Opinions and Queries
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Bus Drivers Underpaid
HAVE followed the recent letters and comments on I bus drivers' pay with interest, also the controversy following the recent 8s. pay increase awarded to employees of municipal undertakings.
Clir. Dyson_ of Sheffield hopes that now wages are quite reasonable" more employees will be attracted to the industry. I wonder if he really thinks that £7 8s. is a quite reasonable wage for driving a double-deck bus through heavy city traffic for 44 hours per week. I can pick up the local paper any evening and see that unskilled men are wanted in other industries at higher wages where they will finish work every Friday evening until Monday morning and be able to enjoy all public holidays. Even one of the leading nationalized industries was advertising recently for labourers who, after a short training period, would be able to earn £9 14s. for .a 48-hour week on shift work. Other local firms requiring shift workers advertise a starting wage of over .£8 10s.; presumably, when skilled, the wage will be considerably higher.
I am aware that there are certain advantages available to municipal transport employees, such as free uniform, free travel to and from work, superannuation schemes, sick pay, etc., but these do not compensate for the low basic wage and the extremely awkward split shifts which have to be worked. The high wages which bus crews are .sometimes quoted as earning call be obtained only by working rest days and split shifts on weekdays, and I do not see why it should be necessary to have to work a seven-day week to, equal the wages which a factory worker can earn in five.
Before the war the bus driver was regarded as a man with a good job, who took an interest in the services he worked. How different things are today; the miner, the steel worker, the man in the motor factory look upon a job on the buses as something to he turned to only as a last resort. Half the crews who have entered the industry since the war have not the 'slightest interest in the job: they do not care whether the bus runs to time or whether it runs at all. Letters of complaint in the local Press give proof. of this.
Only when bus crews are paid a really good Wage to compensate for the extremely awkward shifts they have to cover can the management hope to attract the right type of men to the industry, solve the staff problem and insist on a better service from the employees.
In my opinion, until this is done, staff wastage will continue; Men with 15 or 20 years' service as drivers and conductors will drift into More attractive industries, and operators' will have to pay out more wages at overtime rates in an effort to keep the services running.
Nottingham.' P. F. TURNER.
Is Bakery Transport Extravagant?
VOU reported in your issue of November 26 an I address by H. W. Harvey, general manager of the United Co-operative Bakery Society, in which he stated that the cost of electric-vehicle operation compares very favourably with that of petrol vans and that, in fact, the weekly cost of operation of an electric is ls. 4d. less than that of a horsed vehicle.
However, when discussing the value of trade required to pay expenses and a Is. dividend, in each case the figures have unfortunately been transposed in your report and it would appear, in fact, that the electric vehicle is the most expensive form.of transport.
A simple calculation will show that the figures should be as follows:—
No doubt you would like to bring this •correction to the attention of your readers.
H. W. HEYMAN, B.Sc., M.I.E.E.. Managing Director, Smith's Delivery Vehicles, Ltd. Gateshead-on-Tyne, 11.
fMr. Harvey agrees that he may have.transposed the figures accidentally—ED.]
Fords Run on Paraffin
PARAFFIN is quite an efficient fuel for a petrol etigine, as I discovered some 30 years ago in the Holy Land in the early days of the Palestine Police. Once some trucks in a convoy of Fords ran out of petrol about 20 miles from the destination. All that we had was some cans of paraffin.
These were emptied into the petrol tanks, and as the engines were warm they started at the first turn of the handle. They ran perfectly and pulled strongly, even if the exhaust manifolds became white hot. There were no harmful after-effects, although, expectedly, the engines would not start the following morning until the remaining paraffin was drained off and the carburation system flushed.
I would not swear that the paraffin we used was not contaminated with more than a usual amount of water, plus the accepted quota of sand. The appetite of the "Tin Lizzie " was such, however, that it would have made a gallant attempt to consume any liquid with a " bite" in it.
ARTHUR R. WILSON, M.I.R.T.E. Seotstoun, Glasgow.
To Dip or Not to Dip ?
I THINK it can be said that many motorists enjoy a
I night-drive behind a good pair of properly focused head lamps. Let it be admitted that the more light we
can direct ahead—whether on the road or not—the better we like it and the faster we can get along. But do we stop to think of the other fellow coming in the opposite direction. Do we really know what our head lights look like when'seen from a short diAance in front of them.
If we happen to be driving one of the modern cars fitted with double-dipping head lamps we switch to the "` dipped " position and flood the road just ahead of us, with the result that itis impossible for any motorist, especially on a wet road, to see into the black patch which is created alongside our car. The other fellow just has to "chance his arm" for a few seconds until he has travelled " blind " past and beyond us. • Then again we dip for the driver coming towards us with a real set of " blinders " (powerful lights badly • directed), with the result that we just cannot see a thing. We immediately become a danger to other road users ahead of us, unless we are prepared to adopt the sensible course and come almost to a standstill.
As bad as the " blinder " is, the motorist who switches off one or both of his head lamps and cuts in a powerful pass-light bang in the middle of the front of his car, is worse. Past this it is impossible to see, with the result that we again become a danger to other road users ahead unless we are prepared to slow right down.
One can go on relating experiences of the many and varied forms of lighting on the roads today, and one is forced to admit that night driving is neither as pleasant nor as safe as it used to be. I wonder how many drivers have troubled to stop their vehicles on a country road, leaving the head lamps switched full on, get out and walk a little distance ahead, turn and walk back on the opposite side facing the car. Then repeat the process with the head lamps in the " dipped " position. If the road is wet and it is not actually raining so much the better. Then cover the off-side head lamp and if possible direct the near-side head lamp slightly to the verge and note the effect. The driver who uses the nearside head lamp only, properly focused, can always be sure of one thing at least—that he causes a minimum of discomfort to the other fellow.
One hears that new lighting regulations are in the offing and it is to be hoped the authorities will do something, at least concerning the menace of brisht lights on the off side—past which it is impossible to-see.
Southampton. H.W.H.
Should Hauliers Ever Sleep?
A GATHER from Ashley Taylor's excellent article on denationalization on Humberside (The Commercial Motor, December 10) that the myth persists that a haulier should be willing to work 24 hours a day. Apparently he is to have no social life, he must never be out of range of the telephone, and must be able to live without sleep.
Mr. Taylor quoted the words of a transport user who apparently expected hauliers to sit up until dawn seeking the best solution of their customers' problems. I should like to know whether that user adopts the same attitude towards his own customers. How many men in industry are willing to work all night to satisfy their customers?
Indeed, it is almost impossible to deliver a load late in the afternoon, and the five-day week in industry has created endless difficulties for transport operators. In addition, some customers expect to treat hauliers' vehicles as though they were their own private ware ' houses, and use them for storing goods as well as transporting them.
If Consignors would show a little more consideration for hauliers, everyone would be better satisfied.
Manchester. SQUARE DEALER,