighbridge you care to put it on," he said.
Full House
EN Kinds Lynn, Norfolk, Council charged a fee for use of its goods vehicle park in Hardwick Road and arranged a 24-hour security guard, the town's streets were full of parked lorries—and the park stood empty. Now the park is free and the security guards have gone. And it's never empty.
Enthusiasm
HERE'S nothing like a good booklet to commemorate a rentenary. Obviously, the Borough of Southport's transport department thinks so, for it has produced an intriguing history of passenger transport in the town. It's an enthusiast's must, with everything from horsedrawn trams to an artist's impression of one of the new MCW-bodied Leyland Panther single-deck buses expected this autumn. The booklet is available from the transport department's offices, 1 Eastbank Street, Southport and costs 2s. 6d. (plus 6d. postage).
Then. . . and Now
Ar th e Freightliner public inquiry in Aberdeen in December, the BR representatives told L. A. Wells, the deputy Licensing Authority, that the success of the system depended largely on the efficiency of the collection and delivery service. Road hauliers had offered sufficient and suitable tractive units but BR assistant to the manager, containers and Freightliners, E. H. Hopwood, argued that the system could only be successful if BR controlled the men.
Queried Mr. Wells: "Can you control your men, Mr. Hopwood?"
Bridging that Gap
BARBARA CASTLE and her Rt. Hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales have, I see, got down to tackling the task of making Britain's bridges safe for "the growing volume of traffic and heavy vehicles in particular". Sub-standard bridges will be subject to weight restrictions until brought up in strength. And the Minister is appealing for the co-operation of operators if and when diversions are necessary.
She says: "No reliable estimate can yet be formed of the total number of sub-standard bridges, but judging by our . surveys, the number could be considerable".
"Considerable"? Then perhaps I should reassure operators by quoting some figures from her own written reply to a Commons question: "Of the 4,000 bridges carrying trunk roads in England and Wales, we have reassessed more than half the suspect structures and found 20 that are sub-standard. Five have already been brought up to strength".
" C onsiderable" ?
Anglomania
SITORS to Le Havre last week on the pre-service runs of V Normandy Ferries' m.v. Dragon were pleased to note that the celebration of this port's 450th anniversary was also accompanied by a come-to-Britain campaign. The shops had some British goods on show, there were little Union Jacks in the windows, and a general air of goodwill prevailed.
The British Travel and Holidays Association had chipped in with some colourful posters in the main shopping area, extolling at length the joys of such diverse magnets as Folkestone, London and Northumberland. And every one was in English all through! Perhaps the BTHA still regards Normandy as the ancient English province it once was? Tell them, somebody.