Truck & Driver UK – September 2019

21

UP FRONT

Truck & Driver August 2019

make change happen. Small-

minded begrudgers who think

that insulting a teenage girl with

more integrity and foresight than

they could ever have makes them

look and feel smart.

I wish there were more Greta

Thunbergs in the world and fewer

Alex Savilles. Without a planet

there’s no future for anyone.

Seamus Quinlan

Sharp End anger 2

Having read your deputy editor’s

From the Sharp End (Summer

T&D), I have to admit that I am

kind of angry with Chris Turner’s

response to Alex Saville’s column

on climate change.

For a start, most truck drivers

will wholeheartedly agree with

Alex Saville’s description of

the climate-change protests in

London and the holier than thou

attitude of the protesters, to say

nothing of the pathetic attitude of

the Metropolitan Police towards

them. If this had been truckers

protesting, the government would

have come down on them like a

tonne of bricks!

And there lies the problem.

It’s easy for politicians to cosy

up to popular causes instead of

dealing with the normal working

problems of the world, such as

fuel costs, delivering in London

and the like. It’s getting to the

point where I can see hauliers

boycotting London because they

are being taxed to death just to

deliver into the damned place.

Does your publication really

represent the haulage industry in

this country or have you gone all

BBC and left wing? The climate-

change activists would be the

first to complain when their food

isn’t in the shops.

And that’s another thing. The

UK is a small country that’s

clean. It is not destroying the

planet. Countries like China

and India are destroying the

planet with their pollution but of

course you won’t see Extinction

Rebellion out there. Why?

Because they would all be locked

up, that’s why.

Everybody hates trucks,

especially environmental

campaigners, and now it seems

the haulage press is siding with

them. In my opinion you should

get back to representing trucks

and drivers, or drivers like myself

may stop reading your magazine.

Steve Dawes

We had a few emails in response

to both Alex’s article and Chris’s

one the following month. The

Sharp End column reflects the

thoughts and opinions only of the

person who wrote it. If the

column motivates you to write to

T&D, either because you liked it

or did not like it, then we’ll print

your response – Dougie

Badge of honour?

Having been in and around the

industry for more years than I care

to remember, I have seen trends

come and go when it comes to

accessorising your truck.

Some owners and companies

allow their drivers much more

freedom than others and in some

cases even contribute to the cost

in part or full. In the case of the

larger national companies and

supermarkets, who have company

images to protect, it is discouraged

and/or banned outright.

One trend that seems to have

made a reappearance over the

past 18 months or so is bull-bars.

While personally it wouldn’t

be my thing, done right and

sympathetically to the truck and

the livery they do look alright.

What I can’t get my head around

is the new phenomenon where

Scania V8s with bull-bars are

having the power-rating badges

removed to make way for the

bull-bar fittings.

Regularly in surveys carried

out among HGV drivers, Scanias

and Scania V8s come out top

of the polls as the make of truck

most drivers would prefer to

drive, given the choice. So surely

those drivers would want to

display the power rating of the

engine and the V8 badges?

While out on the road

everyday myself, you can’t fail to

notice the number of trucks about

where it’s clear the drivers take

a genuine pride in the truck and

the job. This can only be a good

thing to encourage new blood

into the industry and keep hold of

those who may be disaffected.

Perplexed of Sussex

With a driver shortage,

companies are doing much more

to keep drivers, which often

includes giving them a higher-

spec truck or letting them choose

and/or customising it. Bull-bars

are indeed a fashionable item at

the moment and they will always,

always be a Marmite thing. As for

badges – wait for next month’s

Danish bin wagon, that’ll confuse

some people! – Dougie

Sales complacency

I am just reading the article (‘Brit

exit’, July T&D) regarding the

shortsightedness of the British

lorry manufacturing companies. It

was the sales departments of the

dealers that were guilty of

complacency as well!

In 1967 my father’s company

wanted to replace an unreliable

Foden two-stroke tractor unit.

Having approached the nearest

Leyland dealer, Ford and Slater,

the rep turned up and showed

us a brochure for, I believe, a

semi-automatic Leyland Beaver,

price £5250. When asked about

a demonstrator, he shrugged his

shoulders and said there was

only one in the country and, if we

were lucky, it would take about

six weeks to deliver!

In contrast, the rep for the

local Scania dealer, B&W

Motors, turned up with an LB76H

tractor unit. We had a drive in it

and he offered to leave it with us

for a week if we gave him a lift to

the railway station. Price £4950,

painted and signwritten. My dad

was so impressed he told the

rep that if he could have it on the

road in a week he had the order

there and then.

Scania proved so successful

that a year later, when we

needed another tractor unit, we

approached B&W again. They

were unable to offer a discount

so we bought a Volvo F88 from

John Billows. That was another

step forward, as it had a sleeper

cab as standard. As we did a lot

of deliveries to out-of-the-way

areas, that was a real boon.

Later, for another company, I

normally drove a Mercedes 1418

but on occasion a Guy Big J

tractor; cramped cab, no power

steering, no comparison!

It was very sad that the

homegrown industry didn’t wake

up to the threat in time.

Mike Wigfield

Branches: Tunbridge Wells, Kent and Rearsby, Leics

Grammer’s Kingman (above)

and (below) its MSG 90.3

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