Bird's Eye View
Page 43
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A Plateful
By
TheThe Hawk rINE of the most harassed men in the industry at the moment is Mr. R. L. Howlett, who, in addition to his ditties as secretary of the Public .Transport Association, now finds himself secretary of the newly formed Road Operators' Safety Council. He is faced with the seemingly impossible task. of' preparing from scratch 50,000 record cards of entrants for the Council's safe-driving Competition. Awards in the Council's competition will be made consecutive to those previously won by entrants in the competition of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, so that in making out the history cards Mr. Howlett is having to contend with many different states of progress of the competitors. . To add to the difficulties, two years' competitions are being handled concurrently, Apart from all this, there is a formidable amount of printing to be done. I understand that medals have been designed—a subject in which Mr. R. W. Birch; one of the four vice-chairmen, has taken a great personal interest and are shortly to be Struck. lo the circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the Council are not yet ready to consider promoting competitions of skill or to undertake negotiations with the promoters of the Lorry Driver of the Year ,Competition.
• . Under-New Management THE final contest of this year's Lorry Driver of the Year Competition will again be run by Coventry Road Safety Committee, but through. a national committee to be set up at a meeting at the Council House, Coventry, next Wednesday. Mr. M. J. Miles, Coventry's road safety officer, has asked various organizations to nominate representatives,
One That Got Away
kij.H.ENT the Transport Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) " Act was passed it was generally thought that exemption from the control of trolleybus fares by the Licensing Authorities applied only to Glasgow Corporation. Nobody seems to have realized that Mexhorough and Swinton Traction Company's Act is similar to that under which Glasgow operates, so that the company's trolleyhus l'ares are also uncontrolled. Indeed, they were raised on Januar}. 1, hut there was DO adverse comment from the public.
Admittedly, the increases were entirely reasonable, but. even had they been extortionate, the Yorkshire Licensing Authority could have done nothing about it.
Fares Follow Rates
TROLLEYBUS undertakings are, I hear, particularly hard hit by the new ratings. in one caSe, fares will have to be raised to meet an advance of nearly 800 per cent, in rateable value.
Broad View
.1 AM glad to learn that the Municipal Passenger Transport I Association is not being unduly sensitive about local politics and is wholeheartedly supporting the renewed campaign for a reduction in fuel tax. Local authorities are being encouraged to exhibit in their buses posters setting out the case for relief from the preying attentions of the Treasury: Exeter Transport Committee are amongthose who have agreed to do so.
Six of the Best
NAR. W. P.JAMES, chairman of the West Midland 'VI Licensing Authority, may soon be handing out " lines " . to the bad boys in his area. After hearing of an infringement of the conditions of an excursion and tour licence, he said last week: "There ought to be a weekly exercise for some of you boys. You ought to sit down for half an hour every Monday morning and read your licence. By the end of the year you should know it thoroughly." He also hinted that for those whose memories wen: particularly poor the big stick might serve as a reminder. So if you find an operator strap-hanging in an empty vehicle, you will know that the headmaster has delivered six of the best.
On the Roundabouts
I T has been put to me that the chair of Associated-Rediffusion, Ltd., one of the London programme contractors to the Independent Television Authority, is an odd • place to find a busman, Mr. J. S. Wills. I disagree.
The bus and entertainment industries have been closely associated since the advent of public transport and, ironically, television, the latest advance in entertainment, has dealt them both a severe economic plow.
A study of the names behind the three other programme contractors so far appointed reveals strong cinema and theatre interests. Surely, then, it is natural that with so much to lose on the receiving end of the new medium, the B.E.T. bus group, of which Mr. Wills is deputy chairman and managing director, • should seek to recoup itself by being on the other side of the fence?
The £3 Martyr
NAR. M. SIRMAN, the Oxford coach driver who took Oa a week's holiday to go to prison rather than pay a £3 fine for alleged speeding, has been accorded the honours of a hero. Some comrades of the 1914-18 war rather spoilt his holiday by paying the fine for him, but as compensation his employers, Pereivals Motors, of Oxford, entertained him at a party on Monday.
Note to wallflowers: Go to prison and get yourselves asked out.
• Fare Exchange
"T SAY, old man, if buses charged by size I reckon you'd I have to pay dbuble rates.
"Aye. if they did that, it wouldn't pay 'cm to stop and pick you up."