The Price of Freedom
Page 45
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• gorviE time ago I received a notice of acquisition and SOME served my notice of withdrawal under Section 40 (2) of the Transport Act. After numerous inquiries by the solicitor to the Road Haulage Executive, the acquisition notice was withdrawn, leaving me a
• so-called free haulier. My solicitors' fees were about £15. Can I recover this stun from the R.H.E.?
Cinderford. ROY GR NM E.
[There is no provision in the Transport Act for the recovery of legal costs in circumstances such as yours. No doubt the Government would regard £15 as a small price to pay for freedom to continue your business. The whole system by which the haulier is compelled to prove his " innocence " is contrary to British tradition—but, then, so is nationalization in a country which, by enterprise and daring, made itself the leader of the world.—En.) WHY DRIVERS CAN NOT ALWAYS "KERB" BUSES nNE of your correspondents, Mr. A. H. Price, wrote in your issue dated September 30, a criticism concerning bus drivers who do not " kerb" their vehicles.
I would like to point out that there are several reasons why it is not always possible to do this.
The most common is the thoughtless driver of a car or commercial vehicle who parks it just before a bus stop, thus making it impossible for the bus driver to pull his long vehicle in close to the kerb without going some way past the stop. If he adopts the latter practice, intending passengers complain bitterly.
Another reason is that, particularly in London, people in bus queues have the objectionably dangerous habit of " spilling " into the road when they see a bus approaching. This is most frequent during the evening peak period. People at the end of a queue do this in order to obtain a better view of the route
number. L. WaRNET-r, Conductor 28722. Hornchurch Garage.
POSITION OF CRELLIN-DUPLEX COACH RIGHTS
NAY attention has been drawn to a letter appearing in your issue dated October 7, from Mr. G. R. White, managing director of Duple Motor Bodies, Ltd., who states that his company's technicians have examined the drawings of the Crellin-Duplex coach, but as the patent specification has not yet been published they are not in a position to comment on it.
My patent specification does not resemble the German coach mentioned in "The Commercial Motor" dated July 25, 1947, or the Duple coach mentioned in the issue dated October 3, 1947. I have worked on my plans and ideas since 1930. In 1934 I sent all the British railways drawings for railway carriages on similar lines, one of which was a sleeping car. A similar car has been built since the war and is now operating between King's Cross and Edinburgh.
Duple Motor Bodies, Ltd., has the erroneous impression that only the seating is patented. This is not so, the patent is mainly concerned with the construction, whereby this form of seating can be utilized to the best advantage, thus reducing overall height to lower than any other vehicle designed with this seating capacity. In the "Journal of Commerce" for January 22,. 1943, was illustrated a flying-boat to my design, thus preceding the 1947 design.
The Crellin-Duplex prototype coach, as built by the Lines Trailer Co., Ltd., of Scunthorpe, is constructed with entirely novel features and has proved a huge success in the prototype trials. In consequence a number of operators has placed orders.
Various coachbuilders had the opportunity of building the prototype, but they lacked courage and the vision to see if it would be successful. Lines Trailer Co., Ltd., has built the prototype at great expense.
I shall not hesitate to take proceedings against any builder and/or operator who deliberately infringes my rights.
In the last pa ragraph of the Duple letter Mr. White says the company has been advised that it can build bodies to the designs published on July 25 and October 3, 1947. As its own body, designed in 1939, seats only 34 as against my design for 46-50 seats, and the Duple vehicle is 12 ft. 4i ins, high, as against mine of 10 ft. 6 ins., there is no great advantage to the operator to use them in preference to a single-deck 34-seater, which is probably the reason why none has been built since 1939.
Duple Motor Bodies, Ltd., states that it is not known whether vehicles of this type will pass the examination of the certifying officers for the issue of a public service vehicles licence. This can, of course, only be ascertained by building a vehicle, which has been done by Lines Trailer Co., Ltd.
This vehicle was tested at Brush Coachwork, Ltd., Loughborough, and amazed all present by passing the tilt test at over 36i degrees. Needless to say, the Crellin-Duplex •,coach was designed to meet all the regulations relating to single-deck vehicles.
Sciinthorpe. GEORGE CRELLIN.
EDUCATIVE MEDIUM FOR YOUNG AND OLD
1.40W nice it was to read recently in "The Commercial " Motor" a message from a young enthusiast who said that he found so much of interest to him in your journal. It is quite probable that you have many more young and enthusiastic readers, the fathers of whom have your journal delivered at home. As a consequence, many of the youngsters get the first look.
I think that there is something of an educational value in "The Commercial Motor" even for bOys of under 10, and as they grow older that value increases with their own development of understanding. As a result of studying your illustrations, my lad, when he was much younger, began to tell at a glance various types of vehicle on the road.
By the time I myself was 10 I had seen odd copies, and for long it was a standing joke with our local newsagent that, having seen a copy in the rack and not being able to read the rather big words of the title, I asked for "The Commical Motor."
As my school days drew to a close, the journal became of interest to my teacher, and I remember particularly an account of a pioneering adventure with a Y-type A.E.C. in the Australian Bush. The articles ran for two weeks or so and the teacher read them to
the class. A. J. PARRIS. Bletchley.