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14ER MAJESTY'S Ministers are atrifle touchy about their I 'health. Consequently. the toast:to them proposed by Mr. M. F. Sarnard. president of the. Mansion House Association on Transport, at the Association's animal luncheon last Friday, was accepted with particular Pleasure by Mr. G. R. H. Nugent, Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport.
It is important at the moment," he said. that they should not fall into the hands of the doctors.' _ Mr. Nugent is a farmer, and' two months agO he was just another customer, complaining happily about.transport . service. He is now political 2 1/C of transport, but ,lie was quick to explain to the M.H.A. that his salary as a Parliamentary Secretary was not enough to prejudice his amateur status: [Note: Somebody should tell Mr. Nugent that the London Transport Passenger Boardwas disbanded 10 years ago.]
. Back in Office
IT is good to see Mr. R. H. Farmer back in office in the Road Haulage. Association as the new chairman of the express carriers' functional group, although I do not belittle
• the great efforts of Mr. R. B. Brittain, who stood in for him while he was engaged with the Road Haulage Disposal Board.
Mr. Farmer is likely to have a profound -influence on express carriers, because the splendid paper which he read . to the Institute of Transport in January (The Commercial • Motor. January 18) is to be used as a series of, debating points for members Of the group. I gather that• meetings are to be held—the date of the next has not yet been fixed—at which various aspects of the parcels carrier's work outlined by Mr. Farmer will be discussed. The idea is that he should introduce each discussion with a few salient points and then throw the debate open to the members. This is an excellent way of' promoting the interchange of ideas and might well be followed by other specialized groups.
Awkward Squad
IT is apparently a crime against the downtrodden workers
• to buy new vehicles, because they require less maintenance and affect mechanics' overtime and wages. British Road Services have been guilty of this shabby trick, and last week paid the penalty in a strike of maintenance workers itt the Midlands. The offer of alternative overtime in another depot was rather unsporting, because it did the men out ii a grouse.
In 1946, as commander of a small detached unit in the Far East, I was faced by an analogous situation, I did riot discover until August 16 that the war had ended the previous day and that Supreme Authority had awarded the troops a day off. I, tried to make amends .by cancelling all duty for the remainder of August 16, only to receive a complaint that the troops were being unfairly. treated. They did not want the day off on August 16, they said.
"Well, when do you want it?" I asked.
We want it yesterday," they said.
First and Last
I EXPECT there will be shoals -of requests for details of
the Society for the Preservation of Transport Managers, following the news that Mr. John Atherton, general manager of Eastbourne Transport Department, has been presented with the illuminated certificate of that worthy body. I am sorry to disappoint would-be members. hut the Society doe; not exist.
So far as I am aware. Mr. Atherton is the first—and last--member of the S.P.T.M., which was created locally sa that he would not, apparently, feel "out of it" when road-safety awards were recently presented to members of his staff by the mayor, Aid. S. M. Caffyn.
The S.P.T.M. certificate. headed by a skull-and-crossbones crest, read: " This is to certify that Mr: John Diesel Atherton has submitted to the good-humoured driving test
• and, is passed as capable of handling, with comparative safety, the White. Queen, the White Lady, or any similar _ bodywork: always assuming the chassis is tyred and mechanically assisted."
The White Queen add White' Lady are two' of the corporation's open-top summer-service buses.
Three Years Late
FOR the past three years' time has stood still for Mr. E. Liardet, chairnnan and managing director of Simms Motor Units, Ltd. It is the company's practice to present clocks to 'those who complete 25 years' ,service, but Mr. Liardet had to wait 28 years for his. It was, however, worth waiting for, because it was an antique grandfather clock made by MoOnier in 1810.
The presentation was made a few days ago at the Belfry Restaurant. Reports that afterwards 'Mr. Liardet was seen emerging from the Grandfather Clock Restaurant carrying a belfry are entirely unfounded.
Continuous Performance
WHO gets the greatest average ,annual mileage out of his W vehicles? For Great Britain I would venture to _ nominate Mr. J. L. Dunn, of Hull and GlasgowRoad Carriers, Ltd., whose 10 trunk lorries put in about 100400 miles a year each. They are running for about 22 hours out of the 24 from Sunday night to Saturday morning. All his fleet are In the 30 m.p.h. class, four of them Albion and six Seddon: Each has a trunk driver for the long Humber-Clyde overnight haul and there arc, of course, stunners:at each end. those at Glasgow .often delivering long distances from the
company's Scottish basL.
Mr. Dunn started operating on the particular route in 1933 and prides himself on giving a 24-hour service even for small consignments. During nationalization he was with British Road Services for a short period_ but-took an early, opportunity to acquire units that would facilitate a return to his customary field of activity. Mr. Dunn says men need sleep and so would horses, but when one buys horse-power. one should buy service. He certainly seems to get it.
Off-licence?
ACTIVITIES of the shadier kind of clearing house strengthen the views of those who believe that all such organizations should be licensed. There is no compulsion cm operators to actept traffic through an agency, hut cases have arisen where, for their own reasons. consignors have begun to place all traffic through specified clearing houses. sothat the previously accepted operators have had to play*. ball " or be left out in the cold.
The many abuses that can arise in consequence of the practices of the less scrupulous intermediaries are too well known to need repetition. Certain prominent operators feel t,hat a simple kind of licence is all that would be necessary to circumvent them. The mere fact of having to register
a -business for the sale of transport "off the premises," so to speak. would, they believe, discourage the chisellers. whereas the reputable' houses would obviously have nothing
to fear. •
Crazy world
PiA WEEK or so ago dery was scarce and operators were being encouraged to use petrol in oil engines. Now it is to be freed, but petrol is to stay on ration Somebody seems to he crazy and I don't think it is_ me.