NEWS of the WEEK
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LONDON DRIVERS WANT ANOTHER 6s.
Application has been made by the Transport and General Workers Union to three associations and to the employers' panel of the Metropolitan' Area Joint Conciliation Board for an increase of 6s. a week in the wages of goods-vehicle drivers employed in the London area.
The associations concerned are A.R.O., the C.M.U.A. and the London Cartage and Haulage Contractors Association. The employers have, it is understood, suggested that the application should be referred to the National Joint Conciliation Board, and a meeting of that organization is to be arranged shortly.
Strong opposition will doubtless be forthcoming from the employers, for wages in the Metropolitan Area are. generally speaking, already higher than anywhere else in the country, whereas haulage rates show no marked tendency to harden.
Extra Tonnage for Red Arrow.
After a five-hour hearing, the Metropolitan Licensing' Authority granted provisional permission to Red Arrow Deliveries, Ltd., Birmingham, to acquire four additional vehicles for the London area.
Hitherto, Hurst and Payne, Ltd., the parent company of the Red Arrow concern, has held four licences in London, one being for a vehicle for Hurst and Payne's own terminal work, and three for vehicles for Red Arrow service. When these licences came up for renewal, Red Arrow Deliveries, Ltd., applied for all four and for four additional vehicles.
Pending the hearing of the case, it was necessary to transfer two vehicles BB
from the Midlands to London. The Metropolitan Authority, in agreeing that a case had. been made out for four additional vehicles, said that before finally granting them, the West Midland Licensing Authority should have an opportunity of seeing whether the two vehicles that had been moved to London from Birmingham needed to be replaced in his area.
Industrial Court Hears Hours Case.
The Industrial Court heard, last week, an application by the associates committee of the British Road Federation for a variation of driving hours during the Christmas rush period. As already announced in The Commercial Motor, it is sought to authorize C-licensees to work drivers for a maximum of 12 hours a day on not more than two days in each of the three weeks ending December 18, December 25 and January 1.
The application was opposed by the Transport and General Workers Union, National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers, and National Union of Railwaymen. The Court's decision will be announced shortly.
Aberdeen Haulier Extends Interests. Mr. Charles Alexander, the wellknown Aberdeen haulier, has taken over two carriers' businesses on Deeside. These were operated by Mr. Alexander Thomson, who ran a daily service from Aberdeen to Ballater, and Messrs. William Harper and Sons, Ballater, who worked a daily service from Aberdeen to Ballater and Braemar.
Mr. Alexander gave a pledge that there would be no change in the character of the business carried on, and the Northern Scotland Licensing Authority, last week, granted the licence " transfers." POLICE WATCHES UNTESTED FOR TWO YEARS.
A former well-known speed trap on the Banbury-Oxford road at Steeple Aston is being used again by the police to time lorries. Fifteen drivers were caught recently. At Deddington police court, last Friday, when the first batch was dealt with, the police admitted, under cross-examination, that the stopwatches used for timing over the measured stretch had been neither used nor tested during the past two years.
The magistrates, however, imposed fines up to £2, with costs, and endorsed the licences.
Closing Date for " Royal " Entries.
In connection with next year's Royal Agricultural Show, which takes place at Cardiff from July 5-9, intending exhibitors should note that the closing date for entries in the Implement Section is March 19.
In its recently issued report, the Royal Agricultural Society of England, in reviewing this year's "Royal " at Wolverhampton, says it was one of the best exhibitions held for some years. The total attendance was 78,080.
Guy Stages Works Show.
Every type of commercial vehicle used seemed to be on view at the show which Guy Motors, Ltd., held last week at its works at Wolverhampton. Small operators, municipal traffic managers. representatives of large retail stores, and War Department officials attended.
This, in itself, is testimony to the wide range of models which this company markets. Perhaps the largest of them was the trolleybus chassis and, at the other extreme, were the Ant van and the little W.D.-type truck, which was shown complete with Westinghouse .compressor and reservoir.