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12th March 1992
12th March 1992
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Page 1, 12th March 1992
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SOME GOOD., .SOME BAD

• Maybe it was the thought of an election in the air. Or maybe, just for once, we witnessed the spectacle of a Chancellor of...

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Hazard scheme • A training scheme to award EC-recognised certificates

to truck drivers carrying dangerous substances should be operational by the end of the month. Drivers must have the documents...

Lamont's tax boos

BUDGET '92 • Chancellor Norman Lamont has frozen vehicle excise duty (YE 1)) for trucks and increased dery duty in line with...

Restructuring boosts TDG's re-tax Drofits

• The Transport Development Group boosted its full-year pre-tax profits by £700,000 to £38.9m following restructuring in...

Tories announce new road plans

• Transport Secretary Malcolm Rifkind has announced 24 new road schemes costing £24m, and warned that key road plans are...

CM story helps

• Bicester-based Swift Services and one of its drivers have escaped with an absolute discharge after a wheel loss incident....

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ni operators

The Road Haulage Association says it is "not unhappy" with the Budget. It welcomes the moves on the UBR and the freeze on VED,...

BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

o HGV vehicle excise duty frozen; light goods vehicles pay 210 more. 1:1 Duty on diesel to rise in line with inflation. 1:1...

Slump beats Brimec

• West country recovery systems maker Brimec has called in the receiver leaving 50 employees facing an uncertain future at...

70% of UK truckers exceed 40mph-limit

lili Truck drivers are the worst speeding offenders on nonmotorway roads, according to Department of Transport figures...

Tanker sinking feeling

• There was mayhem outside a Lancashire police station this week when a tanker delivering fuel fell through the road and had...

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M25 helps

• HGV traffic in central London has been cut by a fifth since the M25 opened, according to the Department of Transport....

Brussels lobby needed

• A group of international hauliers is calling for a powerful lobby to be set up in Brussels to fight for the road transport...

Overloaders targeted

• Drivers of overloaded trucks are more likely to be caught after the Vehicle Inspectorate starts using a sensor detection...

Truck sales drop 16.1% this year

• The number of trucks sold in the UK in the first two months of the year is 16.1% down on the same period last year. Sales...

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Volvo launches low artics

/Vol v o Trucks has launched lowheight versions of its FL10, F10 and F12 tractive units for operations up to 38 tonnes GCW. The...

Daimler-Benz goes driverless

• An experimental automaticguided vehicle for intermodal terminals and ports is being developed by Daimler-Benz. The...

Opening roof wins award

• An opening roof system for glass-carrying trucks and trailers has won a British design award from the Design Council....

Safety trailers go on show

• Trailer builder Fruehauf will have three trailers on show at Tipcon with safety features which are now standard fittings on...

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Green Volvos take to the road

Last September Volvo strengthened its medium and heavy truck line-up with a gaggle of uprated low emission engines and a new...

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Lep Group: open to offers

• Operators planning to buy road transport companies in mainland Europe were given encouragement this week as the Lep Group...

Tiger buyer found

• The new owner of Tiger Rail will be revealed in the next few days by the receiver. Several companies have shown an...

TB Range records a pre-tax loss last year

/ The severity of the recession was underlined last week when vehicle rental group TLS Range reported a pre-tax loss of...

Iveco Ford dealer pleads not guilty

/ Allegations that an Iveco Ford dealer charged a haulier for parts that were never fitted to a vehicle, were made last week at...

Europa recruits

/ In a move to enter the contract distribution market Europa European Express has taken on a warehouse and is about to start...

Personal services

/ Truck drivers will be offered their own restaurant, showers, vehicle repair centre and parking at the M25 Clacket Lane...

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Cornish hauliers fight tip rates

• Angry Cornish hauliers are banding together to fight predicted increases in tipping rates at landfill sites after...

Bell sales

▪ British Gas Northern contractor Kenton Utilities has bought 30 Mercedes-Benz 208D vans from County Durham-based dealer Bell...

