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Southdown Put 50 Vehicles into Use
Page 53
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FIFTY new vehicles are going into operation with Southdown Motor Services, Ltd. Fifteen are Leyland Tiger Cub coaches with Weymann bodywork to be used on tours this coming season to the Scottish Highlands, Eire, Wales, Devon, Cornwall and other parts. Their engines are slightly larger than those of Tiger Cubs already in service to give extra power as required on certain routes. Special attention has been paid to passenger comfort and interior finish. The 37 scats have been constructed to Southdown specifications, whilst special deflector-type windows have been fitted for draught-free ventilation. In addition, two extra fresh-air. ventilators have been placed on the front bulkhead, and there are two opening roof ventilators. Another 15 coaches are mainly for use on day excursions, but are also available for private hire. These have Commer Avenger chassis with Rootes diesel engines. The bodywork was constructed by Harrington. Thirty-five passengers may be seated. Twenty Leyland Northern Counties front-entrance double-deckers are in the course of delivery. These have 69-seat bodies. The entrances have electrically operated doors under the control of the driver, and are designed to allow two flows of passengers to board or alight simultaneously. Southdown already have 30 similar vehicles, delivered in 1958 and early 1959, in service in the Portsmouth and Brighton areas.
JUDGE WARNS ON GAITERED TYRES
ASLIT tyre repaired with a gaiter should never be used on a front wheel, said Mr. Justice Davies in the High Court last week. He heard a claim for damages against a garage by a widow whose husband, and another man, had been killed in a van. A front tyre of the van had been repaired with a gaiter, but the tyre punctured as the van was going downhill. A collision with a bus occurred Damages of £2,807 were awarded.
THAMES FOR RUSSIAN TOURS
DROFITING by the experience they gained on the London-to-Moscow route with a Thames-Duple coach in October. Excelsior European Motorways, Ltd., have placed an order for a similar Thames chassis with Duple body. Tours to Moscow lasting 15 days are due to be operated in the summer.
MR. BUCKMASTER RETIRING
A FTER more than 30 years' service rt with the Ford Motor Co., Ltd., Mr. M.I.Buckmaster, manager of the company's public relations staff, is to retire on January 31. He will become an associate in a firm of business consultants.
Objectors Do Not Impress Authority
NiNE objectors, comprising British Railways, B.R.S. (Pickfords), Ltd., and seven private hauliers, failed to impress Mr. S. W. Nelson, Western Licensing Authority, when Mr. W. A. Gardner, Bristol, applied at Bristol on Tuesday to add a pantechnicon of 3+ tons to his fleet of three vehicles. Mr. T. D. Corpe, for the applicant, said that his net earnings in 1959 were £12.687. The application was for "new furniture (excluding household removals), household effects and camping equipment, any distance." One furniture manufacturer, supporting the application, said that his company suffered more damage on one occasion when they had used another contractor than during the five years that Mr. Gardner had worked for them. He was not aware that Pickfords carried new furniture. When a representative of Messrs. Knee Bros., an objector, told Mr. Nelson that the furniture business was "not what it was," the Authority remarked: " see that you have had eight additional licences granted to you since 1955. It seems difficult to reconcile this with your remarks that the industry is declining." Granting the application, Mr. Nelson said that he thought that it would not be in the public interest to• exclude household effects from the licence, as Pickfords had requested.
PRAISE FO II MR. FITZPAYNE
PRAISE was given to Mr. E. R. L. Fitzpayne, general manager of Glasgow Transport Department, on Monday for his help in bringing work worth £1m. to Albion Motors, Ltd. It is the company's share of an order placed by the Government of Ghana with Leyland Motors, Ltd. Glasgow Transport Committee decided to minute a tribute from the sales manager of Leyland. It gave some of the credit for obtaining the contract to Mr. Fitzpayne, who visited Ghana for two weeks last year to advise on traffic problems. Mr. James Bennett, transport convenor, said that the order from Ghana was for 150 buses and 180 goods vehicles. Mr. Fitzpayne said on Monday: "I was tremendously pleased ... to hear that our Glasgow concern had beaten German competition for the order."
M.P.T.A. CONFERENCE DATE THE annual conference of the I Municipal Passenger Transport Association, which, it was announced earlier, will be held in Douglas, Isle of Man, will take place during the week commencing September 12.
P.V.O.A. DINNER FIXED
'THE annual dinner and dance of the 1 Passenger Vehicle Operators' Association will be held at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London, W.1, on Monday, September 26.
" Wildcat " Strikers to Stay Out
HOPES that the " wildcat " strike by men of British Road Services would end this week were dashed, on Tuesday, when strikers in London and Thornaby met and decided to stay out. There was one brighter spot, however, when 41 men at the Coppetts Road depot, Muswell Hill, London, returned to work on Wednesday morning. The men had been on strike since January 4 as a protest against the conditions in the new B.R.S. 30-m.p.h. agreement. On Wednesday morning, 1,277 men were still idle in London and 124 at Thornaby. A spokesman of the London shop stewards said that the decision to remain on strike was "pretty unanimous." Various resolutions were passed at the meeting and these were due to be discussed by the shop stewards' committee on Wednesday. It was expected that the shop stewards would then demand a further meeting with officials of the Transport and General Workers' Union.
On Wednesday a spokesman of B.R.S.
m
told The Comercial Motor that of 22,500 operating staff only 1,401 men now remained •" out of step."
"NO REGARD FOR B.T.C.
FACILITIES"
A GRANT had been made by Mr. I-1 S. W. Nelson, Western Licensing Authority, without regard to the effect upon the unused facilities of the British Transport Commission. This was submitted to the Transport Tribunal on Tuesday by Mr. J. R. C. Samuel-Gibbon. The B.T.C., whom he represented, were contesting the addition of vehicles to the fleet of Mr. Richard Read, Longhope, Glos. There were two appeals, and they were heard together. The first concerned a grant for five vehicles of 26* tons in substitution for five of 21+ tons on A licence and two of 6+ tons on B; also sanction for two vehicles of 15 tons and a trailer of 2* tons previously under short-term A licence. These vehicles were licensed to carry pulp, timber and tiles within 200 miles. The second appeal concerned an 8-ton tipper added to the respondent's A licence to carry quarried materials and solid fuel within 150 miles. Mr. Samuel-Gibbon, dealing with the first appeal, said that suitable transport already existed for pulp, timber and tiles without a grant to Mr. Read. The hearing was continued.
LEEDS £105,900 SURPLUS
ASURPLUS of £105,900 on the current year's working is expected by Leeds Transport Department, according to figures published on Monday. This is a slight increase on the earlier estimate. The accumulated deficit may be reduced to £51,153 by March 31.
Next year, it is estimated, a surplus of £107,477 will be yielded and, if costs remain steady, the deficit may be wiped out by yarch 31, 1961.