Answers to Queries.
Page 17
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Our readers will be informed by the Editor on any points connected with the construction or use of commercial motors. Where a direct reply is desired, a stamped and addressed envelope should be enclosed : if a request tor privacy is not specially made, any query and answer may be published. Some replies, oze.ang to pressure on our space, are held several weeks.
About Snow-shoes.
[1,667] " LOOKING AHEAD " writes: -" Please let me know who markets the Goodwin snow-shoe? "
ANSWER.—T. C. Aveling and Co., Ltd., 91-93, New Canal Street, Birmingham.
Chain and Live-axle Motorbuses.
_1,668f " LANCS " writes :—" Can you give me any information as to the number of motorbuses in London driven by chain, and also by live axle F I want the numbers of each separately."
ANSWER.—There were 1,078 licensed motorbuses in London, at a particular date last month. These were divided : .5.58 had chain drive; 448 pinion and rack drive; and 72 live-axle drive.
Public-service Licences.
[1,669] " OWNER " writes :—" Is it true that Folkestone and other south-coast towns insist upon the holding of R.A.C. or M.U. certificates by drivers? "
ANSWER.—Not now. Folkestown Town Council, at the end of April last, did so inform Messrs. Reynolds and Son, solicitors to the London and South Coast Motor Services, Ltd., whereupon The COMMERCIAL MOTOR took up the matter. We were successful in satisfying the Council that any driver with a London licence was amply qualified.
Lighting and Fire-extinguishing.
[1,670] " Norrs " write:—" We find the information in your paper a great help to us at times. Would you again assist us by information as to the best system of lighting motorbuses economically and safely ? Also, can you tell us what to put in the bottles to charge the — fire-extinguishers after they have been used—the type in which an inverted bottle is broken to raise a pressure? "
ANSWER.—You should apply to theAcetylene Illuminating Co., Ltd., of 266, South Lambeth Road, London, S.E. Fire extinguishers of the type you name are probably filled with bi-carbonate of soda and dilute sulphuric acid ; we are unable to give the proportions, or the strength of the acid.
Careful Driving and Pulling Up After An Accident.
[1,671] " ACTON" writes :—" Would you kindly give me the following information with regard to whether or not I am liable? Whilst driving into — I passed two ladies in a horse and trap or governess car, driving in the opposite direction. The horse shied. I glanced round to see that everything was all right, but did not pull up. The next day, my employer received a letter from the owner saying the lady put up her hand for me to stop (which I could not have seen), and that I was bound by law to do so, and also saying that he was about to summon me.
should be very pleased to receive any information you can give."
ANSWER.—A roadside incident of this kind is always decided by the magistrates on what they consider the facts. The result depends upon the driver's ability to satisfy the magistrates that he was driving carefully at the time, and that—in this case—the lady who was driving the horse (it must be the person who is driving, and not anybody else in the trap) either did not hold up her hand, or did not do so until she was past him, or so near to him as to be too late. He must further point out that there was nothing in the horse's manner to indicate that it was restless when he was approaching. The lady will have to prove that she held up her hand if the driver denies it. bet he should he extremely civil and quiet in giving his answers, or the magistrates will get a wrong impression, and probably give a preference to the lady's views. So far as not pulling up goes, there is no obligation to pull up after passing, provided no accident has happeneo, although it is safer to pull up if in doubt.
sack Fares to Taxi-drivers.
[1,672] Ilexes " writes:—' I have read with much interest your Twenty Points for Users of London Taxicabs' and would be much obliged by your kindly explaining the following: Is a driver legally entitled to charge half-fare back if taken beyond the Metropolitan Police area, and, if so, must the half-fare be paid to the spot originally hired from, or only to within the Metropolitan Police area ? Thus, to Cookham, say, from Hyde Park, being 30 miles, is 21 single fare. What is the legal fare to be paid to the driver ? Also, if a driver is not compelled to drive more than six miles at a time, can he be stopped at the end of six miles, paid, dismissed and rehired on the spot to proceed further ? If so, can this be done continuously, or only inside the Metropolitan Police area? "
ANSWER.—You have correctly apprehended the legal bearing of the regulation under which a driver of a London taxicab can decline to travel more than six miles at a single hiring. Thus, if successively discharged and immediately re-hired, any man would be obliged to travel to a point not more than six miles beyond the limits of the Metropolitan Police area. At that point he could refuse to proceed, and he would also not he entitled to claim any return payment.
On the general question of the engagement of such a driver to travel to a point considerably beyond the limits of the Metropolitan Police area, it is not unreasonable that the driver should make a bargain of a special nature. Otherwise, both the driver and the proprietors would not receive sufficient remuneration for the services rendered. Owing to the fact that no specific schedule of fares applies beyond the maximum distance indicated above, it is open to the driver and the hirer to enter into any arrangement whatsoever, and such arrangement is generally influenced by circumstances. As a matter of law, a driver cannot refuse, without reasonable excuse, which may mean anything from physical unfitness to mechanical inefficiency of the cab at the time, to travel by a succession of sixmile journeys, so long as each re-engagement is made within the Metropolitan Police area ; as a matter of equity, we consider that a driver who was ordered to drive to Cookham would be perfectly entitled to make a bargain for the payment of half-fare back to some moderatelycentral point, but not necessarily to the point at which he was hired. The cabs are not put on the road to work at a loss, which would otherwise be the case.
In effect, a hirer who desires to travel to a point more than six miles beyond the limits of the Metropolitan Police area has either to make a bargain which is sufficiently attractive to cause a cab driver to agree, or to accept the probably-unpleasant alternative of a series of arguments along the six-mile stages which can legally be enforced, coupled with a "stranding " at some inconvenient point outside the limit of the jurisdiction of the London police.
When a back fare is paid to a driver, he should either he required to register it as an " extra " in the spoke provided, returning to London with his flag in the " For Hire " position, or the amount paid to the man should be advised by letter direct to the owner of the cab, together with the driver'a badge number, or the registration number of the vehicle. Failing such precaution, the man will in all probability simply put the extra money into his own pocket.