TNT targets building firms in contract bid

• TNT Contract Distribution lias drawn up a "hit list" of 40 construction companies which it believes could reduce their...

Big five issue Euro fuel card

• Five oil companies have come together to offer a European card system which will corner 3,000 service stations in 16...

Fodens for Shell

• Shell UK has bought 46 Foden 4000 Series 6x2 tractors. Shell UK project engineer Stephen Aggett says: "We accepted the...

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Driver not blamed for runaway truck

• Truck driver Peter Barton was given an absolute discharge by Stockport magistrates after they accepted that an unknown...

Centre variation bid wrongly advertised

• St Mellons, South Glamorgan-based Mark Cutter has had his bid to change his operating centre adjourned after wrongly...

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No reprieve on licence

/ A sheep haulier whose 10 vehicle licence was revoked for bad maintenance has had his appeal dismissed by the Transport...

Final warning ▪ Alfreton-based Allegro

Transport has been given a final warning about its vehicle maintenance by North Western Licensing Authority Martin Albu. The...

LEGAL

DIRECTORY • Commercial Motor has compiled a nationwide directory of specialist transport lawyers, expert witnesses,...

Police wrong on tad°

/Bennett Hambro Transport, of Urmston, Manchester, has been cleared by Ebbw Vale magistrates of using a vehicle without a...

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Spot checks catch West Mids

• West Midlands Travel has had prohibition notices issued against 50 of its buses in Vehicle Inspectorate spot checks over...

Commission ends service row

• The European Commission has stepped in to end a four-year battle over Cliff's Coaches plan to operate a joint service with...

Grey-Green boost

• London bus operator GreyGreen helped its parent T Cowie boost pre-tax profits by 61% to £18.2m last year by increasing its...

Buyer sought • )11M Travel, the Peterlee, Durham-based coach operator

has gone into voluntary liquidation. Liquidator Latham Crossley & Davis of Sunderland is looking for a buyer for the 10-vehicle...

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Schmitz seeks UK agents

• Schmitz Thermostar is looking for up to six UK bodybuilders and/or repair shops to act as sales and assembly agents for its...

Jack Allen shuffle

• The Jack Allen group, which sells and services US-designed/ Scottish-built Colectomatic refuse systems, is re-organising...

Skate loading

• Anglesey-based Hydraroll has developed a Trailer Skate vehicle loading system for use with a range of accumulation...

Biffa adding cleaners

• Severn Trent subsidiaries LI Biffa Waste Services is taking Biffa Environmental and Biffa Waste Services are adding some of...

Major buy for Suffolk dairy

• St Edmunds Dairies of Bury St Edmunds has taken the first of Osborne Motor Bodies' new Safeload-Major range of insulated,...

Open-ended Tiltec

• Tiltec of Barking, has received orders for 16 of its new 13.2m Loadfast curtained semitrailer design from the newstrade....

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BUSINESS MOVES

Axle action • Granning has transferred production of its axles from Ripponden, West Yorkshire to Dromone in Ireland. The...

EVENTS Trading places

• The Institute of Grocery Distribution is holding a conference, Gaining the Competitive Edge in Europe, on 9 April at the...

Logistics event

• A conference entitled Logistics and the Environment will be held on 20-21 May by the Cranfield Institute of Technology at...

FERRIES Highland fling

• The first scheduled freight ferry service out of Invergordon in Easter Ross to Kirkwall on the Orkney islands starts this...

PUBLICATIONS Driving jobs

• A package designed to help employers avoid the pitfalls of recruiting and training staff has been developed by Bus and...

SERVICES Fuelling direct

• PHH AllStar has launched a fuel credit card aimed at hauliers who want to avoid paying in advance when bulk buying. PHH has...

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BPW braking point

• Trailer manufacturers which use BPW axles can now calculate brake requirements for any of their products using a computer...

