Goods Transport
Page 30
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'KISS AND CUDDLE' CONDEMNED BY RAY GUNTER
AR. RAY GUNTER, Labour's IYL " Shadow" Minister of Labour, made a fierce attack on private hauliers in general, and the Road Haulage Association in particular, when he gave his presidential address to the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association at Rothesay this week, writes our Industrial Correspondent.
He told delegates that the "stupid assumption" that the railways were finished and should be buried with roadmaking excavators was now dead. It was on matters relating to rationalization and co-ordination that the major question marks remained. It was clear that the Railways Board accepted that by voluntary collaboration between road and rail the necessary exercises could be performed.
"They seem to suggest—indeed the Road Haulage Association are excess:ye in their affection for this belief—that if they are left alone to have a kiss and a cuddle and there is no wicked government to see they are home early, then the nation's interest will best be served. This is sheer nonsense and 1 am surprised that the Railways Board could have any such beliefs."
The creation of a sound transport system could not be left to those who still believed that ruthless and wasteful competition was a good thing. What had been the road hauliers' reaction, he asked, to the proposal to spend nearly £100 m. on fast, long-distance trains to relieve congestion on the roads? The chairman of the Road Haulage Association had suggested that the result of this competition could be a new type of road vehicle capable of cruising at 70 m.p.h., to be used exclusively on motorways.
A day and night shuttle service, on which basis there might be two or three trips in 24 hours between London and Glasgow, the chairman had said, was not beyond the bounds of possibility.
'Is this the rationalization that the Railways Board preaches about? ". thundered Mr. Gunter. "To pour scores of millions of pounds into providing an economic service on rail so that road hauliers can create more and bigger vehicles and demand more and more motorways to run Side by side with adequate rail services? Will this help to rationalize and to improve?
To me it is incredible that we are still thinking of transport in terms of intensive and ruthless compet:tion, regardless of the overall well-being. I submit that the road haulage industry e4 has a tremendous and growing part to play in the expanding and growing economy; but surely it must, like railways, do the things it is fitted for?
"The thought at this time of finding an answer to our Liner Trains in bigger and better lorries, sweeping through Britain by day and night, is to me sheer and utter madness. Any idea by the Railways Board that the transport problems can be solved by good-natured committee meetings of a voluntary nature is out of the question."
Planned for Deliveries
AONE-WAY underground service road for delivery vehicles is a feature of the :Om. Merrion Centre development in Leeds. The seven-acre site, which was opened officially on Tuesday, already includes over 50 shops, a supermarket, multiple store, five restaurants, a night club, bowling alley, multi-storey office blocks and showrooms, a five-storey car park accommodating 1,100 cars, and other facilities. When the final stage is completed in two years the centre will also have a 120-bedroom hotel, public house, another office block and a covered triarket with 80 stalls.
The 900-ft.-long service road (twothirds of which is underground) is 22 ft. wide and has 13 fa 6 in. height clearance; it serves unloading hays 3 ft. 6 in. high. If a particular bay is full, there is an underground waiting area.
Extractors, positioned at exhaust pipe height, remove fumes.