ON THE ROAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 May 1941, Page 6

ON THE ROAD

TRANSPORT IN BRITAIN BRAVE LORRY DRIVERS. WORKING TO THE LIMIT. Every night, wet or fine, raid or no raid, tens of thousands of tons of food, war equipment, and munitions are transported between factories, great cities and ports over British roads, writes F. J. C. Pignon in the “Daily Mail,” London. Road haulage contractors, working under extreme difficulties, handicapped by labour problems and shortage cf vehicles and spare parts, restricted in the use of fuel (though most of them use Diesel oil, not petrol), are probably contributing more to our war effort than any other industry in the country.

An urgent call for 200 tons of foodstuffs received one afternoon recently was answered by private haulage contractors. The consignment was delivered 300 miles away before dawn next morning.

A Government, factory was damaged ? overnight. Within a few hours raw ) material and machinery were transf ported by lorries to other factories miles away in time for the early shifts f to start work in the morning. i When Coventry was bombed, road 5 transport workers, carrying on during i the “blitz.” were mainly responsible > for the rapid organisation of food sup- , plies and factories. I But road haulage is not only waiting for emergencies. Its men and its ve- ; hides are working almost to their ’ limits. I have just spent two sleepless i nights travelling in a 20-ton lorry car- ; rying food between London and Car- ■ diff. One of London’s biggest contrac- ; tors found me a seat and proved to me ' the efficiency of the trade and the courage of its workers. Most longdistance lorries travel at night to save time. , SKILFUL AND SAFE. It was raining. The “alert” had just sounded and anti-aircraft splinters pattered intermittently on the roof of the Chiswick depot. The night was so dark that I was thankful for gun flashes. How Arthur Scott, the young man at the wheel, managed to avoid jay-walking pedestrians and the many cyclists without rear lights is beyond my comprehension. Bombs were dropping too near to be comfortable, but he did not wear his steel helmet, so I left mine under the seat, too. I sat and admired the most skilful, enterprising and the safest driving I have seen. I discovered, too, that courtesy is not. a lost art. Whenever lorry drivers approach or overtake another vehicle they switch off their single headlamp. They do the same when travelling uphill so that no light shall shine in the sky and, as young Scott put it, “to give the driver coming down a chance because he is travelling faster.”

t “SAFER TO KEEP GOING.” 1 After 50 miles we stopped at a trans- ’ port cafe. Over cups of anaemic tea, ' without sugar, I learned that road ! transport is not a haphazard service. The driver filled in a card to show when and where he had stopped, and for how long. It was as well ho had 1 done so, for one of the company’s in--1 spcctors arrived to verify the details on the card, having already examined ' the lorry to see that the lights were J extinguished and the vehicle immobiA lised. Twenty minutes later we were off again. We ran into fog patches. But, fortunately we were on a stretch of road where reflector studs are used. A more general use of reflector studs, especially at corners, would no doubt save many lives and much money used on white paint. Nearing Gloucester the gunfire in the near, distance appeared to be heavy. Scott remarked: “We look like running into the blitz.” I asked whether he stopped when bombs were dropping. This surprised him. “Why should we stop?” he said. “The load has to be delivered, and it’s no' satcr standing in the road than driving. The only thing that stops us is a direct hit or a crater we can't get round.” We arrived at our destination two minutes early (actual travelling time 9.' hours), but another driver called a “shunter” was awaiting us. He took charge of the lorry and drove it to the depot to be unloaded, and Scott went ofl to rest before his return to London at six that evening—about 12 hours later. In a little more than 30 hours wo travelled through the night on the I journeys to and from Cardin’. Wo wore 1 back in the Chiswick depot dead on ! time. I The driver wont home to sleep—he 1 was duo to make another journey that I night. ’ I