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Hartlepool to settle on PIB lines?
Page 72
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by Derek Moses • Hartlepool busmen passed a resolution this week not to sue the Corporation for the non-payment of the £1 per week rise after its rejection by the Minister of Labour, Mr. Ray Gunter.
It is understood that the transport committee has offered to pay the men a lOs bonus and a 20 per cent rise above the flat rate for all the one-man operators, which is in line with the recommendations of the Prices and Incomes Board, and hence has the blessing of the Ministry of Labour. The transport committee's decision was due to be considered by the full council yesterday (Thursday).
The bus crews had earlier warned that they would refuse to work the Hartlepool—Port Clarence route, converted last month to oneman operation, if drivers of o.m.o. vehicles did not receive an adequate pay rise. They asked the council for a settlement on the PIB lines if the fl a week already agreed locally for the whole staff should continue to be disallowed by the Government.
It is now up to Mr. W. Fleming, passenger transport group secretary in Newcastle, to decide whether the union will accept the Hartlepool decision. The TGWU is known to be unhappy about anyone concluding an agreement in line with the PIB report.
Mr. T. J. Sheppard, transport manager of Hartlepool Corporation Transport, told me on Tuesday: "I think the committee have done all they possibly could do in the circumstances to reach a settlement with the men."
With 42 per cent of the town's mileage already one-man operated, one of the highest percentages in the country, Hartlepool busmen stand to gain more than their colleagues in most other towns by a settlement of this nature. Of the total fleet of 72 buses, 26 are one-man single-deckers; another six are due this year for the conversion of works services.
The first o.m.o. buses were introduced on the Park Route in April 1964. Further conversions took place later in the year and an entirely new service was introduced with oneman buses in 1965. Last year the important service to the old town of Hartlepool was switched to o.m.o. and next year the busy routes to Owton Manor, a large residential area, will be changed over. By 1974 it is expected that the entire system will be worked by one-man single-deckers.
The original o.m.o. buses consisted of a total of 13 Leyland Leopards with Strachans dual-entrance bodies. They were followed by five Eastern Coach Works-bodied Leopards, the first municipal buses to have ECW bodies for many years. Last year seven Bristol RELL 3611 buses with ECW bodies were introduced. These seat 48 passengers in their dual entrance bodies and are licensed to carry 23 standing passengers. The six buses due this year will be similar models.
Graduated fare tables are employed in Hartlepool, and one-man operation has progressed smoothly, without the troubles experienced in Sunderland, the next municipality to the north. The large South Durham steelworks to the south of the town are expanding rapidly, but the transport department is confident that it will be able to handle the traffic with one-man single-deckers.