Leasedrive Velo Blog

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Well counter to some thoughts, including the sales director of our own rental management division who ran a sweepstake on whether I would need to show a passport (as I wouldn’t even reach Folkestone), I made it in to Paris on Sunday!

I did so along with the other 13 riders of our 14-man Leasedrive Velo team, after covering 250 miles over four days from Parliament Square in London to the Arc de Triomphe. As we entered the Place de la Concorde I raised my arm aloft in a victory salute and the feeling of euphoria as we pedalled up the Champs Elysees had to be seen to be believed.

But best news of all was that the original target set of raising £5000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care had been well and truly smashed. Latest news is that over £13,500 has been raised with still more money coming in. I expect us to be able to donate more than £14,000 so a big ‘thank you’ to all who supported us.

I won’t pretend it was easy and some of the hills were tough going. I didn’t like the approach to Brands Hatch on the first day, nor the ‘Seven Valleys’ on the second day, which formed part of the longest stretch – 75 miles in total.

The weather wasn’t bad to us. It didn’t rain although we had a strong headwind in France over the three days there. The last day was the hottest and sunniest, despite previous warnings of heavy thundershowers. Like each previous day, we crossed beautiful countryside and passed through pleasant quiet villages before grouping up together after an early lunch break for the group ride in through the suburbs of Paris to the finish. While the rest enjoyed beer, champagne and an evening meal in Montmartre, unfortunately yours truly had to catch the 15.45 Eurostar for an early morning meeting in London.

What had really struck me on the ride was the difference in road surfaces between our two countries. With the exception of a few miles, the road surfaces were silky smooth in France, while we bobbed and bounced in England.

Why can’t we enjoy proper smooth road surfaces in this country? And why can’t we build road surfaces with proper foundations that can take the weight. Even the minor D roads in France carried heavy trucks but were damage and pothole free.

Either we have poor road engineering or France benefits from extra EU funding. I hate to say it but I believe it is the former, combined with a lack of proper funding.

Anyway, thanks again for everyone’s generosity. As I said, the greatest news was the amount raised for Marie Curie Cancer Care. This most worthwhile charity celebrates its 60th anniversary this year and now benefits from an extra £13,500+.

And having covered 250 miles under my own steam I’m going to take a well earned rest for the next two weeks.

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Permit me for feeling slightly smug on the eve of my epic 250-mile London to Paris Bike Ride in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. For four days, I will not be reliant on finding a forecourt with fuel or having to dig deeper in my pockets for every litre I use up on my travels.

In quite a unique experience for me since I was a teenager, I am going to be reliant on my own pedal power to get around. I’m not yet sure how it’s all going to go but a sore backside is certainly guaranteed. I seem to be keeping up with the miles in training but saddles are a poor substitute for the comforts of a nice anatomically-designed leather driver’s seat. After the first day, I guarantee I won’t feel quite so smug!

The good news for all you drivers back home is that the second round of strikes by Shell tanker drivers has been called off. Agreement on future wages has now been reached so the 600 or so fuel stations that ran out of fuel should soon have their stocks replenished and everything return to “business as usual”.

The bad news is that despite the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announcing it was going to up oil production, a sure sign that Opec will follow suit in September, fuel speculators have driven the cost of a barrel of oil close to $140 at the last count. Maybe it’ll have overtaken that record by the time you read this.

As I’ve said many times before in my blogs, we are going to have to change the habits of a lifetime in order to conserve this most precious of commodities. Whether the London to Paris Bike Ride puts me off cycling for life remains to be seen but I would hope that for short trips hopping on a saddle rather into the driver’s seat becomes the norm for me in the future.

I should sure have the legs for it!

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

Ever since I’ve been training for next week’s London to Paris Bike Ride in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care, I’ve taken an inordinate interest in potholes.

The jarring you get when you drive over the things is nothing compared to the shock waves transmitted from the seat post into the nether regions!

Fortunately, I’ve avoided the really big ones which can cause extensive damage to bike, body and pride.

