BIRD'S EYE VIEW

25th September 1964, Page 128

25th September 1964

Page 128

Page 128, 25th September 1964 — BIRD'S EYE VIEW

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By The Hawk

We all know that a great many vehicles are stolen up and down the country every ' day. But I hadn't realized until last week exactly the extent of these thefts. That, for example, more than 35,000 cars were stolen in London last year—of which 5,000 are still missing. This was illustrated rather more vividly by Mr. D. E. Welton, managing director of Waso Ltd., at a recent conference on vehicle security held in London. He stated that the equivalent of one week's automobile production in the U.K. was stolen in the Metropolitan area of London alone every year. As might be expected the conference was attended by representatives of Scotland Yard and by vehicle users' associations. Among the speakers was Jack Brown, chairman of the R.HA.'s vehicles security committee.

Let's hope this conference bears fruit and that this alarming volume of thefts is shortly radically reduced. As Mr. Welton remarked: "There seems to be a large amount of apathy with regard to vehicle security." Focus on Thefts

Eleven Firsts When the Lord Mayor of

Manchester, Ald. Dr. W. Chadwick, inspected the 200 vehicles at the annual parade of the Manchester Corporation Cleansing Department recently, it was no token visit. He walked the full length of the lines.

On the score of cleanliness there can have been little to choose between any of the vehicles present. Marking by the panel of examiners is, I know, severe—but they found it impossible to fault 11 of those taking part. So, there were 11 premier awards of £9 each instead of one— but the cleansing committee know that this is money well spent.

At the head of the visitors to the platform was E. Culloden, who received his 38th award of this kind. Championship prizes were also awarded based on aggregate marks for the three inspections carried out during the year. There was a tie for this title between Culloden (eight times previous champion), A. E. Morris (1963 champion) and B. Mansfield, who appeared in the championship list for the first time. All three had full marks. Good show!

What better place than a university college to comprehend the past, present and future within buildings so much accustomed to the passing of successive generations.

The 120 or so delegates to the Institute of Transport week-end conference, at New College, Oxford, last week did just that. Excellently organized as always by a peculiar Past and Present though convincing juxtaposition the most forthright advocate of change and an ever forward gaze was a former historian and schoolmaster, Mr. D. E. A. Pettit—now chairman of S.P.D. Ltd. But maybe the successive generations that passed through his own classroom left an indelible imprint of the inevitability of change in the more mundane work of goods vehicles, warehouses and distributive patterns.

Nevertheless, the chairman and past president of the Institute rightly had the last words —" hasten slowly."

Essex Improvements "With a General Election so close it wouldn't be proper for me to advise you on whether or not Marples should go." The speaker? The ebullient Minister himself. The occasion? The opening ceremony for the 3i-mile by-pass that will ultimately play a part in the overall improvement of the London-Great Yarmouth trunk road. Giving details of the work that is planned—or is in progress—on Al2, Mr. Marples declared that the aim was to provide dual carriageways all the way from Leytonstone to Woodbridge, East Suffolk. He pointed out that in recent years more than Om. had been spent on Al2—and that a further £17m. was earmarked for the programme "in the next few years! "

"But," the Minister emphasized, "the Al2 improvements, important though they are, don't represent the total highways effort for Essex. There are three major projects: the C-ring road, the route of which Essex County Council has been surveying; the North Orbital route, which is also being surveyed; and the London-Bishop's Stortford motorway."

As Mr. Marples stressed: " From all this you can see that Essex is by no means being neglected ". Which is, of course, as it should be.

Spot Prizes: Eight competitors who took

part in the second Wipac Golf Tournament at Buckingham Golf Club earlier this month have every reason to be pleased with their day's play. Each of them took home a set of spot and fog lamps. This was the useful prize presented to members of the winning team—Swindon, and the runners-up—Calcot Park. Apart from this, members of the winning team received a further prize—also very practical—a tankard apiece. They also won the Wipac Challenge Trophy (for the foursome with the lowest gross scratch score) and will hold this trophy—a silver cup—for a year. The scores? Swindon 298, Calcot Park 306. Not a bad day's work!