Maj. Eastwood Warns of Rail Rivalry
Page 39
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
vir/ARNING of increasing competition VV from the railways was given by Maj. F. S. Eastwood, Yorkshire Licensing Authority, when he spoke at the annual dinner of the South Yorkshire Area of the Road Haulage Association last week. The railways intended to abstract traffic from the roads, he said. It was to be hoped, he said, that industry would benefit from reduced costs and increased productivity when the 20-m.p.h. limit was abolished. He had no doubt that the R.H.A. would soon make known a decision on the drivers' share in increasing the productivity of the industry, but he stressed that hauliers were concerned with only 39,900 heavy goods vehicles, whilst
there were 71,000 operated by ancillary users.
Mr. N. Ingram, national vice-chairman of the Association, said that there was no doubt that extremely keen competition was being prepared by British Railways. The road haulage industry was not afraid to face competition, but he was bitter about the way in which the railways were being subsidized.
APPLY SOON FOR RATIONS West Midland Transport Commissioner has appealed to owners of goods vehicles not to be tardy about applying for their basic petrol rations for the next period. Of 50,000 operators in the West Midlands, 17,000 last week had yet to apply. If the laggards delay much longer. the Commissioner's staff may not be able to deal with their applications in good time.
" CODIFY LIGHT SIGNALS"
LORRY drivers' light signals shoulil .1-4 be codified so that they could be either universally understood or banned. This suggestion has been put up for discussion at the Road Safety Forum of the 1957 National Safety Congress by the Staffs and Shropshire Federation of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.