Good Clean Fun
Page 49
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By The Hawk
Bird's Eye View
\WITH a nucleus of 500 members, the Passenger Protection vv Association was launched in London last week. They seek. to attract 250,000 members (at 10s. a head) by Christmas, and in the meantime to light fires under the Transport Consultative Committees.
Mr. Donald Wade (Lib., Huddersfield West) prescribed the pep pills and his colleague, Mr. Frank Davis, a Finchley Liberal councillor, aimed for a pool of passenger vehicles to be used when normal bus services were not operating. Lady Tarbat wanted greater luxury and comfort for women, and comedian Terry-Thomas was more interested in better and more food and drink for himself and passengers, rather than wheels going round—forwards or backwards, The Association's prime aim is to ensure that passenger services throughout the country are efficiently run. They plan to intervene where fare increases inimical to the interests of members are afoot, make representations when services are likely to be cut, and create a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, transport advice centre. 1 hope the back-room boys and girls heed the advice, given at the inauguration, to seek the aid of experts on the varied services they want to improve.
Model Briefing
I F all the marshals at eliminating rounds of the Lorry Driver of the Year Competition were briefed as carefully as those at Manchester, competitors would have no ground for complaint. One evening last week Mr. Ken Bailey, president of the Lancashire and Cheshire Car Club and clerk of the course at last Sunday's contest at Manchester, called &lens of club members together and briefed them explicitly on the regulations.
The club, who celebrate their silver jubilee this year, run several important motoring events every year. Each is preceded by a meeting of all the officials concerned, at which the duties of each person are clearly defined. The result is clockwork precision and justice all round.
Bang On!
I PAVE now lost track of the progress of the Bedford transEuropean convoy of 14 vans and lorries, but it certainly left an impression on Portugal, where it began its tour of the Continent, due to finish in Finland in September.
For one-thing, under Portuguese law, heavy vehicles must be 'painted in drab colours, but the Bedfords are nothing if not bright. In many towns the arrival of the convoy was announced by wailing police sirens, a barrage of rockets and maroons, and blasting by the local band. Small wonder that an old man thought war had broken out.
Done !
I AM assured that the memorandum on parcels operations,
drafted by the express carriers' group of the Road Haulage Association, is valuable—so good, in fact, that it is not to be allowed to fall into the hands of the Press. I hope the group will not have occasion to beg a favour of the Press. "Do as you are done to" is an easier working maxim than "do as you would be done by." The operative word is "done."
Once Bitten
I WAS interviewing a bodybuilder on the subject of refrigerated vans and was somewhat taken aback when he snake into his office intercom microphone to his secretary: " Miss Fletcher, will you bring me a gnawed-off letter heading, please."
Miss Fletcher arrived with a letter heading of the National Association of Wholesale Distributors of Frozen Foods.