Busmen and that 9s. 3d.
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'ELEVEN northern local authorities operating transport services unanimously decided on Tuesday, August 23 to recommend their undertakings to back the Government's prices and incomes policy. The decision was taken at a regional meeting of the Municipal Passenger Transport Association.
Aid. J. Rafferty, chairman of Leeds transport committee, said that local authorities were standing behind the Government and were asking busmen to wait until later for payment of their 9s. 3d. pay award. He told the meeting that Leeds Corporation had already deferred an application for higher fares at the request of the Minister of Transport and he felt that there must be full support for the Government's policy on both sides of the industry.
This feeling is clearly not shared by Leeds busmen who, denied their promised 9s. 3d. increase, have introduced a ban on standing passengers on the city's buses.
To minimize the inconvenience to passengers caused by this decision, Leeds City Transport plans to make the maximum use of its 70-seat double-deckers, which form about one-third of the department's fleet of 670 buses. Mr. A. Stone, the chief traffic officer, stated that there were certain times of the day when the 70-seaters were not nor mally used the majority of the buses were 56to 61-seaters.
Meanwhile the ban was described by Aid. Rafferty as not being conducive to a happy atmosphere for the meeting to be held at the employees' request in London on Wednesday on the question of the Government's freeze of the 9s. 3d. increase.
Another undertaking whose busmen have threatened to take action is Middlesbrough, where in addition to banning standing passengers the crews have threatened not to take late-night "awkward" shifts which, they claim, are voluntary.
Commenting on the matter Mr. Wilfred Fleming, a TGWU official, said: "We want the council to disregard the freeze. These moves would cripple bus services at peak periods and they may be brought in if the pay award is not granted".