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bird's eye
Page 128
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view by the Hawk • Colour and Style It's the Corporate Image Show, folks! Never have we had such a colourful, stylish and imaginative Commercial Vehicle show in London as the one that closes tomorrow at Earls Court, (And never has the SMMT, bless its much-maligned old heart, put out such a series of first-class press release features about road transport. I hope they've been sent as briefing material to MPs, area chairmen of the trade associations, chambers of commerce and other influential people who may find them useful for speeches promoting the positive value of the lorry.) All the main truck manufacturers have forsaken the individual customer liveries on thei show models — which must have taken son,e heartsearching — and opted for corpor -te colours, with very telling effect.
• Rainbow corner There is a "cross-roads" near the centre of Earls Court's ground floor where the great waves of company colours meet — British Leyland's giant collection of blue and white, Seddon-Atkinson's dark blue and lime green, Ford and Bedford with red and white. And just beyond them are Foden's pale grey and blue, ERF's geranium red, MagirusDeutz's red with a white wavy line and the Dodge/Commer stand where each vehicle is in a different single colour.
Sales point: customers look at the chassis itself instead of crooning over the lovely gold lining-out on Fred Bloggs' latest.
• Victoriana It would be nice to report that Earls Court's public facilities had improved as much as the exhibitors' showmanship; sadly, not so. I can't speak for the food, but I thought the bars looked as dreary as ever — as though provided as a necessary evil for joyless imbibing — and when I entered one of the gent's loos on the opening morning of the show it presented the usual Victorian atmosphere and appeared to boast only one dirty, saturated roller towel on which to dry one's hands.
No need to speculate on the impression that foreign visitors take away with them.
• Decimated Could it be that decimalization is helping to stem the fall-off in bus passengers? There are other factors, I know, but Leslie Smith, general manager of still-profitable Leicester, whispered to me last week that he sees decimalization as one big reason why fares increases cause less resistance and loss of carryings. People have become numbed by the hidden inflation which the change to decimal currency has caused, and coinage values have lost their old force. I think he's on to something.
• Eye raisers It was a day of mixed fortunes for Alex K;*.son at the Fleet Management Conference last Thursday. Alex seldom misses an opportunity to tell the Road Haulage Association that in his opinion it is badly organized, weak and ineffectual. He no doubt chuckled with glee when he heard conference speaker Herbert Bress from Diisseldorf describe the German Association in much the same terms. However, within a few minutes his mood surely changed when Herr Bress said that the trade unions were not a big factor in Germany and that the one German transport union had very little influence on affairs and as a consequence they had never had a strike. Things might readily change a hundred days from now when the TGWU storm troopers have the right as citizens of the Community to liberate their German brothers.
• H ousehunting Househunters have only two days left to inspect the mobile home at Earls Court described as a highly desirable mobile residence of great character with all mod cons. It has reclining armchairs, fitted car
pets, tables, fluorescent lighting, a danc floor and it is sound proofed and centrall• heated. The large picture windows are ante, to avoid glare and fully curtained. It ha an elaborately equipped cocktail bar, fitted kitchen and toilet and chauffeur' quarters. In addition there is hi-fl stere equipment and the whole unit is completel mobile. In fact it is a well-appointed 35 seater coach on the Willowbrook stand.
• Overtime ban Lorry drivers are often suspected of mann facturing overtime by laying up at th roadside, returning to the yard by th long way round or attending to a mysteri ous breakdown. But there is alway another side to the picture, as I discovereA last week in south London.
The police had placed "No parking' signs along the roads adjacent to th weekly Antique Market at Tower Bridgi Road. A lorry driver discovered, when try ing to turn into one of the side streets, tha a car driver had ignored the signs and hat walked off leaving his Mini estate ca blocking the turning.
This was the perfect setting for earnim a couple of hours' overtime. However with the help of three of his mates he liftec the Mini onto the pavement and place( it neatly between a lamp standard and road sign. So tight was the fit that reckon the car driver needed manual aic to get it back on the road. I couldn't wai to see — my boss doesn't pay overtime.