What I’ve observed over recent weeks is the proliferation of new ones. I always understood that you got them after the frosts of winter but for them to start erupting in the spring seemed new to me.

Then I thought about it as I was riding along. They’ve been springing up since we’ve had all those heavy rainfalls. If rain can break up the road surface, it doesn’t say much for the standard of construction and surfacing of our roads today.

This is backed by a newly-published report from the Department for Transport entitled ‘Transport Statistics Bulletin Road Conditions in England 2007’, which presents grim reading. It supports my on-bike insight that our unclassified roads are deteriorating fast.

Potholes were found approximately every 200 metres on some roads while the worst roads where identified as having suffered, I quote: “whole carriageway major deterioration”.

Don’t you just like the phraseology.

These accounted for almost half the cases of deterioration and encompassed cracking, deformation, loss of supporting aggregate and defective patches, the latter quite inexcusable as I have referred to in an earlier ‘black holes’ blog on the subject.

By contrast, the motorway network needing maintenance stood at around a constant 6% according to the DfT while trunk roads have improved by 2% to 5% by 2007.

No doubt DfT will point an accusatory finger at local councils but meanwhile it is we poor-suffering drivers and cyclists that cop out.

If skyrocketing fuel bills are not enough, we’re now faced with repair costs to wheels, tyres, and in some cases, suspensions. At a very minimum, many vehicles are having their wheel tracking thrown out of alignment by the constant pounding on poor road surfaces with resultant uneven tyre wear.

Just to put the icing to the cake, pardon the pun, the DfT report goes on to identify that while road surfaces on motorways have good anti-skid properties, the skid resistance on a quarter of other major roads was brought into question.

Roddy Graham, Commercial Director

HMRC seems to be taking the plight of the ‘at work’ driver, using his or her company vehicle on business, to heart by introducing revised advisory fuel rates (AFRs) by waiving the traditional one month’s notice of a change in rates. Whether employers implement the changes with immediate effect is another matter but even if their systems do not allow an immediate change they can apply them retrospectively back to June 1. Good news hopefully for the ‘at work’ driver.

Fuel prices have been concentrating the minds over recent weeks as rates have rocketed at the pumps with no sign of easing. At a time when Government is scrabbling, like the rest of the population, to make ends meet it must come as a welcome relief to the Chancellor to have an injection into the coffers thanks to fuel duty.

But what of the future? Don’t expect fuel rates to drop significantly back down. The fact is that demand is being “fuelled” by the growing world economies so the simple economic law of supply and demand will prevail with the likes of India and China ensuring rates remain high.

The irony for us on our small island is that North Sea Oil can cover most of our requirements.

Government is caught between a rock and a hard place. Does it bow to the pressure of the road hauliers and reduce duty? Equally, does it win over the hearts and minds of the general population by reducing the duty as a vote catcher? Or does it stick to its guns to pursue a greener road to the future.

Clearly, at some point, it needs to make a stand. And Government should lead by example. The easy option is to abandon any green credentials it claims to hold and bow to outside pressure. That’s usually what happens when it comes to green policies. But should this be the case?

We have been banging the drum for too long about the effects of global warming and the need for drastic action to be taken. We are very much at the crossroads in terms of our ultimate survival as a species on this planet, and very much at a crossroads when it comes to all of us putting our money where our mouth is. Namely, agreeing we need to change the habits of a lifetime.

Faced with rocketing energy costs, rising food bills, only the privileged few cannot have revised their personal budgets. Like it or not, we are facing a new dawn. One where we pay the true cost for the basics of keeping ourselves fed and warm, with a roof over our heads. Certainly, over the past few decades, most seem to have lost sight of the latter in their pursuit of personal gain through rising house prices.

We now have a reality check, and rather than moan about it, we need to look at it positively and see it as an opportunity to change our whole approach to life and business for the better. As fleet professionals, we should already be doing our bit by questioning whether a journey is really necessary and operating a more holistic fleet policy embracing public transport. We need Government, whatever its political persuasion, to take a firm stance and not be panicked into taking short-term solutions. We need an integrated green transport policy, and that means taking some unpopular political decisions.