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BIRD'S EYE

9th July 1965, Page 57
9th July 1965
Page 57
Page 57, 9th July 1965 — BIRD'S EYE
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Keywords : Routemaster

By The Hawk VIEW Fighting Spirit It was a proud moment for

Hugh Fellows of Greet's Green, West Bromwich (seen above) when he recently took delivery of a brand new Leyland Badger/York attic outfit. As explained in this column about a year ago, Mr. Fellows was an owner-driver until four years ago when he was totally blinded as the result of an accident when he was changing a wheel on his vehicle. With the help of his wife and some loyal drivers, Mr. Fellows has built up a prosperous business. In the short time that we have known Mr. Fellows he has consolidated his licences, formed a limited company and added an artic to his five vehicle fleet.

Short Weighbridges Mr. • George Brown seems quick to tell the road haulage industry that it should increase its productivity and absorb the unreasonable increases in fuel and excise .taxes without passing ally of the costs on to its customers. I learned last week of a case for investigation where the customer is preventing more economical operatiora by refusing to allow hauliers to utilize vehicles—built to the new Construction and Use Regulations—that exceed 28 -tons gross.

The organization concerned is responsible for dispatching daily hundreds' of tons of a commodity basic to the needs of many of the nation's industries. It is widely suspected that the reason for this attitude is that the veighbridge belonging to the company is only 30 ft. long and cannot therefore accept a 30-ton artic in one weigh.

It is sad, to say the least, that although hauliers are prepared to spend large sums of their hard-earned cash to purchase new machines capable of moving loads in bigger bites (so reducing the number of trips required) they are being, on the one hand, badgered by the Prices and Incomes Board to reduce costs and, on the other, ham-strung by lack of foresight on the part of the industries they serve.

Quite a number of :hauliers have found that they are being baulked by the lack of weighbridges long enough for a single weigh when the vehicle concerned is more than 30 ft. long. As consignees will not often accept a double weigh, the result is a lot of wasted mileage and unnecessary cluttering of the highways by vehicles running out of their way to reach a suitable weighing machine. What about this restrictive practice. Mr. Brown?

Perfectly Lovely According to residents of

California, perfume mixed with diesel makes olfactory sense (see "Heaven Scent", this page, June 25 issue). The local director of transport reported that this scheme had proved a " splendid success ". But, you may be pleased

to discover, not all original ideas come from the good old USA—although in this case I'm not at all sure that I wouldn't have preferred it that way.

I have been reliably informed that the Slip Group introduced a deodorized additive to the market late last year. This product, Dieslip MDA, is claimed not only to reduce substantially the volume of exhaust smoke emitted, but to make it smell that much nicer. The difference in aroma costs approximately 15s. 6d. per 5 gal. can. Is this a case for stickers? How about 'I've got an orchid in my tank"?

Infallible Engines? Our passenger transport man tells me he " went up in a blue light when he read about the super engines, fitted to London's .Routemaster buses. An inter-overhaul life of 250 million miles is expecting rather much of any engine—even those fitted in the Routemasters! What was intended to be conveyed in our report last week was, of course, that the AEC and Leyland engines in the Routernasters were averaging 250 thousand miles between overhanls. The aggregate mileage operated by the combined RM fleet equals about 250 million miles—as correctly stated. Apologies to Mr. Durrant.

The Mirrored Word Motoring through Shepton Mallet, Somerset, recently, I was approached from behind by a vehicle. Looking in my rear view mirror I read the word AMBULANCE. I congratulated myself on the speed with which I had "translated" the mirrored word. But on taking a second look in the glass I realized that I wasn't so clever after all. The word on the front of the vehicle was already written in mirror-image.

Retired There used to be a time when

journalists and publicity people were permanently at daggers-drawn. Perhaps it is still true in some industries; but not, fortunately, in transport. There are (I'm glad to say) a very fine bunch of press and publicity lads in this field. Last week the transport press, among others, paid a farewell luncheon tribute to one of the best --Alan Hess, of Simms Motor and Electronics Corporation, who recently retired as group controller of public relations.

One of the most colourful PROs in the game, Alan (pictured here) is an ex-journalist, broadcaster and racing driver. He holds, I might add, a mere 153 motoring records. A Freeman of the City of London, Alan is also author of nine books.

Perhaps less well known is his " sideline " of lecturing to prisoners, thus helping to while away the time they spend as Her Majesty's guests. "How wonderful ", I once said to him. "A captive audience He ignored my humour and pointed out that prisoners in fact frequently gave decided and vocal birds to unpopular speakers.

Tags

Organisations: Prices and Incomes Board
Locations: York, London

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