Bird's Eye View
Page 53
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
orway Catering
provision of separate cafes for transport men at the !harnock Richard service area on the M6 (and liket Keele on the section as yet unopened) has not stilled aints by some drivers that motorway catering does eet their needs. Lying just south of Preston, Charnock rd is particularly susceptible to heavy pressure from .y traffic so nobody need be surprised if queueing car ners overflow into what was intended to be the lorry s' preserve. The trouble is that, confined to service the motorway driver is denied the opportunity of avoiding action if conditions are not as he desires.
Pe of Complaints
gY drivers, of course, arc quite happy with the price .nd standard of the food provided. But recently a wave of complaints has been reaching the Transport eneral Workers' Union. Following a meeting in Man r an official of that body suggested that operators Nished their vehicles to use motorways should give drivers an additional subsistence allowance. Mr. W. rth, R.H.A. secretary at Manchester, told me that t there was no reason why drivers on the motorways not enjoy the same facilities and the same kind of as they did on the ordinary trunk roads. There is rubt that many men miss the kind of catering that mjoyed for years and the exclusive atmosphere of a transport café. And I suspect that some café letors are missing their lorry drivers even more!
n intrigued at a published reference to the type of ig available on the M6 at Knutsford. For those who tacquainted with the present situation in that part of rid I would mention that the section of the motorway
at present in use terminates some eight miles north of that town. The Keele-Knutsford section is in the process of completion and is unlikely to be opened before early November.
To the Rescue!
Mow is the time for all good men to come to the aid of " the Marples! One good man (at least in Mr. Marples' eyes) who has done just that is Wanstead haulage contractor Mr. H. A. Glover. Mr. Glover has joined the increasing "sticker in the back window" brigade—but with a difference—his sticker reads " Marples Must Stay -1 Mr. Glover feels that the Minister is doing a good job under difficult conditions—hence the novelty. He did, in fact, send a picture -of his car's rear to Mr. Marples with suitable commiserations to help keep your morale up
The Minister replied by letter to Mr. Glover thanking him for his support. "When I became Minister," he wrote, "I said I might have to do many things which would not he popular ".
Progress Report
REGARDING provision of capital for a proposed Channel Tunnel one report reads: The question of the cost of fixed rail equipment . . is not fixed."
So much for 161 years of discussion.