The Giddy Limit!
Page 54
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DURING the recent meeting called in Coventry to explore the possibility of settingup a.' new organization to run the Lorry Driver of the Year. Competition, the importance Of its 'being' a legal, entity was emphasized, To try to find a simple solution of the "probleth, a delegate asked the chairman whether it could be 'overcome 'by incorporating the proinoters in a limited-liability company.
Thereupon a repeesentative of the Transport and General Workers Union said that if this idea were adopted, the Union -would withdraw ' their support. Apparently he envisaged a grasping capitalist concern grinding the faces of honest competitors beneath their own wheels. If a limited-liability company is necessarily an evil thing, why do the T.G.W.U. negotiate on Wages' and conditions with the Road Haulage Association, Ltd.?
41 Years on Wheels
THE magic million has as great a fascination for drivers as it used to hold for proprietors of daily newspapers. Many drivers claim to have covered lm. miles, but few can justify the boast. One who can probably do so is Mr. Henry Greenwood, who, in 1914, began to drive a Daimler solid-tyred lorry for T. and W. Farmiloe, Ltd., makers of Nine Elms paint.
He joined the company in 1907 and became a mate in 1912. Two years later he moved into the driver's seat and has been driving for Farmiloe's ever since. Recently he has been at the wheel of a Bedford 3-tonner, but he now feels that he hasseen enough of the road and has been transferred to warehouse duties.
Big Stuff
F' people have any idea of the amount of work and expense involved in testing a big vehicle. After several months of negotiation with the makers, John Moon managed to arrange for a Scammell Constructor tractor, a Cranes 45-ton trailer and a suitable load to be available at the same time, and, having insured the outfit for £18,000, he disappeared into the country for nine days.
The test occupied seven working days and about 30 people were involved in it. One day 14 men, apart from Moon and a photographer, were needed, but, according to Moon, the test was nothing compared with the problem of compressing seven days' observations into a reasonable compass. Readers will be able to judge next week how well he has succeeded.
Not Even Abdullas
A COLLEAGUE who manages to write without benefit of rA nicotine complains that the police are not sufficiently vigilant in dealing with public service vehicle drivers who smoke while on duty. His hair rises when he sees a driver take both hands from the steering wheel to deal with a refractory lighter or a box of matches, but the Worse example occurred one wet day as a coach • in which he was travelling approached Manchester.
With his left hand the driver held a aigarelte (whiell he occasionally put into his Mouth), the steering wheel, and a board to which was clipped his worksheet. In his right hand was a pencil, and as the coach passed through Pendleton he entered up his record. When, the vehicle skidded on the wet setts he hurriedly dropped the boatal, popped the cigarette into his mouth and grabbed the wheel with both hands, but having deftly corrected the skid, he resumed writing and smoking.
Nobody loves a nark, but a case of this kind should be reported. More might perhaps be done by associated companies to supervise drivers when they are in " foreign " territory.
A41 Nightmare
Iy/HAT a nightmare it must be to have to walk along some Vic portions of the A41 road in Hertfordshire. It is carrying an ever-increasing volume of heavy traffic to the Midlands, yet near Bourne End and between Northchurch and the hamlet of Cow Roast there is only just room for two lanes of traffic, and there is no footpath.
Surely the Ministry of Transport and Hertfordshire County Council could come to some agreement with the frontagers for a footpath to be made, perhaps behind the hedges, or at least on one side of the road. These dangerous stretches are ouite,long, and at night they are as worrying to drivers as they are to unfortunate pedestrians.
One Better
THE latest story attaching to the name of Brifain's—and the world's—leading automotive engineers concerns a rival German company of high repute, which sent them a block of steel in which was drilled a minute hole.
"Try and beat this!" read the accompanying note.
The block was returned. Seeing that there was no second hole of even smaller diameter, the German company responded: "So you admit defeat?"
"Defeat, be blowed! Look closer and you will see that your hole is sleeved," they were told.
Aid to Distinction
QFFICE stationery is a necessary expense in all businesses, yet few people, particularly hauliers, reap the full benefit from it. Too many operators overlook a valuable SOLUTE of advertisement at no extra cost.
Smallholders and fruit-growers, who are regular customers of hauliers, are particularly prone to stuffing correspondence in their jacket pockets to be dealt with later. Often in a small market town I have seen a smallholder take from his pocket a bundle of letters, bills and sundry scraps of paper with the intention of taking up a point with a colleague. More often than not he cannot find what he is looking for, because all the envelopes look So much alike. •
If the letter had been sentin a coloured 'envelope OT had been Of an unusual design, the recipient would' have been able to place hi i hand On 'it immediately: " 'From all the materials at the printer's disposal it Is possible to 'find a combination of 'paper, ink, type and style that is original and attractive without being costly.
Uniformity is important. Once the style has been fixed it should be employed throughout the operator's range of stationery, and it will become a trade mark. The use of an envelope to match the paper is a further aid to speedy recognition.