In Carey Street.
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A first meeting is to be held on Friday, the 25th inst., at Carey Street, under the Companies Winding-Up Act, in the case of The Metropolitan Auto-Cab Co., Ltd., 210, Gapel House, 62, New Broad Street, E.C. ; creditors at 11.30 and contributories at 12 noon.
Should Pay by the Mile?
The President of the London Cabdrivers Trade Union states that, in his opinion, in view of the fact that the consumption of petrol varies so much even on similar examples of one model, he would prefer to see the petrol _paid for by the . men on a mileage basis. By this means, it is claimed, a man who was driving a car with a Heavy consumption would not be unfairly penalized.
The Sunstar Co-op.
The North London Co-operative Cab Co., which has its headquarters at the Butcher's Arms, 'York Road, N., now has a garage at 256, York Road, and there the occupiers go by the name of the Sunstar Taxi Co. This concern at present has 14 four-cylinder Unic cabs, and they have been allotted to the members by ballot. The cost of each cab is £450, payable by weekly instalments of £3. In addition, the driver pays a further 13 a week for petrol, oil, maintenance, tires, garage, licences, management, taximeter, insurance, etc., so that 16 a week covers everything for the driver.
The Two-licence Question.
An interesting point with regard to the efficacy of public-service licences was raised in a case which was heard at Westminster on Thursday of last week. A motorcab driver was summoned for driving a taxicab without having in his possession an L.C.C. licence. A Toolie constable found that the L.C.C. licence, which was produced, had expired. A solicitor who appeared for the defendant cabman arg that the licence which the driver held from the Commissioner of Police was a complete and sufficient passport for a driver within the Metropolitan area. The Commissioner, he argued, was the paramount licensing authority, and there was nothing in any Act which stated that a supplementary licence was required. The magistrate admurned the summons with a view to considering his decision. Express Cabs Had No Licences.
At the instance of the L.C.C., the chairman and managing director of the Express Motor Cab Co., Ltd., now liquidating, were recently summoned for aiding and abetting in the running of 150 taxicabs, during the present year, without having them licensed. The magistrate found that the defendants could not be convicted as eiders and abettors, in view of their relationship with the company.
Unathletic Brixton.
In the second year of its existence, the General Motor Cab Co., Ltd., started an athletic club in Brixton, but, in spite of a propitious send-off, this organization does not seem to have flourished. We understand that a trophy which was presented by the Michelin Tyre Co. was not competed for. The sum of over 115, the balance of the club's funds, which had remained in the hands of the cab company's officials, has now been handed over to the London Cabdrivers Trades Union Benevolent Fund.
A Hussar's Joy Ride.
At the West London police court, on Wednesday of last. week, a private in the 19th Hussars was charged with stealing a taxicab worth /300 belonging to the National Motor Cab Co.. Ltd., with attempting to steal another taxicab belonging to the same company, and with being a deserter. The prosecuting counsel stated that up till 3rd August the defendant had been employed as a greaser by the cab company. After making certain representations at the Hammersmith Road Garage, on 12th August, at mid-day, he took away a cab. At two o'clock on the following morning, the cab was found abandoned in a street in Kensington, and the taximeter registered a run of 72 miles. On the same day, the defendant went to the King Street Garage and endeavoured to get another cab on the same terms. He was stopped as he was trying surreptitiously to drive a cab out of the yard. It was given in evidence that the prisoner was actually arrested on the 5th inst. as an Army deserter, but that he escaped from his escort at Waterloo Station. He was sentenced to three months hard labour for stealing the petrol, which he had used in the course of his escapade.
We are informed that an attempt is being made to form a National Federation of Transport Workers, which it is suggested should include all railway servants, cabmen, trammen, carmen, and all similar employees.
The Taxi did Excellently During the Railway Strike.
