from flickr
Try beginning a chat with lots folk ( apart from the haulage firms ) about vans, and they are going to be asleep before you even get to debate the advantages of a mid-lift spindle. But it appears that there’s a new guard rising – a breed so dedicated and eagle-eyed, that they’re turning the talent of high speed number plate reading into a skill form. Well ok, there’s a little more to it than that. But what it adds up to is being in the right place at the right time, and being fast enough to be in a position to recognise or interpret the van make and model, the registration plate and the haulage companies’ identification.
This lot are clever, they’re patient and they’re heavy. So who are these lorry spotters? Are they bookish statisticians on their vacations from Cambridge? Or are they annoyed accountants floating around service stations in their macs with a secret taste to be truckies? Well no, according to the haulage companies’ they are just standard folks who happen to like vans – and if numbers quoted by the internet site lorryspotters.co.uk are anything to go by, the past-time is taking the United Kingdom by force. Hovering off a bridge over a busy highway as half of the world’s traffic sprays you with muddy road water ; or sitting on the side of the M1 as the other half of the planet’s traffic hurls empty coke cans at you isn’t everybody concept of fun.
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