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2nd March 2000
2nd March 2000
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Page 1, 2nd March 2000
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ticwr TANKS

South Wales-based Blue Circle Cement has taken delivery of a fleet of lightweight bulk cement tankers from Heil Trailer...

ANT ACTNNI

Hauliers and farmers in the North-East are considering joint action to draw attention to their grievances with the government....

MORE FREIGHT

P&O Ferries freight journeys rose on all routes other than Portsmouth in 1999.

WM TUNNEL

The British and Irish transport ministries are to consider a proposal for a 60-mile tunnel linking Holyhead with Dublin. The...

TINY TIAN

Conservative party leader William Hague will open the Commercial Vehicle Show at the Birmingham NEC on 28 March. He will be...

WINE WARNING

Hoverspeed has been warned by HM Customs &Excise that wine transported under its new home delivery service is liable to UK duty...

Drivers drain their tanks to sell diesel on black market

CM NNESTNIATION se leading transport companies are being ripped off by drivers who are selling the fuel in their tanks as part...

Taphaul directors deny link with new firm

• The directors of Taphaul, the Cowdenbeath haulier which went into liquidation last month, are denying any link between it and...

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Industry pups

plan duty action • by Robin Memos The Road Haulage Association is considering a week-long parkup of trucks if Gordon Brown...

DOT says 1% of foreign HMIs are on cabotage

• Less than 1% of all journeys conducted by foreign trucks in the UK are engaged in cabotage, according to Transport Minister...

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FPI drivers denied visas over "fraud"

n by Melanie Hammond Inn First Point International truck drivers' programme hit another low this week after the US Immigration...

Protest is only way

Will Gordon Brown freeze or even reduce diesel duty in the forthcoming Budget, as so many voices have been demanding? Will he...

Firm forced to close

• Lancashire-based Orwell Freight closed this week with debts of about £75,000. Liquidator Mitchell Charlesworth of Manchester...

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French cops demand £000 for tie

• by Ian Wylie Yet another British haulier has oeen left baffled and angered by the actions of French police. A driver employed...

Thief accuses heroin dealer

Disabled driver Gerald Grey stole an artic loaded with drinks with a combined value of £114,000 because his heroin dealer told...

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MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Trailer rental specialist TIP.'CTR has supplied family haulage

and warehousing firm Prestons of Potto with seven new curtainsiders under a seven-year operating lease deal (see profile, page...

TIMBER MOVER TOG Scotland has been awarded a contract by

the Forestry Commission to haul timber from forests in Speyside to Inverness-based CSC Forest Products.

CENTRE OPENS Exel Automotive Management Services has opened the BMW

Group UK Handover Centre in Lawford Heath. Rugby following a new contract to manage the Rover. Landrover, MG and Mini own-use...

HOMEBASE MANAMA Tibbett & Britten Group has won a three-year contract to provide warehouse management services to Homehase.

MTV MUM= Securicor Omega Express is to provide a nationwide home delivery service for sports goods retailer JJB Sports.

DO DIMWIT TDG's European chemicals division has been awarded a

five-year contract to supply UK warehousing and logistics services for catalyst manufacturer Synetix.

IN LULL New Wave Logistics has secured a rolling contract

with Airwair UK to manage the parcel delivery of its Dr Martens brand range.

WEIGHER MAINTENANCE Bradford-based vehicle weighing manufacturer PM On Board has

signed a £400,000 deal with the Vehicle Inspectorate to equip and maintain its 23 areas with portable weigh pads (see Industry...

Truck thieves behind bars

• by Ian Wylie The Metropolitan Police expect truck crime in East London and Essex to fall by at least 20% following the...

Protest three lose appeal

The three hauliers convicted for blocking the M1 during a Trans-Action protest last April have lost their appeals. Gary and...

Council sent out vehicles overloaded

II A public inquiry has heard how Dudley Council in the West Midlands overloaded 14 of its trucks on more than 40 separate...

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Weighting at the roadside...

They've been tried, tested and approved for truck weighing. Now Vehicle Inspectorate enforcement teams are out on the road...

