Less Than Fair to Hauliers
Page 9
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"CANNOT recall hearing any examples of the railways having come to the rescue of road transport during the recent weeks of wintry weather, If there are such examples I should in fact be pleased to know about them, and they should be publicized, for I feel that the proper attitude for both forms of transport in such emergencies is to demonstrate, not only their ability to co-operate if possible, but also the high standard of morale shown by their staff at all levels." These comments by Mr. Cyril Robinson, vice-chairman of the R.H.A. Eastern Area, at the Peterborough sub-area dinner on Friday, followed his remarking on the fact that some recent railway publicity seemed questionable, in that it contrasted pictures of snow-bound road vehicles with a train speeding along a track where apparently very little snow had fallen.
Cancellation of trains, he said, had been at least as frequent as the stranding of lorries. " But for the fact that we, as road transport operators, are, in the main, very humble men, we would make it our boast that in many cases road transport has come to the rescue of the railways." A particularly spectacular example, said Mr. Robinson, was the mobilization of vast fleets of tipping lorries as an emergency service to distribute the nation's coal; a similar service had come to the rescue of coastal shipping when the frozen River -Yore prevented vessels reaching Norwich,
"1 am pleased to have this opportunity of paying this public tribute to all our drivers," said Mr. Robinson.
Against Forth Tolls TODAY the Firth of Forth area local I authorities seeking abandonment of the proposed tolls on the Forth Road Bridge are to meet the Secretary of State for Scotland. Fife, Midlothian, West Lothian, Edinburgh Corporation, Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy are the authorities which are now asking that tolls should not be charged in view of the local unemployment position.