TRAINING

Hazard a course ni Draft guidelines have been published to help training companies obtain approval for their hazardous goods...

PRODUCTS

Home from home • A range of top loading refrigerator and freezer units designed to fit inside a truck cab is available from...

Weighing the cost

• A semi-permaneni axle weighbridge which can be bolted to the road surface is available from Axtec. The platform height is...

Exhaust style

Stemco has introduced a vertical stack exhaust system for medium to heavy trucks, starting from £332 (ex-VAT). It is available...

ROAD NEWS

Tunnel trouble MI The Blackwall Tunnel will be closed to southbound traffic for maintenance for three nights in March. HGVs...

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64 1 magine directors or sales representatives sleeping in their

cars." When Terry Savage from the Union of Shop and Distributive Allied Workers 'sounded off' in our pages recently, his...

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O ur ride tests were all run over the same bumpy

section of road. To make an objective assessment of the forces throwing the driver about we recorded the forces at the driver's...

T he powerful ERF turned the tables during the noise measurement, however, being slightly quieter than the MAN at speed.

The Iveco Ford 220.36, with its rumbling 13.8-litre six is the loudest by a comfortable margin. With its warm plastic cab the...

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T he ERF E12 cab is based on the same design

as the El0 and E14 models, using SMC plastic exterior panels on a steel frame and with a foam lining. Although there are no...

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D espite the TurboTech's khaki-coloured plastic trim and floor mat (with

a somewhat brighter deck-chair-like covering for its seat, bunk and door lining) the cab of the Iveco Ford 220.36 is quite well...

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T he MAN F90 cab has been around for long enough

to be a common sight on the road. The fleet-orientated 17.322 uses the narrower F-type sleeper. At first sight the cab looks...

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R enault's Manager cab may be based on 1970s thinking, but

the new interior design, particularly on the topof-the-range G340Ti, has given it an up-todate feel. The dashboard layout in...

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T he interior of the TC Strato looks rather bare compared

with, say, a premium Stratocruiser, but its mixture of grey and blue trim looks neat and modern. Although the bulky plastic...

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V olvo's FL10 cab is mounted lower than any of the

other vehicles, and thus only needs two wide steps to climb aboard. The high engine cowl makes cross-cab movement especially...

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IN BROAD DAYLIGHT

The cost of commercial vehicle theft has doubled over the past three years. In many cases there is little the victims can do to...

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An open and shutter case

H hese pictures are from Men and Trucks, a large format paperback produced by Iveco Ford, detailing in a series of colour...

Seven men and their babies

fi he wonders of genetic engineering seem to have developed with incredible success at Newcastle-based Mercedes-Benz dealer,...

Drivers say truck off to cowboy image

GV drivers no longer want to be known as truckers because they are fed up with their cowboy image, according to a survey by...

CM comes top of the radio pops

ow apt that one of the Archers should present Commercial Motor Truckfest '91 with the Hereward Radio Award for programme of the...

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Loose-wheel liability

I have worked as a self-employed commercial vehicle fitter for 20 years. One of my customers, a truck operator, has sent me an...

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No bunk for mate

We deliver caravans nationwide and have to employ a driver's mate because the loads are over 3.5m wide, but he is not a...

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NO DELIC IT N TURKEY

ife is tough for Jack Duckworth — no, not the TV barman in Coronation Street, but a veteran international owner-driver who...

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Licence loss drivers have right of appeal says DVLA

• In response to the article headed "URTU fights revocations" which appeared in Commercial Motor (13-19 Feb), I would like to...

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In praise of a forwarder

• I recently had a telephone call from Lv Shipping's Middlesbrough office — I had not heard of this company before. The job...

Clean Cummins fine for Olympian

iii I would like the opportunity to correct an innaccurate statement in your report about Volvo Bus's plans for the Olympian...

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'UK hauliers put up with everything or are ellcouraged to break the lair

object to paying vehicle excise duty • in this country and road tolls abroad, when foreign hauliers can come here free of...