ird's eye
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iewby the Hawk • Vehicle run
This Sunday morning, bright and early, at around 6 am if you want to be precise, CM staff will join the dawn chorus in Battersea Park. This is a result of rash promises made at the more civilized hour of 12.30 in the staff canteen, when they agreed purely in the line of duty to join in the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club run to Brighton. Around 8 o'clock we will climb aboard a 1931 Gilford, 1680T 30-seater coach owned by Prince Marshall and we feel sure that for the first two hours at least the only noise to break the silence will be the sixcylinder Lycoming petrol engine.
Feeling sure that you will want to view this phenomenon, vantage points are as follows: Clapham 8.30; Streatham 8.45; Croydon 9.00 (FTA staff please note); Redhill 9.45; Crawley 10.15; Bolney 11.00; Patcham 11.30; Madeira Drive, Brighton 11.45.
It would help if you turned out with an encouraging cheer and ril tell you what, take up your position at the bottom of the hills — you never can tell, we may need something more substantial than a cheer. Our vehicle number is GW 713.
• The dialogue
It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of your employers and point out their faults and this week's medal for bravery must surely go to Kerril Spencer, the RHA's tipper regionalization co-ordinating officer, who used real-life instances to illustrate his points at Buxton last week.
One such illustration was a dialogue between Kerril and one of his members (employers): "Is that Mr Spencer?"
"Yes, good morning."
"I have been told you can help me through your regionalization scheme."
"I'll try, what's the problem?"
"I have got to quote for a muck-away job. How much should I charge?"
"I shall require a few details " "Like what?"
"Well, what size of vehicle, how far is the haul, who pays the tip charges, how long do you anticipate each journey will take, and are you operating by the hour or yard?"
"That's just the sort of b answer I might have expected from the RHA. I ask a simple question and all you do is try to confuse me."
• Driver's comp
As part of the BRS staff involvement policy, the Northway House bosses have conceived a new competition for their drivers. In future issues of Hotline there will be a kind of "Spot the fault" competition with drivers invited to examine photographs of cabs and, in particular, facia panels in order to try to point out instruments which in their opinion are badly positioned or to suggest cab innovations which they think are desirable.
Spare a thought for the competition organizer who must remain anonymous in case he is got at. Already the poor man sees trouble ahead. "Can you imagine," he asked me, "what innovations are likely to be suggested?"
• Indoor sports
The achievements of Don Revie's Leeds United seems to have had some strange side effects in West Yorkshire. They've all gone very sporty. So much so that Leeds City Transport arranged an Inter-Undertaking Indoor Sports Meeting, when they invited more than 400 busmen from as far away as Tyneside and Merseyside to corn pete against each other and competitors from Yorkshire undertakings.
Can you imagine what interesting events could be organized — like relay races round the garage with double-deckers and the hop, step and jump on to the moving platform? Alas, the Revie influence did not go that far and the indoor sports were confined to billiards, darts, dominoes, cribbage, table tennis and snooker with the stout men of Rotherham lifting the last three titles.
• Women's Lib
This week I had a look at the annual report from one of the Group Training Associations and there is no denying that these people are nothing if not thorough.
The training staff structure includes everyone from the group training officer to the canteen manageress. It includes bookkeepers, typists and cleaners and according to the report "all are holders of Class 1 hgv licences having qualified by test and have successfully passed the advanced instructor course at Motec".
How can you follow that except perhaps to say: "Well done ladies"?