Boom town?
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I was very interested to read the item in "Bird's eye view" (CM October 5) about Swindon being "a transport boom town". 1 have had over 50 years in the transport business in Swindon, operating my own business under the name of Cricklade Transport, and believe me I was born in transport my father and my grandfather were general hauliers with horses and carts. My father's uncle was a carman and contractor in Cable Street, London El, under the name of Everitt Ag. Co: his stables were under the railway arches in Leman Street. He sold out and retired to end his days near Swindon, at Cricklade. My son-in-law is carrying on the business of Cricklade Transport, but I still long for the good old days.
Referring to the description of Swindon as a "transport boom town", it is in fact a spiv's paradise for get-rich quick Johnnies and fly-by-night whin kids.
Since 1971 there have been a large number of new transport operators who have established themselves in business, some of them cutting the rates to pieces. Some of them live in council houses with no garage and park in culs-de-sac, therefore paying no rent or rates: some have been using furniture vans and trucks with moped licences displayed.
As I now do all the office work for my son-in-law I rarely look for work in Swindon and the majority of work is now done from firms 25 to 30 miles away at much better rates. For example, I was asked to quote for a 950 cu ft household removal from Swindon to Glasgow. I quoted £90, less £10 if I managed to get a return load or part load. The total journey was 740 miles, which I estimated to take 2j., days 12 hours loading, 22 hours running time and two hours unloading). This meant three days' pay for two men. The job was done for £50, and it was completed in under two days with a van which had a private car tax on it. However, the police stopped them for speeding and the total fine was £110.
There are a couple of operators in Swindon who are employing vehicles displaying operators' licences which belonged to other operators who have now gone out of business.
Give me the good old days of A, B and C licences and the days when that grand old firm Swindon Transport Ltd was in business, owned and operated by a real gentleman, Major Griffiths Jones. The major stood for fair rates and a good service: he operated a day and night trunk service to London and Bristol, besides regular haulage anywhere, with AEC and Dennis. He was a gentleman to his staff and other operators but a Tartar to anyone who stepped out of line. He was chairman of our local R HA branch and was always ready to give help or advice; nothing was too much trouble. His one-time office boy is now the managing director of Salisbury Transport and Storage, Salisbury. Mr Boulton is another real gentleman; he came up the hard way, the same way as I did.
A. W. GILES, Swindon, Wilts.