Wednesday 9 October 2013

Potato Bob: On Safety - Exciting New Eye Feature!

Time for an exciting new Eye feature!

Potato Bob speaks!

This from CommercialMotor.com...

Goodwill spent many years working on his family farm, which, at its height, delivered and produced 1,000 tonnes of potatoes a year to the McCain chip factory in Scarbrough. The family became involved in the sulphuric acid desiccation of potatoes and, he admits, it was a bit of a slog having to travel up to Teesside to get his Hazardous Chemicals Certificates so he could drive the truck.

One of his more excruciating journeys came on his way to Scarborough. While driving his Volvo F10, the flexible exhaust pipe joining the main exhaust silencer box to the engine ruptured, and the hot exhaust gases went on to the clutch slave cylinder. Very soon, the clutch stopped working, completely.

Goodwill says he was unsure how to deal with the problem: "I thought OK, well I'll just keep going. So I drove all the way to Scarbrough without a clutch, just using the engine speed. Fortunately, I didn't have to stop because the lights were in my favour. I decided that if I did have to stop, I'd start it again in a very low gear. It was a 30-mile trip, though".

Good to see that Potato Bob, the minister charged with 'road safety and standards', has such a grip on his brief!