Prices "Absurdly Inflated"
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THE British Transport Commission are refusing to sell certain units, even though the price offered for the vehicles., and licences is absurdly inflated_ This is the gist of a letter sent to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport by Mr. L. W. Frampton, a director of Green Line Transport (Christchurch), Ltd., Bransgote, near Christchurch, Hants.
Mr. Frampton, whose company's offer of £2,500 for a Bristol unit (No. 66/649) was rejected by the Cornmission, detailed the vehicles comprising the unit as follows:— Scrap Value
"Two Dodges, probably taken over by the Commission for about £200. Since then they must have been written off, and will therefore stand in the books at only scrap value. One Vulcan, 1948, in reasonable condition. worth about £250, although that vehicle has already been written off. One E.R.F., worth no more than £600.
"In other words," he continued. in his letter, " the physical assets of this unit are no more than £850 . . our offer, therefore, represents the sum of £1,560 (allowing the sum of £90 for the Dodge trucks) for the doubtful goodwill and licences. . . "
Among the vehicles offered in List 3, wenton Mr. Frampton, many had engine blocks cracked in the recent frost, whilst others had grass growing through them. "And yet, in all probability, the Commission want a fortune for these trucks with their unused licences."
Contrasting the prices asked by the Commission with those they paid on acquisition, Mr. Frampton said they purchased a three-vehicle unit with a total carrying capacity of 16 tons for the " outrageous " sum of £2,600, "yet when we were forced to sell out in August, 1949, we were paid the princely sum of £4,117 for 19 lorries with the total carrying capacity of 116 tons...."
Two of those vehicles, he said, were still being operated by the Parkstone Depot of British Road Services. The Commission paid £467 for one, and £316 for the other, and his company thought they should be resold at those prices, less .depreciation over eti years,