A Roman Holiday
Page 29
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TURING August, when hews is scarce, almost Coach Operators anything an be expected. for the Enter On August 4, however, the Newspaper "Daily Herald" plumbed the depths of human credulity with a report alleging that coach operators Were„ in effect, kidnapping passengers and holding them to ransom by caterers.
The story is so unlikely that it is difficult to imagine that anyone could believe it, but the "Daily Herald" has a wide circulation and some readers may have been influenced by it, to the detriment of the road passenger transport industry.
It opened: "Thousands of holidaymakers setting out for the coast on a day trip this morning will never get there. And eight leading resorts are sending out inspectors to find out why."
Representatives of seaside resorts were quoted as saying: "The last thing some of these. coach firms want to do is to get their customers to the seaside. They sell them to pubs on the way to the coast at 6d. to is. each, at restaurants a few miles farther on at about the same price, at pubs a few miles from the front at 2s. to 2s. 6d. each and, finally, when the bars have closed for the afternoon, to amusement arcades and other such places. They are then collected and sold to a fresh lot of bidders all the way back home, which they often reach without catching a glimpse of the sea."
Passengers "Sold An unnamed local-government officer was alleged to have said that a certain coaching concern charged a fare of 6s. 6d. on trips to the sea and then sold passengers for 8s. each to refreshment and amusement caterers. This official was supposed to have carried out an investigation which revealed that 34 per cent. of the visitors who travelled to his town by coach, never reached the sea. "Most of them couldn't get past the last obstacle—an amusement arcade five streets away from the front."
By way of an apology to readers for this affront to their intelligence, the author added a footnote: " What resorts will be watching the roads to-day? That is just what the motor-coach companies concerned would like to know."
The methods employed in forcing unwilling "Butchered" passengers to patronize the catering establishments and in tainment of particular to imprison them in Readers the amusement arcade five streets from the sea front, were not disclosed. The Passenger Vehicle Operators' Association has tried to discover them, but without success.
In a letter dated August 7, the Association informed the "Daily Herald" that in 30 years, no example of the practices quoted had ever come to its notice. The P.V.O.A. asked for further information and offered to conduct an inquiry into the allegations, but a reply is still awaited.
No Complaints Seventeen coastal resorts were also asked whether they knew of the use of inspectors to watch the activities of coach operators, or of complaints by passengers that they had been unduly delayed in their journeys to the seaside. At the time of writing, 15 local _authoritiesLittlehampton, Eastbourne, Folkestone, Portsmouth, Hastings, , Worthing, Herne Bay, Broadstairs, Clacton, Whitstable, Great Yarmouth, Ramsgate, Brighton, Bognor and Bournemouth— had categorically denied to the P.V.O.A. the existence within their knowledge, of the practices alleged. Southend-on-Sea and Margate had not replied.
These towns are representative of the places to which day trips are run from London and it is safe to assume that the councils would be quick to act in the interests of local caterers if they thought that. custom was being unreasonably diverted from them.
The fact that coaches on services to the coast are fully booked almost every day throughout the summer certainly does not suggest dissatisfaction on the part of passengers with the conduct of road passenger transport. Responsible people may attach little importance to these statements by the "Daily Herald," but suspicion of the integrity of the coaching industry may have been sown in the minds of many unthinking readers. An ...industry which gives the public a high standard of service at surprisingly low fares deserves better treatment from an organ of public opinion.