Bus Problems
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IN a reference to the reorganization of • bus services in the country, with the introduction of a 42-hour week for the shipbuilding and engineering industries, Aid. T. Andrews, chairman of the West Hartlepool Transport Committee, said last week that the corporation's transport undertaking had been unable to stagger bus services so that men employed at shipyards could reach their work a few minutes before their shift was due to start. He said it was physically impossible for the undertaking to cater for the change. Buses on the Port Clarence route will take men to the Haverton Hill ship= building yard. 20 minutes before they are due to start.
A similar problem faces the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., who have informed the Tyne and Blyth District Committee of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions that they will have difficulty in providing transport at the new finishing times.
At present, yards and engineering works finish each day at 5.15 p.m., but under the new arrangement there will be a finishing time of 5 p.m. on Mondays to Thursdays, and 4.30 p.m. on-Fridays.
The bus company said they would be able to offer only 60 per 'cent. of the special buses they now operated to meet the 5 p.m. finishing time, and would be virtually unable to provide anything at all at 4.30p.m. on Fridays.
NO GENERAL SMOKING BAN
A GENERAL prohibition on smoking
• on the lower decks of double-deck buses was refused in the House of Commons on Monday. It was sought by Dr. A. Thompson (Lab., Dunfermline).
He asked Mr. Derek Walker-Smith, Minister of Health, to consult with the Minister of Transport to secure nationwide acceptance of the principle that smoking should be allowed only on upper decks. Mr. Walker-Smith said the principle already was widely applied. The matter was best left to the discretion of the Traffic Commissioners.
COACH RALLY IN WIGAN THIRTY-SEVEN entrants will take part in the North-Western Coach Rally to be held on Sunday. It is being organized by Wigan and District Excursion and Tour Operators' Association. Tests of parking and speedy starting will take place in Wigan Market Place. There will also be a concours d'elegance. It is hoped that the Rally will become an annual event. Belle Vue, Manchester, has been suggested as a site for next year's contest.
G.P.O. TRY PLASTICS
FIFTY vans with plastics bodies have been ordered by the General Post Office. They will be tested in different towns, and of the total 21 will be tried in London, eight in Oxford and six in Birmingham. They will be 360-cu.-ft. types employed for mails collection. The plastics will be colour-impregnated.