MP criticizes new London buses
Page 24
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Criticism of the new o-rn-o buses used in London was made in the Commons last week by Mr Michael McNair-Wilson (Tory, Walthamstow East), which, he said, were experiencing an enormous number of breakdowns. The fault was due. he claimed, not to bad servicing in the depots, but to faults in the design.
A bus operating in London was worked harder than a bus in almost anywhere else in the country, and the design of the o-m-o buses was not standing up to the heavy work imposed on it. British Leyland, who designed and manufactured these buses, did not have experience of designing buses for London, whereas London Transport had, he concluded.
Mr. Nigel Spearing (Labour, Acton) pointed out that this was the first series of bus that London Transport had not designed itself. There was not necessarily any reflection upon the adequacy of the engineering by Leylan& for the faults might be caused by the great strain imposed by the unique London conditions on the mechanical parts.
The fact that London Transport had not been able to develop its own design of bus might have had something to do with this . a lesson for both central and local government.