-Disposal "Not Unsatisfactory"
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DROGRESS with the sale of British Road Services' vehicles was described by Mr_ James Barrie, national chairman, at the conference banquet, as "not unsatisfactory." The industry was absorbing them at the rate of about 1,000 a month. There was still a strong demand for small units. Mr. Barrie expected that when the larger units were offered as companies, the rate of absorption of vehicles would be even higher.
He thought that the greater weights and dimensions to be permitted for goods vehicles would not only increase the flow ofinternational road transport, but improve international relations.
Referring to the Government's refusal to increase the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles, he said that they showed a "remarkable lack of courage," Mr. Hugh Molson, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, who was deputizing for the Minister, replied that the Association should "discuss the matter with others engaged in the road haulage industry" and then the Government "would not be slow or reluctant to act."
Giving the latest figures on disposal, he said that about 8,500 out of 15,000 vehicles offered had been sold and that three-quarters of the vehicles in units without premises had found buyers. He thought it might be possible to sell the large units faster than the small ones, although small units would continue to be offered.
ClIr. Mrs. M. J. Grey, J.P., Mayor of Weston-super-Mare, stressed the "inestimable value" to the whole of the south-west of a bridge over the River Severn.