1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194 
The bitter and the sweet
Page 68
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
This month's column This month's column comes to you direct from the waiting room at a Shropshire magistrates' court. It's not me up before the beak, though — I'm here to support my colleague John who's pleading mitigating circumstances over his failure to fill in his personal details in black ink on his speeding fine reminder.
His excuse is that he forgot. Mind you, he didn't think it was that important anyway since this was the fourth letter to have passed between him and the police (who had, in any case, already returned a cheque in his name to his home address).
Still, here he is today, up before the bench for failing to provide a name and address_ I ask you! Mad or what? It's not funny though; the fine's a potential £1,000.
I don't mean to sound uncaring but, for me, sitting here in the waiting room is a welcome break. Last week I was lumbered with the traffic desk and I reacquainted myself with the men and women who make the industry tick — the drivers, customers, weighbridge men and loaders.
New species
Loaders are something else; a breed apart. It makes no difference whether the tool of their trade is a shovel or a forklift, look at their birth certificate and it'll give their place of birth as some other planet. Just look at the way they operate.You're directed by their partner in crime (the weighbridge man) to wait "over there" and told that the loader will be with you in a minute.
So you park up under what turns out to be a cloak of invisibility.You can see the loader driving around aimlessly just feet away from you, doing nothing in particular.Two heart attacks and numerous phone calls later, he arrives to load you.
Loading is an art, especially with shovel drivers. Our 40ft walking-floor trailers have three bars across them, each a couple of inches wide; nine times out of 10 the loader driver hits one of them. thought it was that we identified the bars' position in words that confused the driver, so we took the words off and used pictures instead. Still they managed to bend them. I'm convinced this is a special skill, handed down from generation to generation.
Walter,in the garage. has been very busy this past month redesigning a recently purchased tipper trailer. He decided to withdraw one of the tippers because of a hairline crack on the back end.To ensure that the back end of the trailer didn't weaken over the next 100 years he designed and fitted several additional load-hearers. Talk about belt and braces.
I sometimes worry that anything that goes into the garage for repair or adjustment becomes part of the furniture. In 19641 sailed on a 9,000-tonne cargo ship that was completed in 1943 in (so they said) four days from start to finish.Walter is more painstaking. This particular job has been in the garage for three weeks already.
Brighter side
I should mention my colleague Terry for running in the Greater Manchester Fun Run, raising money for the RHA Benevolent Fund.And his wife Sonya has just given birth to their son, Daniel. My, they have been busy.
Let's wish Malcolm Dodds of RHA Northern all the best for the Great North Run also for the benefit of the benevolent fund.
And common sense has finally prevailed and John's been let off. I knew it was worth me coming along! I do like to end on such positive notes. •