Labour Bus-Rail Plans Defeated
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FROM OUR PARLIAMENTARY CORRESPONDENT
ANOTHER attempt to ensure that nationalized transport provided services "adequate for industry, agriculture and the public" was made when the Lords again debated the Transport Bill this week. But an amendment by Lord Shepherd which would have laid this duty on the Holding Company "within the limits of its powers, and within its existing operational areas" met with no success.
Opposition peers joined the Government in voting against an amendment which would have given to the Railways the shares in the British Electric Traction group at present held by the Transport Commission, and divided the shares in Tillings and the Scottish Omnibus Group between the Holding Company and the Railways Board. The amendment was rejected by 46 votes to 8.
Co-operation between the bus companies and the railways did not depend upon financial holdings, Lord Mills said.
The Minister also resisted an amendment which would have allowed the London Transport Board to build its own buses; it was defeated by 59 votes to 23. REAR-STEER SIX-WHEELER
LT was learned this week by The Commercial Motor that a British manufacturer is preparing designs for a rear-steering six-wheeled goods vehicle, details of which will be made public later this year, Reference to the need for this type of vehicle is made on page 854.
f` DISQUALIFICATION" • AMENDMENTS PRESENTED From our Political Correspondent
THEpromised move to take the sting out of the Road Traffic Bill was made by Mr. Marples this week.
In a series of amendments, he widened the proposed powers of magistrates to reduce or waive the automatic disqualification of drivers who commit three " danger " offences in three years. His amendments seek to delete the phrase which says magistrates can only do this for "special reasons" and replace it with another which says they may do it if there are "mitigating circumstances."
This apparently small but highly important amendment means that, in effect, magistrates need not only consider the circumstances of the offences, but also those of the driver concerned.
I understand that the amendments, which will come up on Report stage in the Commons very shortly, will be written into the Bill.
DANGEROUS LOADS SCHEME
A NSWERING a question in the House 1–k of Commons last week, Mr. R. A. Butler, Home Secretary, announced that a list of substances and a provisional marking scheme for vehicles carrying dangerous materials in bulk had now been prepared and had been referred to local authority associations for comment.
"PLEASE TO REMEMBER" " D EMEMBER, road accidents can be IX caused by people like you and me." This is the theme of a road safety campaign by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising which the Minister of Transport announced last week. The entire operation is being handled on a voluntary basis.