A Fanciful Picture of Hardship
Page 46
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
I READ the letter "Freedom of Transport," in your I issue of April 17 with considerable interest, knowing Liverpool and the other circumstances under review. Whilst the whole question of camp services is to the fore, the particular conditions at Liverpool impose no hardship whatsoever, for the airmen at West Kirby are not in any sense "out in the wilds," there being a frequent service of trains to Liverpool Central from the camp, also a coach service picking up at a point less 1han five minutes' walk from the station.
The fanciful picture drawn by " Ex-R.A.F." (suggesting that the "raison d'être" for this weekly exodus is inspired only by the zealous National Serviceman hurrying home to get his parent's permission to sign on) merits a cartoon by David Langdon. Recruiting figures are certainly more encouraging, but they will not, I fear, be largely influenced by the provision of a coach service.
That the service applied for may provide an added convenience, without the necessity of proceeding to the starting point of an established operator, cannot be denied, but it is rubbish to suggest that the refusal of a licence creates in any sense an injustice or hardship.
As for the final paragraph of your correspondent's letter, I have served in the R.A.F. since 1941, and apart from occasions when I have been travelling on duty, I have never been told, as an order, what transport I am to use when proceeding on leave or week-end pass. Has
he? B. R. MILLER (F/Li., R.A.F.V.R.). Southwick, Hants.