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Sprinter sets a new standard

Mercedes-Benz's latest Sprinter provides us with something of a dilemma. In front of the B-pillar just about everything is new,...

" 1 CM has driven examples powered by all of the

new engines, in various configurations, in the Tuscan hills north of Pisa. The test course ran the gamut from hairpin-strewn...

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GADGETS GALORE SprIntshlft • The old Sprinter was available with

a conventional fully automatic transmission with torque converter, but 3 never achieved widespread popularity. Mercedes expects...

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Renault Midlum bids for mid-weight sales

Meanwhile, in the countryside to the north-east of Paris, we have been sampling Renault's new Midlum middleweight... • by...

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Partners granted licences

Two former partners have won licences of their own at a Leeds public inquiry, though for fewer vehicles and trailers than had...

EXTRA REHM

Scottish TC Michael Betts has warned Glasgow-based Pachinni Oil Importing Co aver maintenance, but he granted its application...

LICENCE CONDITIONS

Granting permission for Peterhead-based Buchan Brothers to base three vehicles at Thunderton Quarry, Blackhills. Longside,...

IMTOCK LOOT

A complaint from a neighbour has resulted in a series of conditions being imposed on the one-vehicle licence granted to Paula...

1,711

Eastern TC Geoffrey Simms has granted Ousden, Suffolkbased John Nunn a licence for two vehicles and two trailers on condition...

BID REJECTED

A bid for a new two-vehicle licence by Darnall-based Kwawaja Brothers has been turned down at a Sheffield public inquiry.

Tacho offences led to revocation

The falsification of tachograph records by drivers employed by William Tottenham, of Coatbridge, and Bellshill Fish...

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Granting a new one-vehicle licence to kJ Catering, of Sheffield.

North Eastern Deputy TC Mark Hinchliffe remarked that the public will not tolerate dangerous HGVs. The company had applied for...

siggippl Quicks (Liver

pool), trading as Cleanfast, has been granted interim authority to operate two vehicles. But North Western Deputy Traffic...

0-licence curtailed over hours

Breaches of the drivers' hours rules have led to the South Wales licence held by Liverpool meat wholesalers Towers Barron,...

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THE HAT FITS

I greatly enjoyed reading your Special Triple issue (CM23 Dec 1999-12 Jan 2000). I can identify the gentleman in the trilby hat...

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TRANSITS FROM AMSTERDAM

Ford of Europe was in a very giving mood when It took its stand at the RAI show (CM 10-16 Feb). Tc mark the first public...

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

This fine specimen is one of two Mercedes-Benz Unimogs that have been helping the French to see the light. The vehicles were...

ALL HEART

Every 14 February the Hawk is faced with the onerous task of wading through the masses of Valentine cards that come flooding...

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TOYOTA HlACE 2.4D GS

' PRICE AS TESTED: £14,047 (ex-VAT), includes £13,835 for basic vehicle and £212 for metallic paint. ENGINE: 2.4 litres, 74hp...

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N O EE OW • The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations

1986 require most vehicles over 12 tonnes and trailers over 3.5 tonnes gross weight to be fitted with approved anti-spray...

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Automatic gearboxes make more sense in trucks than any other

class of vehicle, and IF has brought that goal a step closer with a full auto version of its AS-Ironic gearbox. Can this...

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ith one or two well exceptions, women are hardly gaining

a foothold in haulage. But driving a 4o-to n ner no longer requires that much strength, so what's the problem? Sheila McCabe...

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Co-operation, expansion, enthusiasm a straight talking. Most operators might expe just three of these to be relevant to haulage

enthusiasm might make the list. But wh visit I industry luminary An ound a m jor player relishing t o get stuck in wherever...

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GETTING ON TRACK

The amount of freight carried by rail has risen by a third in five years, yet it is still far outstripped by road freight. L...

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6 Martin Cornwall's Sound Off article ( CM13-19 Jan) on

low driver wages in the Class 1 category left me totally astounded by his complete lack of understanding of our industry. What...