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Letters to the Editor

28th April 1961, Page 67
28th April 1961
Page 67
Page 68
Page 67, 28th April 1961 — Letters to the Editor
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

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Here's Why Response is Poor

THERE are three main factors which contribute to the poor response of entrants for the road transport examinations of the Royal Society of Arts. They are the thsence of adequate advertising of the scheme; the lack of opportunity to study under the guidance of a tutor; and the inability of managements to appreciate the value of lhe scheme.

I am a driver employed by a manufacturer having more Ilan 1,200 vehicles distributed throughout the country.

Over three years ago 1 approached my works welfare officer Ind asked whether he could write for particulars of the scheme. At that time I had only a vague idea of the scheme, and did not know of the address to which I should write. After asking the welfare officer many times I was told by him that he had written two letters, one of which lad not been answered, and the other informing him that ao scheme on the lines that I had suggested was in being.

I decided that the only course was to take, each week, The Commercial Motor and peruse this from cover to cover

intil the information I required turned up. I was then able :o write to the Royal Society of Arts for the syllabus and :xamination particulars.

My next difficulty was the finding of suitable tutorial 'acilities. There were no evening classes suitable, although here was one establishment, some 18 miles from my home, hat catered for the passenger side of the industry.

I was able eventually to enrol for a course, taking two 1..thjects, with a correspondence college. Proving successful n these two subjects, I enrolled for a further two subjects he following year and achieved even greater success. In ieptember, 1960, I attempted to enrol for two more .ubjects, one of which was a third-year course. Unfortunttely I was informed by the college that all third-year :ourses had been discontinued.

After several abortive letters to various bodies I decided hat the only course was to attempt to collect the necessary nformation and build up a course of study of my own.

Nith the aid of as many periodicals as I could get hold of, ncludingihe Commercial Motor, whose articles have been

if immense value, and a visit to practically every public ibrary I came to on my travels, I managed to build up a eries of lessons for study.

Unfortunately there is a pitiful lack of books on the ubject of road transport and I have therefore been unable o get adequate information on some items of the syllabus. +levertheless I have entered for this year's examinations .nd I am hoping for the best.

The inability of managements to appreciate the value of [rivers having a good all round knowledge of transport ffairs can best be summed up by the remark: "I can't ee how such a course can help you to drive any better."

hadwell St. Mary. Essex. H. H. PERRY.

The State Pension Scheme

fHE article State Pensions, In or Out?" in your issue of March 31 contains a number of errors which I am ure you will wish corrected for the sake of readers who lay be acting upon the information given.

All the contribution figures in the tables at the end of le article are incorrect. They are apparently based on le rates established by the National Insurance Act, 1959. inch were to have operated from April 1 1961. The 1960 Act established new rates to operate from that date and these are shown in leaflet N.I.117.

With reference to contracting-out in the opening paragraph, it should be noted that the issue of a certificate by the Registrar can be based on a self-administered scheme (or a friendly society or industrial and provident society scheme), as well as an insured scheme. The benefits which must be ensured do not have to be "graduated." I should add that there is no such thing as contracting-in; all employees aged 18 or over earning over £9 a week will pay graduated contributions unless contracted-out.

In item 3 in the first column it should be stated that the 4+ per cent, of the excess over £9 applies to earnings up to £15—a range of £6. At the foot of the second column you say that "when an employee leaves, all that is necessary for the employer to do is to hand him his cards, whereon it will be shown that his contributions for his contracted-in pension have been fully paid and are up to date." Employers need not (though they may if they wish) enter the graduated contributions on the annual certificate of pay and tax (form P.60) issued to their employees. The Ministry will send statement of account direct to employees who are recorded as having paid graduated contributions.

The last sentence in the first paragraph of the third column is incorrect. In the event of an employer changing his method the insurance company must be notified at once, and it will be necessary to notify the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance that condition (b) is satisfied.

London, W.C.2, F. HANIER, Senior Information Officer, Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance.

Elderly People's Tours

wE, as small operators, have recently applied to the Yorkshire 1 radic Commissioners for permission to operate a series of elderly people's tours from Normanton Yorkshire, which is a town of some 20,000 inhabitants. There are no such services in operation from our town, but our application nevertheless attracted objections from several large coaching combines. The application was not made with the intent of abstracting traffic from other operators, but simply to take our own township's elderly people on holiday.

The application was for "Elderly people above 55 years of age," and we were quite prepared to have this stipulation made on our licence. But from what I gather the Commissioners are unable, or do not desire, to stipulate a licence in these terms.

The objectors have picking up points in nearby towns which are accessible by normal stage carriage services, but this entails early departure from Normanton, extra luggage handling, inconvenience, and standing about.

We presented witnesses in court who could speak of these inconveniences, and also of the fact that in the period of our proposed operation (April, May. September and October) a lot of the objectors' dates on similar services were booked up. We had 31 supporting letters from various organizations. Also we had over 3,000 signatures, along With the support of our local council in the form of the chairman and the clerk.

The objectors argued in court that their services were not booked up on the dates mentioned by the witnesses, and that if our application was granted their existing services would suffer from abstraction.

Does this mean that because only the large monopolizing concerns have licences, the small operator should not be allowed to expand his business? He does not stand a fighting chance in the traffic courts of today.

We are in the course of a preparation of an appeal in this particular case, and are very strongly backed by our own community. Having recently received the transcript of our previous hearings (58 pages), 1 wish to remark on the chairman's decision at the end of the case, which reads as follows:— " The application has not been made out, and is refused. We make the suggestion that existing operators should apply for a facility from Normanton." This is, in our view, an invitation to monopoly.

Since our application the objectors have taken the opportunity offered to them and applied for facilities from Normanton, to which we have made objections in view of our appeal But the little operator fighting such large concerns is like a mouse fighting an elephant.

Normanton, Yorks. B. GILLARD, Gillards of Normanton.

Spare Wheels

I WONDER how many heavy-vehicle designers have ever

tried changing the spare wheels of their products? Admittedly the spare wheel is not required every day, but a 10.00-in. tyre and wheel is no light weight. A simple winch makes it a one-man job. Why don't more people fit them?

Manchester. M. J. FREDERICK.


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