Michael McAleer answers your queries...
From T Healy, Dublin:
Is there not a law to force tractor drivers and people towing caravans to pull in and let traffic passed? I travelled over 8 miles last week behind a tractor whose driver seemed completely oblivious to the snaking traffic behind. I counted 10 cars at one stage in my rear view mirror. One frustrated driver started weaving his way up the ranks until he got behind me and rode my bumper, dodging in and out to see when the road ahead was clear - which invariably it wasn't. He was so close to me that it meant I couldn't get a look around the tractor for fear of both of us meeting on the outside lane.
Whatever about this impatient idiot, the fact the tractor driver never once looked back, or even signalled when the road was clear, contributed to what was a frustrating, dangerous and potentially deadly situation.
Thousands of holiday motorists can relate to your tractor tale. In some European countries there are laws requiring drivers of tractors or slow moving vehicles to pull over at the earliest convenience to let traffic past if and when more than three vehicles are behind them.
Here that figures seems to be closer to 30.
From Conor McCarthy:
Where I do go for an estimate for VRT on a second hand import?
We've contacted the revenue commissioners who are in charge with Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) and they recommend you contact your local Vehicle Registration Office to discuss the matter with a revenue official.
"It is important that the caller has the full details and specifications of the vehicle when contacting the office. A definitive calculation cannot be given until the vehicle is physically examined."
The revenue website also contains a comprehensive list of contact points and these can be accessed via www.revenue.ie and by clicking on contacts.
According to a Revenue spokesman: "We are currently developing a new on-line calculation facility which will enable a customer to get an on-line VRT quotation.
From Séamus Phelan:
In conversation with friends recently the subject of the three-wheeled Scania truck came up. I can remember at least one in Waterford when growing up there in the 1950s. I also understand that CIÉ used them in Dubln. You , or your erudite colleague, Bob Montgomery, might enlighten me about the background of this vehicle, which I believe was not easy to drive.
Bob Montgomery and I reckon you are referring to a 'Scammell' 3-wheeler rather than the Scania you mentions in your email. If so, then it was the 'Scammell Scarab' that he refers to. The Scarab replaced the pre-war mechanical horse in the 1950s. It was designed for short haul delivery work where maneuverability was important. CIE used them extensivly in their cargo yards.
Bob writes: The Scammell company originally built up its wheelwrights and coach builders business in London's Spitalfields late in the Victorian era.
However Scammell Lorries as we know it didn't come about until 1921 when the company exhibited its first articulated combination with a 7.5 ton payload rating.
The new truck quickly attracted sales and Scammell moved to its new works at Tolpits Lane, Watford, to allow for increased production. Scammell Lorries Ltd was formed on July 1st 1922, nine months after its prototype articulated combination had been displayed at the Olympia Motor Show.
Articulated and rigid eight-wheeled lorries continued to make up a substantial proportion of Scammell's output for nearly 40 years.
In its production mainstream Scammell often blazed an innovative trail. Both the Michelotti-designed glass-fibre cab, and the Crusader tractors were in many respects well ahead of their time, but in the end
Scammell's future was determined by the policy of its Leyland parent (another sad story of British vehicle manufacturing). The British domestic truck market was in danger of being swamped by a tide of European imports such as Volvo and Scania.
Scammell, with profitable markets for its military and specialist vehicles continued under Leyland. Unlike some of its luckless partners the Watford concern survived for another twenty years, a name to reckon with in its chosen areas of specialisation, and famous for its reliability whenever the going was tough.
The Scammell company finally closed its doors in 1988.
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