Sex and the single bus driver
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III t is one thing to take a company car home for the weekend but a Southampton bus driver overstepped the mark when he used a bus belonging to operator Wilts and Dorset to go kerb-crawling with the destination board reading "Private — Not in Service".
Unfortunately for the kerb-crawler, detectives watched as he picked up a young woman and drove her off in his single-deck bus to a secluded spot.
Southampton magistrates were unamused by this new development in passenger services and fined the driver £75 for kerb-crawling. Uormer owner-driver Alex Rankin is a man who has taken knocks enough to put most people out for the count — but although a series of heart attacks has left him totally blind he returns to the wheel of a Scania 143 next month in an event to raise money for charity.
Alex, who lives in Edinburgh, suffered the first of six major heart attacks in 1986 and in 1987 he had a heart transplant operation. He later went blind and now has a guide dog. After 25 years of driving lorries, Alex is determined not to let his experience go to waste. On 16 August he is taking a Scania 143 Centurion around Ingliston racing track during the Scottish Racing Championship meeting, accompanied by Jim Kerr, sales manager of truck dealer Reliable Vehicles.
Alex's drive will raise money for Trucking for Charities, which supports three charities — the Freeman Transplant Association; Guide Dogs for the Blind and the Employment Rehabilitation Centre at Ceres, Fife.
Trucking for Charities is looking for sponsors. "I just want to put something back to all these dedicated people and their organisations who helped this broken down trucker and thousands like me," says Alex. If you can help, contact the charity's chairman, Michael Westcott, 2 Kilgraston Court, Kilgraston Road, Edinburgh EH9 2ES. Tel 031-650 2092 or 031-047 8282 (eves).