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bird's eye view by the Hawk • Thank you, ASLEF
Page 56
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Last week's rail stoppage was not without its compensations. Travelling into London by car one of our staffmen found himself trapped in a jam so immovable that lorry drivers were nipping into a local newsagent's to buy papers and magazines.
In a flash our CM man was out of the car and moving up and down the line of stationary lorries handing out copies of the 1973 regulations for the Lorry Driver of the Year competition. In no time drivers were collecting in small groups, reading the regs and discussing the competition.
When things eventually got moving he was encouraged by the number of truck drivers who leaned out and gave him a thumbs up, with a cheery "See you, mate."
If the LDoY entries in the South East are up this year, we now know one reason why — and some of the credit must really go to Ray Buckton and the merry men of ASLEF.
• Roman holiday If Wednesday of last week was, on the whole, a gloom day in the big cities hit by rail stoppages, perhaps it's because we're not yet geared to make the most of these unhappy occasions. Tuesday of last week should have been gloom day in Rome, where the Italians were caught in their second general strike of 1973, but the Italians strike with a difference. Perhaps the weather has something to do with it.
For example, anyone who could drive and felt in the mood went along to local bus stations and hired buses — with which they ran services along regular routes. It mattered little that they didn't know the details of the route; the passengers were happy to navigate with cries of "left here", "stop!", "straight on at the crossroads".
It is also credibly reported that everybody laughed or sang and then — London Transport please note — they paid double fare for the service. In readiness for the one-day national strike being planned by the TUC, you may care to make advance hiring arrangements with the manager of your local bus garage. But don't expect too much laughing and singing.,
• Hawk support
Hardly had my complaint about garish all-over-painted advertisements on London buses been published last week when support came winging in from an unexpectedly high quarter. The Design Council, no less, described these buses as "wholly undesirable both aesthetically and socially".
It went on to say that they created a precedent which could rapidly spread to other public services. Funny thing, I'd always thought they were an offshoot from other public services, like the graffitidecorated loo.
Anyway, in a memo last Friday the council's Street Furniture Advisory Committee told London Transport that the painted advertising bus "negated a design policy built up over half a , century and world famous for its distinction".
LT chairman Sir Richard Way replied that there were only 10 such buses out of 6000 and promised that the number would never exceed 15.
That will be 15 too many. I offer LT, for free, the suggestion that they transfer the overall paint job to the inside of the buses — and perhaps advertise on the backs of the seats. That brings the material close enough for passengers to add their own comments, as well as helping to while away the traffic jams.
• Wrong bell
Talking of buses, I have to report that a party of senior busmen were observed on Monday night singing verses of "My ding-a-ling", possibly under the natural delusion that it had something to do with playing bus conductors.
They were, I should add, only a small section of the members and guests at this year's very lively IBCAM annual dinner who had been persuaded to join in singing this controversial little ditty, to which many were dancing.
You thought any organization with the title of Institute of British Carriage and Automobile Manufacturers must be stuffy, perhaps? Wrong! — at least on the evidence of Monday night at Grosvenor House.
• Sally in Transit
Englishmen have a reputation for understatement, but I doubt whether this applies to the typical Englishwoman; in any case, unfavourable overstatement regarding heavy lorries is the order of the day all round.
So when a strikingly attractive young lady said "They're all right", referring to heavy lorries and their drivers, I wanted to know more.
Sally Roebuck of Stratford-on-Avon drives cars for Hertz, but for 2+ years she drove a 17cwt Transit van for Cadbury's as a cookery demonstrator and she's had plenty of driving experience in Canada and America.
You can't say that Sally is .completely unbiased about men at the wheel. On her cookery runs she was often harassed by male drivers of similar vehicles who tried to demonstrate their maleness by rash overtaking, cutting in and rude gestures. But although rather patronizing at times, the drivers of heavies were, she says, inevitably courteous. And they were helpful in giving warning of hazards. She has a good word for the police, too.
When asked if she would admit that "They're all right" should read "They're good", Sally said "Yes, but artics shouldn't jack-knife; something should be done about it. You can prevent jack-knifing, can't you? It seems to me that most of the lorries, though, are better maintained than a lot of cars. And they're driven better here than in America or Canada. Drivers are so often careless over there. Perhaps it's all those long, straight roads.
"Of course, lorries should be restricted in the routes they take. But everyone agrees about that, don't they?"