Experiment on Concentration in the Garage Industry
Page 19
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THE Ministry. of War Transport in the South-Western Region, as in other regions, has been anxious to conserve a sufficient number of motor
• repair establishnients to service commercial vehicles essential to the war effort, At the outbreak of war there were in the region some 4,000 garages, large and small; between a quarter and a third of that total were starred • as essential, and the Ministry has scrutinized every demand from'another Government Departmeut to switch over their man-power, Or premises, to other duties.
• Of the remainder many .shut down .soon after petrol. restrictions began to be .felt, whilst to others closing down is coining daily nearer as the .Man Power Boards .siirect their remaining staffs to other duties.
This process is hound to be accelerated by steps recently taken by the
Regional TransportCommissioner in the Newton Abbot district, which includes Tors-play, Ashburton, Dawlish • and Teignmouth. Lists of the starred garages have been circulated officially. With notes of the classes of work in which they specialize. At local meetings, attended by the owners of both starred and uustarred garages, local operators have been told that they -stand a better chance of getting. their repairs done if 'they go to a starred garage, although there is no question of a compulsory direction of work.
Valuable assistance has been given by the local branch of the Motor 'Agents' Association., which has put for-. ward a proposal for a voluntary scheme under which the owner of an unstarred garage would get a small percentage commission of the bill when one of his regular customers gets his repairS done by a starred garage under this plan.