Stopping Theft of Goods in Transit
Page 34
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INFORMATION from the public was necessary if the police were success
fully to combat the theft goOds in transit, said insp. F. Wiser, of the British Transport Commission police, when he addressed the Manchester section of the Institute of Traffic :Administration, last week. Most people, he said, regarded it as pone of their business if they saw a person behaving suspiciously, but many crimes could be detected if they were immediately reported, Most thefts were the work of a team, whilst thefts of lorries together with loads were usually " inside jebs." Packages put on a lorry and delivered to a receiver by the driver, who was bribed, put the employee into the power of the thieves, whose demands became greater.
When lorries were stolen, the driver, although he might not be a member of the gang, usually had full knowledge of the plot. In such cases, stated Insp. Wiser, it was hard to credit the thieves with the ingenuity displayed in disposing of the stolen property. • • He recalled an incident when he, in company with two other officers, was watching three known miscreants from 'a sealed compartment in a seemingly innocent delivery vehicle. The men were thwarted when the lorry from Which they had intended to steal was driven away. To their undoing, they 'decided to steal the van from which they were being observed.
He gave this advice. Goods should always be packed securely and labels :should be legible and tied fast. Senders should be notified when goods" were received, as packages were often reported stolen long after they were delivered.
• £659 PRIZES IN BODYWORK COMPETITION
npAILS haVe now been published LI of the 1953 drawing 'and handicraft competition, organized by the Institute of British' Carriage and Automobile Manufacturers: in conjunction with the Society of Motor 'Manufacturers and Traders, " the Worshipful. Company of Coachmakers and 'Harness' Makers of London and the National Federation of Vehicle Trades. Prizes worth Over £650, including free visits to a Continental Motor Show, have been provided.
The commercial-vehicle competition is for a general arrangement of a fullfronted double-deck luxury coach. One of the handicraft competitions is for the construction of a cab door framework. Details of the competition may be obtained from the I.B.C. A.M., 50, Pall Mall, London, S.W.1.
DUNDEE TO KEEP TRAMS?
EVERSING the policy followed hitherto, Dundee Transport Committee decided last week to reorganize the corporation's undertaking, "making the most effective use of the tramway ' system." The transport department expects a loss this year of £69,000. A A32
sub-committee is to be appointed to consider the reorganization.
Bailie W. Hughes, who recommends that the solution of the department's difficulties lies in making the trams the backbone of the transport system, using buses to supplement them, suggests that . .
the corporation should purchase trams from undertakings which are converting to bus working.
R.E. WASTES PUBLIC TIME
OBJECTIONS registered by the Railway-Executive to the application of a Devonshire haulier for renewal of a B licence were overruled with a rebuke by the Western Licensing Authority, Sir Arnold Musto. Granting the renewal, Sir Arnold said that there were thousands of cases all over the country where businesses were acquired and a continuation of the licence was granted on satisfactory evidence that the takeover was genuine.
" If the Railway Executive is going to dispute every one of these cases on renewal, it is wasting public time and money," said Sir Arnold. The haulier, Mr. G. L. Wackier, Roseland, Ashburton, Devon, • was granted the renewal, permitting him to carry speci'fled goods over any distance, and others within 20 miles.
"STOP HITCH-HIKING," SAYS COLONEL
" elY great concern is to stop this 11/1 hitch hiking," said Lt.-Col.
• Cameron-Brown, chairman of the Bicester Central Ordnance Depot trans.port committee, when he supported a local coach operator's application to run week-end services to the north of England, before the East Midland Licensing Authority, last week.
He said that about 1,500 troops ,hitch-hiked home from -the camp each week-end. It was vital thatyoung soldiers should go home at such times. -,Their:iverage •pay.was a week. The railway : fare to Newcastle was .12 12s. 6d., whereas the applicant proposed to charge £1 I5s.
The Railway Executive opposed the :application: The Authority granted a
• serviie to Newcastle, but refused a stop
e
at Doncaster.
GLASGOW-SKYE SERVICE APPEAL
A N appeal was heard by Mr. I. G. 1—Leechman,-0.C., Ministry Of Transport inspector, in Glasgow last week, when the Railway Executive and David MacBrayne, Ltd., contended that the grant to Neil Beaton, Ltd., of a duplicate coach between Glasgow and Skye on Fridays and Saturdays would make those services operated by them all the year round even more uneconomic.
It was stated by counsel for the appellants that the respondent ran one coach between May and September. "Here we have a 100-per-cent. increase. Next year it may become more popular and yet another bus may be asked for. The logical outcome is that there will be a fleet of buses running to Skye and British Railways' trains will smoke quietly away in Buchanan Street Station," he asserted.
No Licence.: Penalty • a Year's Tax
IN the Queen's Bench Divisional Court,
last, week, it was decided that the penalty, for using an unlicensed vehicle should be calculated Q n the full annual duty, even if the offence were committed in the last quarter of the year. The Lord Chief•Justice, Lord Goddard, declared that it Was open in any case for a defendant to .show that he had paid part of the annual duty, in which event only the part of the duty unpaid remained chargeable.
This decision arose out of the appeal of Mr. D. T. Perry, London, S.W., against the decision of the Caterham justices, who imposed a fine of £12, after he had pleaded guilty to using an unlicensed goods vehicle on one day-in December, 1951. The fine was assessed by the justices by reference to the last quarter of the year. The case was referred back by the Divisional Court, with u direction that a penalty of not less than £22 10s. should_he imposed.
Because no evidence had been produced by the defendent to show that the vehicle had been taxed for at least part of the year, he was liable. to a fine of £90, the total annual. rate.' • Giving judgment, Lord Goddard said that the question for . the Court was Whether the justices could impose a penalty less than a quarter of the annual duty, or £22 10s. If a person were found driving an unlicensed vehicle he was liable, in the first place, to a penalty equ,a1 to three times the annual duty. If he had taken out a licence for part of the yearehe could be charged only for the amount unpaid.
. In' the case under consideration, the defendant had presented no evidence that the vehicle had 'been licensed for
part of the -year. He was therefore liable to pay the full penalty of £90, subject tomitigation, which could not, however, reduce the penalty to less than a quarter, or 12/ 10s.
TWO NEW FUEL SAVERS 'TWO new petrol-economizing devices, .1 both of which are controlled by the variation in the extent of the depression in the inlet manifold, are being marketed by Colirtdale Engineering Co., Ltd., 312, Preston Road, Harrow, M iddx.
The Tuncar Ecottomizer, which. designed for. fitting to S.U. carburetters. has a vacuum-actuated unit coupled to a special needle valve supplied with the device. The effect of thr control is to give a mixture of maximum leanness at normal cruising speeds.
In the Tuncar Compensator, which is designed for fitting to most other carburetters, a similar vacuum-operated unit is adopted, but in this case it actuates a small piston-valve open to atmosphere.
The greater the depression in the inlet manifold the more the movement of the valve and extra-air entering the engine. In both cases means for adjustment are provided so that the devices can be accurately adjusted. to individual engines.
The Economizer costs £3 5s., and the Compensator £2 2s.