Sell NBC plea fails
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PURCHASERS could be found for the National Bus Company, for its 95 subsidiaries, for the 20,000 buses and the premises throughout the country, claimed Mr Ian Gow (Tory, Eastbourne) last week. He asked for the NBC to be returned to private enterprise.
"But we need to act quickly," he warned — a plea which failed to convince the House of Commons, which rejected his denationalisation Bill by 184 votes to 121.
"Overmanning, waste and the corroding influence of a virtual monopoly in the provision of bus services have provided the public and the taxpayer with the inevitable twin evils of nationalisation — an inadequate service and a growing financial burden,'" said Mr Gow, Mr Gow pointed out that in 1975 the NBC had made a record loss of E.19 million, while its debt had increased from £99.6 million to f.:121.6 million.
During the same year the number of passenger iourneys had fallen by 137 million and the number of bus miles operated by two million.
Yet the number of staff employed by NBC increased from 69,574 to 70.461.
Explaining the need for speed, Mr Gow noted that in July the Minister for Transport had said that at the end of last year the net assets of the NBC and its subsidiaries exceeded liabilities by £25 million. But another 18 months of losses on last year's scale would wipe out that surplus.
Opposing the Bill, Mr Kevin McNamara (Labour, Hull Central) — parliamentary secretary of the TGWU group in the Commons — accused Mr Gow of making a completely heartless speech, which showed no realisation of the problems of many people who lived in remote villages.