Instalments

"I left home at 7.30am for the 40 minute drive to the office where I spent nearly two hours on post and answerphone affairs together with other administration matters. At 10am I drove to Bury St Edmonds where the Regional Joint Industry Board (RJIB) meeting was being held – an important get together between representatives of the ECA and EETPU, to the betterment of the industry as a whole and local members in particular. Usually I am able to relax a little over lunch with my RJIB colleagues ... but that day I had to seize a packet of sandwiches kindly prepared for me (yes, the regional officer gets to know which hotels are the most helpful) to eat as I drove to Felixstowe. There, a High School was holding a careers convention for 800 or so lads and lasses and for many hundreds of parents.

   "If things go well I hope to have shown at least a dozen youngsters the benefits of the fine Apprentice Training Scheme (the 1983 JIB scheme) which we operate, not least giving them details of local members who may be looking for newcomers. There was a chance for a meal break but after a further hour and a half it was off to Colchester Branch for its annual meeting coupled with an ordinary branch session.

   "A sixty mile drive home to bed at midnight completed the day ... but only after private talks with the branch chairman and my regional treasurer in the car park!"

You talkin' to me?
(Having had their knuckles rapped for a series of sexist advertisements in Security Installer, Wimpey Regal Monitoring came up with a gangster theme for their next advertisement ...)

"Shaddup an' listen good! I'm sayiin' dis jus' da once! We're sellin' protection see! An' if you know what's good for you – you'll get in touch before we get in touch wit choo. Get smart – get protected".

Honourable discharge
(In an in-depth article about batteries, Guy Clum, president of Power-Sonic Corporation, signed off with these salient points ...)

"Anyone involved in carrying a stock of SLA batteries – distributor, dealer, installer – should be aware of date codes. Always practice the policy of 'first-in-first-out ' inventory control and store the batteries in the coolest place possible.

   "The accurate way to test a battery is to do a discharge test. A check of open circuit voltage can only provide an indication that there could be a problem. Ideally, a suspicious battery should be charged on a charger or power supply known to be good and then discharged to check capacity.

   "Even a short discharge under a load of the rated capacity (eg, 6.5A for a 6.5AH battery) for ten minutes or twice the rated capacity for five minutes, will give solid information as to the battery's condition."

Rich pickings on a plate
(In an article on the possible business opportunities in vehicle security our writer said it was older cars that were most at risk ...)

"The professional thief will leave fast, exotic and newly designed cars strictly alone – he is much more interested in a commoner type of vehicle easily found in a wrecker's yard. When he has found a suitable wreck, he buys it for cash (which is not traceable) and takes it away with its registration document.

   "His next step is to purchase new number plates and then seek a similar car of the same make colour and year to steal. When this is done he puts the new number plates on it and sells the stolen car with legitimate registration documents."