All the large motorcab companies in London, last week, assured of a plentiful supply of petrol, were enabled to do yeoman service in the matter of special deliveries in order to relieve the congestion that was occasioned by the strike of railway employees. As our readers are aware, practically all the railway companies were able to maintain fairly-good services during the period of disturbance, but it was not to be wondered at that the time schedules were occasionally very erratic. Particularly in the delivery of newspapers into the Provinces was the motor vehicle found to afford an excellent means of insuring prompt and accurate deliveries. Large numbers of taxicabs, many of them private-hire machines, were deprived of their bodies, and a rough plank platform was affixed to each chassis instead. These fasi little vehicles were then loaded with bundles of newspapers, etc., and dispatched to all parts of the country. The proprietors of the various Sunday papers had made i extraordinary preparations n this respect for delivery purposes. • Twenty-eight "W. and (1" cab chassis were used for newspaper delivery by United Newspapers, Ltd. These chassis were temporarily fitted with light platform bodies, and we have excellent accounts of their running in this emergency service. Of the General fleet from Brixton, Mr. George Pollard turned out 30 of his 15-22 h.p. private-hire C'harrons for "the Standard" group of newspapers, and we hear that they gave every satisfaction, many of them doing very fast trips, Sheffield being the farthest point of delivery visited.
A large number of parties were conveyed direct to the seaside and to otber destinations by taxicab. Similar emergency services were also inaugurated in almost all the large provincial towns, where record business is in all cases reported to us by the owners of motorcabs. New Registration.
Newport (Mon.) Taxicab and Motor Car Co., Ltd., with an authorized capital of £3,000 in £1 shares, by Jordan and Sons, Ltd., to take over the business carried on by 0. H. Tovey.and C. A. Miles as the Newport (Mon.) Taxicab aud Motor Co., at 41, Dock Street and Union Street, Newport.
Glasgow says "Me Too."
Following on the recommendation oi the Departmental Committee that London public-service-motor drivers should in future only be required to take out one licence, the drivers in several big provincial cities are asking for a similar concession. In this connection "The Glasgow Herald" recently drew attention to the fact that. there is a growing disposition to legislate for London alone, and, as an illustration of this tendency, it quoted the Street Traffic Noises Bill. The Scottish Automobile Club is to oppose this Bill on account of the circumscribed nature of its provisions. No Law on the Subject.
Judge Mellor recently delivered himself of the following dicta during the hearing of a taxicab collision case in Salford. Said he : " There is no right or wrong side of the road for vehicular traffic." Also : " It is only by custom that certain of the rules of the road are recognized. They are, in fact, mere convention." When counsel suggasted to him that a person driving out of a side street should take special care as compared with one who was travelling on a main road, the judge demurred, saying that there was no authority for such a suggestion.
Edinburgh's Considerable Fleet.
Taxicabs are steadily growing in numbers and popularity in Edinburgh. During the past year there were licensed 536 horse-drawn hackney carriages, 98 motor hackney carriages, 32 horse-drawn coaches and brakes, 21 motorbuses and chars-h-bancs, and three motor wagonettes. During the year, the motorcabs have increased by 23, and there are 13 proprietors at the present time who own these vehicles. Under revised regulations which were introduced last
October, it is provided that, when a driver takes steps to remove the record of the fare from the taximeter before the hirer has had an opportunity of examining it, the latter may refuse payment.
Liverpool's New By-laws.
We have received a copy of the new motor hackney-carriage bylaws for Liverpool, which have now been approved by the Home Secretary. 'These regulations appear to be drawn up with due regard to the modern conditions under which motorcabs are operated, and they appear to contain no foolish stipulations similar to those which are in existence in some of the other big provincial towns in this country. All the licensed drivers in Liverpool have to secure new licences in conformity with the new by-laws, but this only amounts to re-registration. We note that no Liverpool driver is bound to take a fare for a distance in excess of eight miles from the city boundary, and it is also interesting to remark that a definite regulation is made that "no driver shall smoke tobacco or any suchlike substance when driving such carriage."