Ribble Picking-up Case Adjourned
Page 43
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TO ensure better facilities for their passengers, Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., proposed to move their existing picking-up point from the Odeon Cinema, Morecambe, to the Ribble coach stand at Euston Road, the North Western Traffic Commissioners were told at Blackpool last week. The two points were only 245 yd. away from each other,
Mr. G. Dawes, the company's traffic assistant, said that the reason for the substitution was that refreshment and private facilities at Euston Road were more convenient for passengers.
During cross-examination Mr. H. Backhouse, objecting for the Association of Morecambe operators, stated that no members of the public had been called to support the proposal. Many Ribble express services came into the Euston Road bus station and with a clever commissionaire it would be simple to persuade passengers to book their holiday excursions and tours as they arrived. Since 1958 Ribble had enjoyed dispensation with regard to this particular point and had not notified their competitors. The potential travelling public to be obtained from the proposed new point was substantial.
The chairman, Mr. F. Williamson, said that unless an agreement was reached between the parties, the dispensation which was granted in 1958 must end at once, possibly within the next fortnight. The case was adjourned.
CREEP IN RUBBER SUSPENSION HALVED
IMPROVEMENTS in compounding techniques and the introduction of more exacting laboratory tests have enabled Metalastik, Ltd., Evington Valley Road, Leicester, to halve the creep of rubber components used in suspension systems. This was revealed to The Commercial Motor during a visit last week to the company's new office and research building.
The news gave point to much of the research work which was being undertaken. In the past few months, there has been a significant revival of interest by manufacturers and operators in the possibilities of rubber suspension.
Test machines in the laboratory include many designed and built by the company to simulate working conditions with regard to both performance and endurance characteristics of rubber materials. The fatigue-test machine, for example, allows smaller rubber-bondedto-metal components, such as body and engine mountings, to be tested dynamically. Compression and shear characteristics, or a combination of the two, can be determined.
An indication of the reliability of rubber suspension units and of their• resistance to fatigue is shown by the record of Metalastik bolster springs on London Transport Underground trains. These have operated continuously for 12 years without replacement.