1951 Export Record: Value Exceeds £69m.
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IN 1951, the exports of the motor 1 industry earned 1317m. in overseas exchange. Over 137,000 commercial vehicles (53 per cent, of output), worth more than £69m. were sent 'overseas. This was a record.
Consignments of wheeled agricultural tractors for 1951 created a new peak both in volume and value with over 112,500 units (£41m.), compared with 84,000, valued at less than £30m. in 1950. Shipments of components and accessories showed a large increase in value over the previous year, having risen from £53m. to £78m., states the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
TOURIST BUS SERVICES ACROSS EUROPE THE , Birmingham-Paris service of J. Imperial Motorways, yet to be ratified by the French Government, is one of 25 tourist trunk coach services covering Europe which have been approved by the Economic Commission for Europe.
All tourist coaches must maintain a schedule, even if departures have to be made with empty vehicles. Tourists may alight from one vehicle on their route and catch a following coach. The principle of interavailable roadrail tickets has been agreed.
, OBITUARY IVE regret to record the deaths of YV MR. J. E. CAMPBELL, MR. C. E. Avan, 0.B.E., MR. A. T. Blow000 and MR. I. H. BALFOUR. _ Mr. Campbell, who was 49, was secretary of Albion Motors, Ltd. He had been with the company for 22 years.
Mr. Ayres was operating superintendent of London Transport's country buses and coaches until his retirement last year. He was with the Ministry of War Transport during the war and was appointed South Wales Deputy Regional Transport Commissioner in 1942.
Mr. Bigwood was representative for the Vacuum Oil Co., Ltd., in Bristol for 27 years. He was 59.
Mr Balfour was vice-president of the Scottish Motor Traders' Association and a director of the Westfield Motor Car Co., Edinburgh.
CROSBY. APPEALS AGAINST RIBBLE INCREASES CLAIMING that Crosby was outside k-■ the :-Liverpool passenger transport area, Crosby Corporation has appealed against advances in fares granted to Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., to bring the company's scales into line with those of Liverpool Transport Department, Mr. F. W. B. Linnett, deputy town clerk of Crosby, said at the inquiry that fares charged north of Seaforth did not concern Liverpool and that Crosby fares should not be affected by events outside the borough.' The corporation could not agree to increases being made to bring the Ribble concern's charges into line with those of the Liverpool undertaking. Mr. W. Blackhurst, for Ribble, said that it was untrue to claim that the company was seeking to take advantage of the Liverpool increases. It was estimated that the services concerned were losing £70,000 a year and it was only a matter of short time before another increase in fares would be necessary.
The Minister of Transport's decision will be announced later.
DONCASTER CHANGES REPLACEMENT SCHEME
DARL1NGTON has amended its scheme for the second stage of the programme to replace trolleybuses by motorbuses. New motorbus services are being started which will allow the withdrawal of trolleybuses between Brougham Street and Lingfield Lane.
Fourteen new single-deck motorbuses are expected to be delivered in March or April and the council has decided to sell six double-deck trolleybuses to Doncaster Corporation for £17,433.
BLOW AT EFFICIENCY N a statement issued last week, the British Road Federation declared: "The reduced allocation of commercial vehicles to the home market is a further blow at industrial efficiency."
It pointed out the illogicality of reducing the number of vehicles urgently needed as replacements, to say nothing of additional vehicles required to meet increased demands, while expecting that the Nation's productivity would not be adversely affected.
KEEN DRIVERS WANTED
DIFFECULTIES in recruiting drivers who are interested in their jobs are referred to in the annual report of the Blackburn sub-area of the National Road Transport Federation. Some employers have kept their old employees, but there seems to be a floating pool of men who cannot settle
down, it states. • This state of affairs was not good for industry or for the men concerned, for they would be the first to be dismissed in a possible depression.
HIGHLAND SERVICE PLAN A N application by the Highland in. Transport Co. to run a coach service from Thurso to Glasgow is nor to he supported by Wick Town Council. It is proposed that the service be, run on Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays from May I-September 30 as a connection for the Orkneys mail steamer. The return fare would be £3 5s., including two meals.
BUSES INTO HOUSES
BLAMING the housing shortage for its recruitment difficulties, City of Oxford Motor Services, Ltd., proposes to spend 120,000 on converting a number • of double-deckers into livingquarters and making a 5,000-sq.-yd. site Jo accommodate them.
H.P. 33+ PER CENT. " DOWN " 1 AST Friday, an Order came into 1—t force fixing the initial minimum payment on commercial vehicles acquired by hire-purchase at 331 per cent. The balance must be paid in 18 months.