Argyll Cabs at Brentwood.
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Brentwood, as many of our readers 'snow, is a town of some 5,000 inhabitants about 18 miles from the Mansion House ; it is on the main highway to the Essex and Suffolk seaboards. This last circumstance, and the fact that in the surrounding country there are very many well-to-do :rit--owning residents, have contributed largely to the successful growth in that town of a garage and repair busiTiC4,;4, which is now known as The Brentwood Motor and Garage Co., Ltd. This concern is the possessor of recently-built premises of attractive appearance in the High Street. Last
the management decided to in:■11 pirate a taxicab service in the dis:rict, and, since certain Argyll touring aars had served them excellently, ,Ttlers were placed for three 1.5-h.p. metorcabs of the same make. Two of these were fitted with Briihn's taxameters, whilst the third has been, so 1al', reserved for private-hire work. Two of the machines are fitted with
lies which are by far more tomnwdiuus than those licensed by Scot1,.nd Yard. Brentwood is outside the Metropolitan Police area, and therefore permission to ply for hire had to be sought from the local police au:11.,irities. As a mutter of fact, Mr.
Tabrutn, the general manager The taimpauy, tells us that prat.
the whole of their taxicab employment is of the private-hire class; the telephone, as is so often the case in -provincial towns, plays an all-important part in their business. What ply:.ng for hire there ls takes plaee on the private property of the railway company at the station, which is about half-a-mile from the main street. No licence plates are fitted, and the drivers carry no badges, although the machines have each been approved and inspected by the local authorities. The situation might be altered, were there other owners of taxicabs in Brentwood. Mr. Tabrum informed a COMMIOWIAL Moms, representative that the machines are wonderful hillclimbers and are economical in the consumption of spirit. They seem, too, to be light on tires. North British, Dunlop, Gaulois, and Michelin tires are used. With the first-named this owner has experienced particular satisfaction. One North British driving tire completed 5,364 miles, without needing " Wowing up s" a subsequent repair was effected and a guarantee for another 500 was extracted from the repairers. These Argylls do much good work conveying patients from the neighbourhood to the London hospitals. Theatre parties and weddings are also a fruitful source of income for the taxicab department, which, at present, is but a small part of this enterprising Brentwood company's organization.