BIRD'S EYE
Page 53
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By The Hawk VIEW Bright Young Men In a manner of speaking 1
cannot help thinking that Independence Day fell a little early this year for one enterprising young man in our ndustry, whose birthday falls on July 4! He is Dick Tailing, former commercial manager of A.E.C. Ltd., who, with his colleague Robert Bennett, was recently appointed to the A.E.C. board.
Bothof these men are still under 35 years of age. In fact Dick Tatting is not 30 until July 4 and Robert Bennett is only three years his senior. Robert Bennett's " Independence Day " occurs three days earlier, for on July 1 he takes over as A.E.C.'s new director and general sales manager.
Youth at the helm indeed! 1 cannot help feeling that both these young men, who already have distinguished careers to their credit, have a long wayto go in the industry and that we shall be hearing much more of them now that they have won their hoard-room spurs.
Merit Rewarded I see that Standard-Triumph international is to introduce a scheme to encourage its apprentices. Under this a driving scholarship is to be awarded each 3ear to the apprentice considered most likely to benefit from tuition in specialized high-performance driv ing techniques. He will, in fact, be sent on the High Performance Course of the British School of Motoring. Seems a good idea to me. '
Where's Siddle ? If Siddle C. Cook (of the firm that bears his name) is conspicuous by his absence from the north-east in the next week or two, Jean. tell you why. A colleague heard him say. last week: " My drivers have had a whip round ' for me, and as a result I'm taking the daughter for a holiday to Las Palmas ".
Generous drivers! Ulterior motive?
Nothing by Half They don't do things by half
in the north-east, by the way. The other day, colleague Norman Tilsley had dinner with John Davison—who looks after the London end of the Shildon firm, Davisons Transport, which his father founded. John was entertaining some gentlemen from the Continent. The venue—a steak home at Buckingham Gate.
Asked to choose his steak before it was cut off, John surprised his friends by ordering what he called a small
piece. Weight? Jost 32 oz. And how does John keep his weight down? He goes for a swim every morning. I think nt stick to m3 diet!
Problem Solved
The problem of accommodation has been solved by Mr. Hanlon's court clerk, John Bradbury. The Northern court spends a lot of time travelling around the Lake District and as far away as Barrow,in. Farness. Mr. Bradbury has converted his A55 van into a motorized caravan, so that he can take his wife with him on his travels. So if you come across a grey A55 parked up on the Kirkstone Pass and you want to know all the latest about " As and Ds " just stop off, knock three times and ask for " Brad ".
Problem Solved Messrs. Turner The Turner Brothers' close
links with the Coast Lines shipping group will be strengthened by ihe move to the group's Liverpool headquarters of Mr. P. II. R. (Philip) Turner as road transport controller (see page 42). At Liverpool he will join his brother J. R. Turner, who is executive director of Coast Lines. Philip's younger brother Mr. H. T. Turner moves to Thomas Allen Ltd., to become joint general manager with Mr. A. Bibby. Before joining Thomas Allen, of which Mr. P. H. R. Turner was managing director, Mr. H. T. Turner was manager of Liverpool Cartage Co. Ltd.. another of Coast Lines' transport concerns
Guide for,Spotters
Ever seen nippers collecting bus numbers? 1 have on many occasions. Apparently now, with the great increase in the number of commercials on the roads, the young ones are taking more and more interest in lorrits. Mind you commercial vehicle spotters are not confined to the kiddies—there are many serious collectors among the adult population of this country.
Sca.mmells, for instance, received so patty letters from spotters seeking information that they, decided to produce a Spotters Guide ". I've just seed a copy of this 6-page two-colour booklet which describes all the Scantrnell vehicles in current production, and I'm sure it will prove extremely useful to many enthusiasts. Apart from the current models, there is also a section devoted to historic Scammell,.
Three More on Show More news of the West of England transport museum at•Exeter; I am told that negotiations have just been completed for the acquisition of three more buses. One is an A.E.C. Regal of 1934 vintage which comes from Ribble, another is a 1940 Weymannbodied Regal originally owned by Devon General, later by Thomas Bros. of Port Talbot and by Bere Regis and District and finally by Flight Refuelling Ltd.; the third is a Leyland TD5 built in 1938 and used by Exeter Corporadon—eventually for training, snowplough and tree-lopping duties.