IN Memories 448, Ged Davidson of Thornaby asked why the refuse trucks in the late 1940s picture of Bishop Auckland Urban District Council’s fleet had only one headlight on them, which was fairly low down and to the right of the radiator.
“This is most certainly a blackout driving lamp, which would date the photo to between 1939 and 1945,” said Mike Lee.
A writer who signed himself A.N. O’Rak, which may not be his real name, said: “The single headlight is fitted with a blackout shield, and the vehicles have white painted extremities to help them be seen by other traffic during the blackout.”
Bill Day in Easington Village also shed some light on the matter. “The five refuse trucks are Karrier Bantams registered circa 1942.
The Bantam had been introduced in 1936, and many of them had only a single near side headlamp. Here the headlamps have been modified to comply with the wartime vehicle lighting regulations to restrict lights visible during the wartime blackout. In addition, all vehicles had to have white paint on mudguards and bumper bars to make them more visible to road users and pedestrians.”
Which is great: but why does only one truck have a windscreen wiper? Did it not rain much during the war?
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