Sheffield Seeks Direct Link with London Airport
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ADIRECT coach link between Sheffield and London Airpor would cut holidaymakers' travelling costs by £2 10s. a head, the Yorkshire Traffic Commissioners were told on Monday. E. H. Sims, Ltd., Sheffield, were making their second application to obtain a licence for the service. Their first attempt, in 1955, was rejected.
Mr. F. Marshall, for the applicants, said the Channel Islands were popular with Sheffield people at holiday times, but rail travel was inconvenient because of overcrowding and the difficulty of getting from stations to the air terminal.
Sims' service would leave Sheffield at 10.30 p.m. on Fridays from June 20 to August 29, with two stops, arriving at the airport in time to catch early flights to the Channel Islands and the Continent. The maximum number of vehicles asked for was two, and there would be return fares only.
Witnesses claimed that by using coaches they would save £2 10s., as compared with the existing rail-taxi airport-coach method of travel. They pointed out that there was a direct British European Airways coach service between Sheffield and Manchester (Ringway).
The manager of Dean and Dawson, Ltd., Sheffield, said his company were agents for B.E.A.. British Railways and the London Transport Executive. Next year, most B.E.A. services from London Airport to the Channel Islands would be diverted to Gatwick. Other main serviceS to the Channel Islands were from Croydon. His company had considered road feeder services to airports, but because of the difficulty of judging the number of passengers returning at any one time from seven-, eightand 15-day tours, they felt it was not practicable.
Mr. J. Niblock, for the Yorkshire pool, said they carried 200 people from Yorkshire to London on fourand seven-day tours in 1953. Last year the traffic had fallen to 47, none of whom was from Sheffield. Their day and night expiess service from Sheffield to Victoria Coach Station was linked to the airport by Thames Valley Traction buses.
There was room for additional traffic, and they were prepared to cater for it. -Long-distance travel by road was diminishing steadily. and they could not afford to lose a single passenger.
For Sheffield United Tours, it was submitted that they had 14 booking offices in Sheffield, and during 1957 they had not had one inquiry for an express service to London Airport, Any grant would affect their Channel Islands and Continental tours.
Mr. W. R. Hargrave, for the road objectors, said an agreement was made in 1952 between Sheffield's excursion operators to consult one another before applying for new destinations, after the Commissioners had said that existing facilities were adequate, and there was no room for any more newcomers. S.U.T. were objecting because Sims were newcomers who were granted two excursions only two years ago.
The hearing was adjourned.