"albert Hunt Planning starts for ;MMT president two Yorkshire PTEs
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Gilbert Hunt has been re-elected president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Mr Hunt joined Rootes (now Chrysler UK Ltd) in 1957, and will succeed Lord Rootes (CM me 15) as chairman and chief executive from e beginning of July. Sir Kenneth Corley, 4, chairman and chief executive of Joseph ices (Industries), is deputy president of MMT. And SM MT vice-presidents are David . S. Plastow, md of Rolls-Royce Motors Barrie Heath, chairman of Triplex Safety lass Co Ltd; and Alex Rhea, md of Vauxhall I otors Ltd.
Dllowing the appointment of Robert Brook 3 regional director of the NBC's Western igion, Keith Holmes has been made general ianager of the Birmingham and Midland lotor Omnibus Co Ltd and chief general ianager of the Midland division of the /estern region. Mr Holmes is at present eneral manager of Western Welsh and chief eneral manager in South Wales. John largreaves, general manager of Northern leneral Transport Co, will succeed Mr Holmes s general manager of Western Welsh and hief general manager of the South Wales livision of Western region.
kld W. Collins of Gateshead, vice-chairman if the Tyneside Passenger Transport kuthority, has been elected chairman in ;uccession to Aid A. Cunningham, who is saving local government activity.
▪ G. Phillips has been appointed Hull branch nanager, BRS Parcels Ltd; previously, he was iperating assistant, north-western area.
3eter Lanfranchi, assistant chief engineer at Eastern National Omnibus, becomes engineer it City of Oxford Motor Services.
ram S. Richardson las been promoted chairnan of the RSR Section of :he Woodhead Group. ihis organization serves ommercial fleet and psv Dperators with recondirimed road springs and a -ange of under chassis spares delivered by 45 stocked vans
John Ray has been made chairman of Chloride's Industrial Division and Harry Lymath succeeds Mr Ray as chairman of the Automotive Division.
M. Rooney, a full-time official of the TGWU, is among new members appointed to the Transport Users' Consultative Committee for Yorkshire, of which the chairman is W. J. Price. F. M. Fieldhouse, group traffic manager for British Ropes Ltd, is among the members of the committee which has just been appointed for three years by the Minister for Transport Industries.
P. J. Read has stepped up to deputy md of Bristol Street Motors (Parts) Ltd.
• Moves to form the remaining two Passenger Transport Executives under the Transport Act 1968 — in West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire — took place this week. Mr Thomas Lord, general manager of Leeds City Transport, and Mr Noel McDonald, gm at Sheffield, were appointed the respective designate director-generals, writes Martin Hayes.
Under the Local Government Act, the newly elected metropolitan county councils of West and South Yorkshire become Passenger Transport Authorities responsible for securing the overall integration of public transport in their areas and for appointing their own PTEs. However, until the Secretary of State for the Environment makes the relevant enabling Order neither PTE can be formed, which is why both appointments are at present in a "designate" capacity. A spokesman for the DoE told me on Tuesday that no date had yet been reached for this but final vesting date will be on April 1 next when the local government reform takes effect. Both director-generals hope to be in business well before that, however.
Mr Lord told me that he was intending to appoint four directors to run the West Yorkshire PTE. They would be responsible for finance and administration, operations and planning, engineering and development, and personnel, respectively. The posts would initially be advertised within the area covered by the PTE.
Mr Lord explained that the PTE would have total strength of nearly 2500 buses. This will be made up of the following fleets (numbers of buses in brackets): Leeds (668); Bradford (327); Halifax (88) and Calderdale Joint Omnibus Committee (223); Hudders field (220); West Yorkshire Road Car (465); West Riding Automobile (343); and York shire Woollen District (171). This gives a total of 2415.
The National Bus Company — a partner through its Amalgamated Passenger Transport subsidiary in the Calderdale JOC — has indicated its intention to withdraw from that scheme on April 1 next. Negotiations are said to be at an advanced stage concerning the handing over of the fleets of West Yorks, West Riding and Yorkshire Woollen to the new PTE.
The South Yorkshire PTA will incorporate the municipal undertakings of Sheffield (639 buses), Rotherham (124) and Doncaster (115). Preliminary negotiations have taken place between the county council and the NBC with a view to the absorption of the services of Yorkshire Traction (370) and some of those operated by East Midland Motor Services (225).
Both PTEs would also assume responsibility for British Rail commuter services in their area together with the stage carriage services of some private operators.
Meanwhile, speculation that a final decision to hive off the NBC operations involved and hand them over to the PTAs into which they fall would be made within the next few weeks has been discounted by the DoE. This follows a written reply by the Minister for Transport Industries to Mr Graham Tope, a Liberal MP, who had asked what action was being taken on a House of Commons Select Committee report published in January concerning the future of NBC operations within PTAs. Both the DoE and the Minister suggested that no decision will be taken in the near future.