Barbara looks at travel concessions
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GOVERNMENT backing—with qualifications—was given last week to a Private Member's Bill which will allow the extension of travel concessions on buses.
Before the Commons gave the measure an unopposed Second Reading, Mr. Stephen Swingler, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, warned that the Government might want some changes in it later on.
He recalled that Mrs. Castle had put in hand a full-scale review of the position under the Travel Concessions Act, 1964 and had now received the comprehensive background information she needed.
The Minister was considering this information to ascertain what amending legislation on a national basis might be necessary to remove anomalies and meet the quite understandable demands that the power to grant concessionary facilities should be extended.
The Minister was not yet ready to put forward any definite proposals, but would be making a statement in the very near future.
Introducing his Bill, Mr. Bob Brown (Labour, Newcastle West) said that any amending legislation was made much more difficult by clashes between types of agreement between private bus company operators and local authority operators. He appealed for a common operating agreement.