The most controversial episode of Top Gear (the one that featured a HGV crash stunt) was discussed in depth on the forums even before it aired. After transmission, the programme’s coverage of HGVs and HGV driving was the main subject of further postings and comments. However, most seem to feel that, on the whole, the programme was allegedly rather sympathetic to all the various “difficulties” of driving an HGV or LGV. Apart from that, the programme also made several points that were specifically aimed at car drivers on the problems of manoeuvring such vehicles.

Nevertheless, the majority of forum members point out that Top Gear is generally an entertainment show – and not a serious motoring news show. Therefore, a lot of the comments in fact dismiss the programme as a bit of a laugh. A few HGV drivers are both dissatisfied and unhappy with the way they were portrayed. Yet, was the episode good for the industry?

Discussing the already popular theme of “HGVs in the media”, News of the World columnist – Carole Malone – has made a couple of comments. In her column, Malone claims that she herself had previously been overtaken by an articulated HGV weighing 10 tonnes and yet doing 90mph.  Most of her comments (especially the one about the overtaking HGV) were greeted with a little scepticism on the forums. In spite of the comments about Malone’s journalistic talents, as well as her ability to research, there are also those who wonder which model of HGV it was and who the trailer manufacturer was. Nonetheless, most of the forum members firmly believe that Malone’s comments are rather negative and misleading, particularly for the industry itself.

It may sound like a plot of an episode of Doctor Who, or some children’s TV programme, but a HGV driver on the A328 in Devon was forced to flee his HGV as his load of custard started to explode. His deadly cargo, 60,000 tins of rice pudding and custard, exploded, starting a fire that consumed his rig.

An eye witness said the exploding custard was like fireworks going off inside his rig.

The HGV driver was transporting the Ambrosia custard and rice pudding to a supermarket, when a fire on his truck caused motorists to attempt to flag him down. When he stopped and departed his HGV, the custard exploded like a series of gunshots. By the time that the fire crews reached the blaze, there was nothing they could do to save either the cargo or the HGV.

Jill Pendleton, an eyewitness, caught the whole incident on camera:

‘The first we knew about it was a whiff of smoke and burning sugar and then suddenly it just erupted. It was incredible how quickly the fire caught hold - the whole thing was over in less than 20 minutes. When the heat reached the tins they started to explode and we could hear what sounded like thousands of gunshots. It was quite a fireworks display. There were two huge explosions which we think were either the airbags or the diesel tanks.The fire crews got here very quickly but there wasn’t much they could do as the contents had burned out. The driver seemed very shaken.’

Following the blaze, the road was closed for 6 hours while rescue crews cleared the debris.

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An Employment Tribunal has given partial support to a sex-change HGV driver in a discrimination case after he transformed himself from Mike Gaynor to Vikki-Marie Gaynor. Gaynor went to the tribunal after she claimed she had been put in a position where she had to resign from her job with Exel Europe.

Gaynor took her action in the Employment Tribunal against both Exel Europe and recruitment agency Blue Arrow. She claimed she was discriminated against after turning up for work in women’s clothes, earrings and make-up during the time that she was in transition from being a man to being a woman.

The tribunal considered a number of allegations, two of which it accepted but several of which it rejected. It accepted that Gaynor was removed by Exel from her regular work run “in part because of her transition status”. The tribunal also says that Blue Arrow discriminated against Gaynor in the way it dealt with her grievances.

But a number of other allegations were dismissed, including the suggestion that her employers discriminated against her in the allocation of runs after she was removed from her usual work. The tribunal also rejected a claim that the removal of some of Gaynor’s property from a cab was discriminatory and it ruled that Exel Europe did not discriminate against her in the way it dealt with her grievances.

Blue Arrow said after the case that it “accepts the outcome of the employment tribunal’s ruling” and added it is “committed to fair treatment for all”. DHL Exel Supply Chain said it is “currently considering the reserved judgement of the Liverpool Employment Tribunal and until that is complete it would not be appropriate for us to comment further”. Compensation for Gaynor has not yet been decided but will be considered at a remedy hearing, the date of which is yet to be fixed.

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A NORTH Warwickshire dustman - who doesn’t believe in eating rubbish - has been presented with an unusual “bouquet” to mark 40 years in the job.

HGV driver Pete Dawe is celebrating four decades working for North Warwickshire Borough Council.

And the borough’s mayor, Councillor Wendy Smitten paid him a visit at the Sheepy Road depot in Atherstone where he is based.

Atherstone-based Pete, who is known as Jack to his colleagues, originally started on the bins, way before wheelie bins were introduced.

At the age of 21, he took his HGV licence and has been a driver for the refuse service ever since.

Pete, aged 59, has recently shed almost a stone in weight, by eating properly and avoiding cheese.

And he was presented with a bin full of fruit to mark his anniversary.

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The Survival Tour - a charity organisation which hopes to save the natural habitat of elephants in India - is seeking help to transport 15 life-size elephant models around the UK and Ireland during the summer. The journeys will be from Cork to Dublin, Dublin to Windsor, Windsor to London (Royal Parks), Royal Parks, London to Selfridges, in London, and Selfridges to Brighton. In previous years, the tour has used two 40ft flatbed HGV’s to transport the elephants. If you can help - contact Ruth Powys on 020 7580 3184 or 07814 996 413.

