avy Demands Coach Travel 1 WAS very pleased to read
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the article The Stuff to I Give the Troops," in your issue of January 30, as on many occasions 1 have been thankful for the existence of privately operated coaches for week-end leave parties. I was demobilized only recently after an 18-month emergency recall to the Royal Navy.
It was stated in your article that you were unable to obtain any information from the Admiralty concerning the transport of personnel in the Navy. I can assure you that in spite of this there is a very lively interest in the direction of leave transport.
For some weeks I was stationed at Fareham, in Hampshire, at a large naval establishment. Every week a large number of personnel travelled to London for either a long (from Friday night), or a short (from Saturday), week-end. By rail the project was virtually impossible, as there is no direct service from Fareham to Waterloo, therefore it was necessary either to take a bus to Portsmouth and then a train to Waterloo at a Service fare of 15s. return plus the bus fares, or go by train from Fareham to Portsmouth and by another to London, usually then finding that the first train did not connect with the second.
The coach, on the other hand, did the journey more rapidly and at an inclusive cost of only 12s. 6d. return. Moreover, it had the additional advantage that it was unnecessary to leave London until midnight on the Sunday—a time when it would have been impossible to return to Fareham by rail. Portsmouth could be reached, but that was as far as it was possible to go until early the next morning.
Coaches were also run each week-end to Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham and Plymouth. All these centres were, at the most, between six and seven hours' travel from Fareham, but the coaches always allowed those using them to leave their homes at about 11 p.m. By rail, for similar journeys, it was often a case of leaving home immediately after luncheon on the Sunday.
I wish you success in your efforts to further road transport in this field.
Thornton Heath, A. G. DELIGNY. Surrey.
[The Admiralty was asked on December 29, 1952, to supply a few facts about the number of naval personnel in Great Britain, basic rates of pay and the frequency of leave. A further application was made on January 16. A request to interview the commanding officer of Yeovilton R.N.A.S. station met with passive resistance. The information has still not been received. Apparently the tradition of the Silent Service extends also to the Press office of the Admiralty.—Eal
WITH interest 1 have read your article "The Stuff to " Give the Troops," in "The Commercial Motor" dated January 30. I must say right away that I wish there were a few more like you in this country, and then perhaps we small operators would have a square deal.
We have been trying to get a licence to operate from St. Athan, South Wales, this last three years; in the first instance we applied for "Excursions and Tours," and were recommended by the Licensing Authority to apply for "Express," but to carry on as we had done for a number of years on "Private Hire." We tried again, but the same thing happened; the railways and private operators of stage carriages were said to meet the need. Of these private operators, Western Welsh have since
been permitted to run from the camp to Cardiff station, and we in turn have been doing this under private hire.
We claim to have taken no traffic away from the stage carriage services, for the need and demand from St. Athan are greater now than they have ever been before. We are now to be prosecuted for running illegally, which case is to be brought against us on February 25.
Penarth.. J. J. DAviEs, Managing Director, Streamways, Ltd.
Purchase Tax Remission on Chassis
wail reference to your editorial comment on J.M.D.'s YV letter, headed -A Question of Purchase Tax," published in your issue of January 30, 1953—paragraph 4 (b) of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Finance Act, 1950, specifically debars remission or repayment of chassis tax in cases where a chassis, which has previously incurred liability to chassis tax, is built up into a tractor or locomotive. The words "other than a tractor or locomotive," in lines 1 and 2 of paragraph 9 (c) of Notice 78 Q, are intended to show the limits placed on the title to remission or repayment.
To qualify for exemption from chassis tax, tractors or locomotives (except tractors or locomotives designed for use as components of a composite vehicle) must be of this excepted type at the time when they are delivered by the registered manufacturer to his unregistered
customer. A. J. HUNNISETT, London, E.C.3. H.M. Customs and Excise.
• Advertising on Buses
THE correspondence on the matter of 30-ft. double
deckers and the problem of tyre scrub with six-wheeled chassis has been followed by me with interest and I wondered if any thought had been given to six-wheelers with twin-axle steering such as, for example, the old Leyland Gnu. Concerning the argument as to whether the new-front design is better than using the distinctive radiator of each different maker, the later pattern is a great help in maintaining a good appearance, for when the bus is cleaned there is no trap to retain the dirt.
I would like to hear the views of other readers on advertising on public-service vehicles, as Birmingham City Transport has recently introduced this on the sides and backs of their buses.
Birmingham, 32. J. W. JORDAN.
Young But Enterprising
I AM 18 years old, left school last summer, and I have I been extremely interested in road transport since the age of eight.
would much like a job in transport in the actual running of road vehicles, not a clerical job, but one in which I would operate the vehicles, watch their performance and costs.
Advice and help on this matter would be gratefully received, as I live in Northern Ireland where there is no future at all in this industry, as the Ulster Transport Authority is the only road transport " concern " and it is already over-staffed.
Lisburn, Co. Antrim. M. H. CAMPBELL