Minister belts up
Page 43
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
On another Ministerial occasion last week it must have been difficult for Dr Gilbert to resist the temptation to press his seat-belt hobbyhorse. He was speaking at the Chartered Institute of Transport anniversary lunch in London, and only a few days earlier the victim of a car bomb had apparently been saved from more serious injury by wearing a seat belt. However, resist it he did, together with any temptation to say anything significant about road :transport. He seemed to be more intrigued with British Rail's new toy, its TOPS computer, which tells BR where its wagons are but not whether there's anything in them.
In view of the statement on fundamental transport policy due later this year, Dr Gilbert's reticence was perhaps understandable. Or was he seeking to preserve the period of euphoria, referred to by Institute president R. M. Robbins, which usually exists between a new Minister and the industry before it finds out what is really in his mind ?