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BAD weather spelt disaster for a foreign lorry driver whose 40-tonne vehicle became stuck in a country lane.

The giant Transmec Group lorry became wedged in a field off Symonds Lane, Yalding, after its Hungarian driver was forced to try to turn round to avoid a fallen tree.

It is understood the driver’s satellite navigation system told him that the tiny one-track road would be the quickest way to get to his destination - even though the lorry was as wide as the lane.

Cllr Geraldine Brown, chairman of Yalding Parish Council, said: “We’ve been moaning about sat nav for a long time and with good reason. Anyone can see that lane is not suitable for a 40ft articulated lorry to go down.

“He turned into Symonds Lane as directed by his sat nav and realised that it was too narrow.

“He then saw an open farm gate and reversed in, trying to turn round, but, in the dark, he completely embedded the lorry in the ground and then couldn’t move it again.”

The driver, who seemed unsure of his destination, eventually raised the alarm at dusk on Monday and police and highways officers attended.

He and his lorry had to stay put all night and the HGV only managed to get out on Tuesday morning when the fallen tree was moved and a recovery vehicle dragged the lorry out of the mud.

Cllr Brown added: “He was a nice guy and spoke English, but he did say that if there had been signs pointing him in the correct direction he would not have followed his TomTom.”

The situation is a vindication for Yalding villagers, who have been complaining about huge articulated vehicles using village roads for more than 10 years.

They want to see a ban on all lorries over 17 tonnes in Lees Road and the village’s main town bridge - preventing drivers from rat-running to industrial estates in Maidstone and Marden.

The issue of foreign drivers using inappropriate satellite navigation systems has also been raised during the campaign.

A Kent Highway Services spokesman said: “We are taking up the issue of satellite navigation with the manufacturers in to get them to introduce systems that direct lorries away from villages and country lanes.

THE Freight Transport Association is offering to carry out an independent survey on HGVs in Yalding.

Spokesman Geoff Dossetter said the problem is that Yalding sits on the most available route between Tonbridge and Marden and, as a result, suffers “unwelcome” HGV traffic.

“I believe that it is not clear as to which of the vehicles in Yalding are there because they have local business and thus no choice, as opposed to those which are using the route as the quickest from where they have been to where they are going,” he said.

“In order to investigate this further, we are offering to conduct a survey to ascertain the facts - how many vehicles, where they are going, where they have been, what they are carrying, is any other route viable, and any other relevant information.”

An FTA spokeswoman was filmed yesterday in Yalding for Sunday’s BBC TV South East’s The Politics Show which will discuss use of sat nav equipment by lorries.

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Vehicle maintenance problems, along with drivers’ hours and tachograph breaches, have resulted in two of the three operational vehicles belonging to Dunfermline-based Ronald Mentiplay, trading as Murray Mentiplay, being suspended for eight weeks, and his HGV driving licence for four. Mentiplay appeared before the Scottish Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken. He blamed a failure to produce tachograph records on their being eaten by his son Gary’s dog, which had died as a result of ingesting them. The TC was told that five immediate and four delayed prohibitions had been issued since 2002. There had been five refusal to clear and variation notices. Mentiplay was required to produce charts for 7 August to 29 November, which he did following a reminder. An analysis of those charts revealed 3,243 kilometres missing, and he claimed these charts had been destroyed by the dog.

However, analysis of the 228 charts produced revealed a number of breaches. Mentiplay admitted his operation had become sloppy and an edge of professionalism had been lost. He said the inspection frequency was being reduced to eight weeks and his son would take the CPC examination. Mentiplay added would be joining the RHA and had been updating himself on drivers’ hours rules.

The dog was kept overnight in the porch where it knocked down a box containing the tachograph charts. The following morning, he claimed, it was found dead, surrounded by chewed-up charts. The TC said traffic commissioners heard many explanations for missing charts but she found “tacho charts killed Gary’s dog” difficult to accept. Aitken said she always bore in mind that life was stranger than fiction however, if the charts had been kept in proper order and produced on the traffic examiner’s first request, she would never have had to hear the tale of Gary’s dog and its demise.

The TC did not want to put Mentiplay out of business, as there were signs he had woken up after being sloppy and lax, but she could not ignore the licence breaches.

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POPULAR Elvis impersonator Derek Russell is giving a concert in aid of a charity especially close to his heart.

The East Anglian Air Ambulance transported Mr Russell to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge after he suffered a near-fatal head injury a year ago.

HGV driver Mr Russell, of Magdalen, wants to show his appreciation by donating the proceeds of his next Elvis “spectacular” to the air ambulance service.

In March last year, Mr Russell plunged 15 feet from the back of a lorry. He was taken to Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital from where his emergency airlift to the Cambridge hospital took only 19 minutes.

His wife, Christine, said: “He needed the air ambulance and now he has recovered he wants to raise money for it.”

The concert will take place at Searles in Hunstanton on Sunday (March 9). Doors open at 5pm.

The support acts will be singer Alex Mills and a comedy act, Winston The Singing Farmer.

The £9 tickets are available from Mrs Russell, 01553 810771.

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