Men Being Driven from Industry ?
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DRAWING attention to "the way in L./which the Road Haulage Executive are closing depots of long standing in some parts of the country without any consideration for' the effect which such closure is having on the men concerned," Mr. H. Sutcliffe raised in the House of Commons, last week, the question of driving men out of road transport. He referred in particular to a depot at Littleborough, 3i miles from Rochdale.
The effect, he said, was to drive experienced men into other fields of employment. In the case of Littleborough, 20 vehicles and 34 men had been employed under private enterprise. The R.H.E. had substituted a night trunk service for the work formerly carried out from Littleborough, but the men were dissatisfied with the arrangements made, which called, in some cases, for men to move to Bradford. Only nine out of 20 men employed when the R.H.E. took over were left after the depot had been closed.
Emphasizing that his reply was based on information supplied by the British Transport Commission, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, Mr. J. Gurney Braithwaite, said that the depot in question had been a change-over point since before nationalization and handled little traffic. Trials carried out before the closing down of the depot showed that the nightly trunk service was more economical.
As a concession to men still employed, living at Littleborough,arrangements were made for vehicles to stop at Rochdale, so that drivers could get home by bus.