Truck sales up
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▪ UK truck registrations were up again in January, according to the latest Department of Transport statistics. Figures released last week show that registrations of goods vehicles in January this year were 9,300 — 21% above the level of Janaury 1988, with a 24% increase for top weight articulated lorries (see Business News, page 19).
Stuttgart start
• Mercedes-Benz and Mitsubishi have formed a joint venture, Stuttgart Truck and Bus Sales, to begin selling Mercedes commercial vehicles through selected Mitsubishi Fuso dealers in Japan.
Dutch bulbs
• All drivers will have to switch their headlights on during the day when they cross the Dutch border next year. There is a possibility that the day-time lighting rule will also be introduced in Britain and other EC countries if Dutch Transport Minister Neelie Smit-Kroes has her way. The Dutch want to start a pilot scheme this year in Dordrecht which has 110,000 inhabitants.
DTp damages
• The Department of Transport this week agreed to contribute S36,500 towards the damages awarded against CS Ellis Haulage of Wireless Hill, South Luffenham. The company paid Carole Long £120,000 in compensation for her husband's death after his Ford Cortina estate collided with one of the company's trucks on the Al. The company claimed the DTp was responsible for the junction at the scene of the accident. The DTp had "failed to give proper or adequate consideration to the number of accidents which occurred at the junction," claimed C S Ellis.