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This One on Charlie
Page 78
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WOULD we be premature in wishing the best of luck to the new Transport Act?" said Maggie's brother Cromwell, peering for omens in the wet rings on the saloon-bar counter.
"This time there is no deception," I replied. "Copies of the Act have unmistakably been seen in the vicinity of Berkeley Square."
"None too soon for the revolutionary party. I don't mind telling you people were getting very impatient. Bloggs thought it was all over three weeks ago, and went round with a wheelbarrow to collect his old property."
"I thought he was not at all keen on having his business back?'
"That was the case until recently: Then it appeared that a chap came round with a proposition. He had a wonderful transport business which would be hp for sale in a short time."
"It sounds like the old confidence trick. Pay £1,000 in cash, and when you look into it you find you have bought Pickfords."
"That was more or less the idea. Fortunately for Bloggs, he happened to ask the address and found he was just on the point of signing on the dotted line for his old firm."
"Let's have this one on the spiv," I said. "It must be painful to be kicked out by Bloggs, whose offices are up three flights of stairs."
"Bloggs does not let an opportunity go by as easily as that," said Cromwell. "He gave the chap a cigar and fixed an appointment for him to call on the assessors. Bloggs said he had never realized before what a valuable property he had lost. If the chap did his stuff equally well before the assessors, Bloggs hoped there would be quite a bit added to his compo."
Putting Up the Pike "What is the point of trying to put up the price of something he intends to buy back?"
"Trust Bloggs to get round that one. When it comes to the deal, the last thing he will suggest is that he takes back the vehicles he gave up."
"Even when he knows better than anybody else what they are worth?"
"There may be something in that. But if anybody finds out how little he proposes to bid he might find himself in the dock for falsely pretending in the past that they had any value at all."
"He must not forget that somebody else may be prepared to offer a little bit more."
"That is what keeps Bloggs awake at night. If there is one thing he dislikes, it is uncertainty."
"As a former operator, Bloggs deserves some sympathy. Many people think it unfair that a man who lost his business through no fault of his own, and would like it back, should lose the chance because an outsider happens to have a bit more money."
"Bloggs is not too badly off for money, but it breaks his heart to part with it. If somebody cuts in over him and buys the outfit, Bloggs may have to pay the purchaser even more to get it for himself."
"And be left to pay the levy because the original purchase price Was too low. It is worth pointing out c32 there is one shred of comfort in the Act itself. Let me read you the relevant passage while I can still focus. In deciding what units and companies to offer, the Commission shall have regard to the desirability of securing that persons desirous of entering or re-entering the road haulage industry have a reasonable opportunity of doing so notwithstanding that their resources permit them to do so only if their operations are on a smallscale.' " "I showed that bit to Bloggs, but he did not think much of it as a sheet anchor. It was one of those things that looked easier to do than it really was, like trying to get the pattern off the wallpaper."
"I must say that it does give the impression of something painted on hastily for effect The main current of the Act is certainly opposed to anybody having a special advantage over anybody else."
"Let's have this one on Bloggs," said Cromwell. "His case appears to merit it."
"Especially after his disappointment three weeks ago," I said.
Beware of Strange Men "Not that he took it much to heart. He might have to start working hard once again when he gets his business back. He did mind a bit, though, when they kicked him out. It so happened that only that morning an instruction came from headquarters warning them to beware of strange men. And the day before they caught a bloke lurking in the shrubbery behind Bloggs' old garage doing sums—depreciation tables and so on. He said he was representing certain financial interests and wanted to look at their accounts."
"Something like that seems to have been going on at more than one depot, and the staff of the Road Haulage Executive has been told by the Commission to show all such people the door."
"Bloggs says now they have put up a public gallery in the Stock Exchange half the financiers have gone into hiding in R.H.E. premises. He was surprised they took him for one. Perhaps it was because he had a black patch over one eye. How can anybody be a snooper in his own back yard? He soon straightened things out. When he explained it was only nostalgia, they asked him in and gave him a cup of tea. They happened to be drinking tea at the time."
" Tea," interrupted a man they called Charlie. "How can you talk about tea on an occasion like this?" He had evidently happened to be drinking something else. " Congrashulate me. I've just become the purchaser of the very first transport unit. Just paid the first instalment to the chap over there."
" Who seems to have gone," said Cromwell.
"How are you going to get your special A licence?" I asked.
"Don't need one of them," said Charlie. "I'm going to the registry office to get one of them She licences.
"That would be for carrying your own goods," I hurried to point out, "not for hire or reward."
"Him or reward! I wouldn't dream of carrying for thoshe two roguesh. I intend to do business only with reputable cushtomem" "I think we had better have this one on Charlie," said Cromwell.