Lucas Kienzle tachograph plan
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by David Lowe
• Despite the fact that the Minister of Transport said in Parliament recently (CM July 31) that he had no present intention of introducing regulations requiring tachographs to be fitted in vehicles, one of the leading suppliers is undeterred by this announcement.
Lucas Kienzle Ltd, a marketing subsidiary of both Joseph Lucas Ltd and Kienzle Apparate GmbH, which is importing tachographs manufactured at the Kienzle factory in Germany, plans to step up sales of the instrument to operators wishing to fit it on a voluntary basis. A marketing campaign, starting at the time of the Commercial Motor Show, will be aimed initially at fleets which can obtain the most benefit from tacho use; for example, public utilities—gas, water and electricity boards—the Post Office and the major industrial organizations such. as the oil companies and where the instruments are most likely to be acceptable to drivers or where it is possible to get the drivers round the table to discuss the subject.
Mr Peter Massey, marketing manager of
No German toll
• According to a statement by West German Transport Minister Herr Leber, there will be no toll on the Federal Republic's highways. The EEC bulletin "Europe" reports that as from August 1 transport concerns making deliveries in Italy have to pay the road tax for four months instead of only 10 days as previously. The maximum tax thus goes up from 9000 lire to 120.000 lire.
Lucas Kienzle, told me that he had found that where it had been possible to get drivers, management and union representatives to discuss the subject together, listen to his explanation of the value of the instrument and openly ask questions, this had in many cases resulted in acceptance of the tachograph.
In addition to its marketing scheme, Lucas Kienzle also has extensive plans for establishing a first-class service network. The eventual aim is that a vehicle in this country fitted with one of the company's tachographs would never be more than 25 miles from a service depot, except, of course, in the remote areas of Scotland. The company has already appointed 14 existing Lucas distributorships as service centres and further appointments are to be made with the location of existing MoT goods vehicle test centres in mind because, Mr Massey said, his company foresees that tachographs may be subject to annual tests if legislation requiring their use goes through.
The prospect of British vehicles travelling on the Continent having to be fitted with tachographs to comply with the regulations of the country through which they are passing has been temporarily suspended by the decision in Brussels last week by the EEC Ministers of Transport to postpone for three years the compulsory fitting of the instruments.
Three of the six EEC countries, France Belgium and the Netherlands, are known to have been concerned that the principal manufacturers of the instruments are German and they prefer to wait until some of the other countries are able to produce the instruments on a commercial basis.