LT-GLC row likely
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by Martin Hayes • A major row — with extensive political wertones — now seems certain to blow up Detween London Transport and its masters pn the Greater London Council. LT seems .o have deliberately stirred up trouble for itself, first by applying for a £15m fares increase within weeks of the GLC elections — won by Labour on a low or even free-fares pledge — and then by renting Telstar House, a long-empty block owned by developer Harry Hyams.
LT has justified its demand for a 10 per cent fares increase next year by saying that costs, particularly wages, have risen drastically. At the same time it rubs salt into the wound by saying that the increase — involving a 33 per cent jump in the minimum bus fare — might be insufficient to cover "special measures" to combat staff shortages, leading to a further application next year LT's rental of Telstar House on a 45 year lease at £500,000 per year has also upset its political bosses who argue that cheaper accommodation could be built above one of London's Tube stations.
Observers of the London political scene believe that the current confrontation is a deliberate one on the part of LT's chairman, Sir Richard Way. He may well be trying to settle his area of responsibility before Sir Reg Goodwin, the Labour GLC leader, gets too firm a grip on London affairs.