B.E.T. Chief Attacks Minister
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QAYING that he regretted the severing L-) of the road-rail partnership under the new Transport Bill, Mr. H. C. Drayton, in his speech as chairman of the British Electric Traction Co., Ltd., last week went on to comment: "But more important, perhaps. I regret that we appear to be unpopular because we took advantage of our constitutional, rights to oppose this measure to the utmost of our ability. The Minister of Transport took occasion in the House of Commons to refer to this, and in referring to me used' anguage which one is quite familiar with when he makes an after-dinner speech, but in my view the same language is not in the tradition of the House of Commons, nor do we expect it from a Minister of the Crown. .
The B.E.T.'s profit for 1961-62, at £7,112,000 gross and £4,205,000 after tax. was a record, said Mr. Drayton who quoted figures which showed how the profit had more than trebled compared with 10 years ago. The bus companies of the group had had a reasonably satisfactory year, but it was not an easy one. Mr. Drayton appealed for a one-year or two-year pause in the constant round of wage increases and consequent fares applications; in the past five years, he said, three to four months' of their executives' time each year was given to these negotiations and the preparation of cases for the Traffic Commissioners. If executives' time were given wholly to thinking about their business of running buses, the public, the company and their employees would benefit, said Mr. Drayton.