Control of East Coast Road Services.
Page 50
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United Automobile Services, Ltd., to be Bought Out by Tilling and British Automobile Traction, Ltd., and the London and North-Eastern Railway.
THE directors of United Automobile Services, Ltd., have unanimously recommended to the shareholders of the company that an offer of 30s. per share, now being made by the London and North-Eastern Railway Co., be accepted. Tilling and British Automobile Traction, Ltd., is joining with the railway company on an equal footing in the purchase of these shares ; the present value of them on the market is somewhat lower. For some time it has been in the neighbourhood of 23s.
For several months negotiations have been proceeding between the Tilling group and United Automobile Services, Ltd., on the one hand, and between the L.N.E.R. and the United concern on the other. Rival bids for the shares of the U.A.S. have been made by both of the ether parties, the last one of Tilling and British Automobile Traction, Ltd., being 27s. 6d., followed by one from the railway company fcv 30s.
The new development means that B24 United Automobile Services, Ltd., will be taken over and that the railway company and Tilling and B.A.T. now control practically the whole of the road services along the east coast from Berwick to London. The arrangement referred to does not include road traction in Scotland. A new company is suggested to take over the services run by United Automobile Services, Ltd., and to include all the road interests of the L.N.E.R. in the area concerned. It is expected that the small companies bound up in the arrangement will continue their separate existences.
The concerns affected, which form part of the Tilling and B.A.T. interests, are :—The Ortona Motor Co., Ltd., Eastern Counties Road Car Co., Ltd., Peterborough Electric Traction Co., Ltd., Trent Motor Traction Co., Ltd., East Yorkshire Motosr Services, Ltd., West Yorkshire Road Car Co., Ltd., and the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd. In all, the arrangement will affect about 2,000 vehicles, which will now come under the joint management or Tilling and B.A.T. and the L.N.E.R.
All the buses and road interests of the L.N.E.R. in the area in question will be merged in the new company, ' which has established a friendly relationship between the Tilling and British Automobile Traction, Ltd., and the railway company. This may be the forerunner of further developments and is an indication of the spread of the control of road services by railway com
panies.
Mr. J. F. Heaton has carried out negotiations on behalf of Tilling and British Automobile Traction, Ltd., and has been instrumental in securing, what is regarded by certain parties, as a very satisfactory settlement. July 4th is the closing date for acceptance of the offer by shareholders concerned: Those resident abroad may secure a suitable extension of time at the discretion of the board.