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N YOUR OPINION
Page 97
Page 98
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I of the Road ?
4 sure that many p.s.v. enthusiasts will be sorry to see Lt production is to cease on the AEC Renown. This er blow to AEC since they were taken over by ind seems to point to the end of the road for the AEC le-decker.
a.v it appears as if we are to be faced with the monopoon of transport by Leyland and Daimler—it is quite 'us that this is the sole object of the Leyland company. ere was free competition within the Leyland group, as ously stated by an AEC company spokesman, why is kEC Swift 505 obtainable only in single-deck form? n onlooker this clearly stands out as a deliberate move ..eyland to have control of the whole of Britain's le-deck transport.
n the AEC spokesman now tell us whether his famous any is to produce either a Swift double-decker or some • form of competitive double-decker to the Atlantean feetline? He said that AEC double-deckers would be le road for a long time to come.
ate monopolization as it stifles competition and usually is less quality on the product when the customer has mice. AEC have been making top-quality vehicles for and so have Leyland, so why this seeming eagerness eyland's part to push out a competitor? It is all bad titish transport.
necambe, Lancs. D. KELLETT.
'ford 21-tonner ?
Mr. I. Carter (September 24 issue) " hopes the fauxhall Motor Co. is not thinking of making maxicapacity vehicles ".
ioubt if your readers or the Vauxhall Motor Co. are dy worried about Mr. Carter's hopes or fears, but do ever get a Bedford 21-tortner there are three s lam certain of: (a) that it will perform as well with ns as the 7-ton TK performs with 7 tons; (b) that it )e excellent value for money and (c) that it will sell rge numbers.
e Charrold tractor unit was certainly not a Bedford It looked like an artist's impression to me.
!ter, Devon. PETER MARK.
)logies from LTB
4DON TRANSPORT is sorry that your staff writer, vlr. Derek Moses, and his fellow-passengers had such ifortunate introduction to the Fleetline buses brought service on route 424 on September 15.
this first day of Fleetline operation the bus on which Moses travelled developed a minor technical fault, t was arranged that a substitute bus should be prowhen the bus reached the crew relief point at Station . The replacement bus, driven from the garage by mber of the engineering staff, was at the takeover , as Mr. Moses observed, but the relief crew driver to report for duty. With London Transport's present staff shortage it was not possible to find another driver immediately.
As soon as he knew what had happened, the chief inspector at East Grinstead garage went to Station Road, to explain the position to passengers and arrange their transfer to the next bus, but by the time he arrived all the passengers, as Mr. Moses notes, had left the bus and walked the remaining distance to the town centre.
Since the first day the new vehicles have been operating very satisfactorily.
London, S.W.I. R. M. ROBBINS,
Chief Public Relations Officer. London Transport Board.
Lorry Defects—a Woman's View
A LT HOUGH I am probably right in thinking that a rm. magazine read by what must be almost 100 per cent male readers wouldn't relish the opinion of a woman, feel that I must express my views after reading Mr. Payne's letter about defective lorries in your August 27 issue.
Although I wholeheartedly agree that it is entirely the manufacturers who are to blame for any defects on new lorries when they are sent out, I think that quite a high proportion of the faults found by the police, Ministry of Transport examiners and so on are the fault of the driver and/or the employer. Obviously a man who owns a fleet of lorries must be a very busy person and I think that, on the whole, the maintenance of a lorry is often left to the discretion of the driver-as perhaps it should be, because a good driver should know his lorry better than anyone else and therefore should be able to detect any minor repair necessary before it becomes a major one, with exceptions of course.
As this is such an important issue, affecting not only the safety of the driver but other people on the roads as well, I think that the Ministry should make it compulsory for every firm to check its lorries at regular intervals, not allowing too much time to elapse between each check.
Sidmouth, Devon. KATHARINE WARE (Mks).
LDOY—Detail Being Forgotten I HEARTILY agree with C. Beaman, who registered a I few of his complaints regarding the LDOY Final in the September 24 issue.
Most of the spectators and competitors were well aware of all the faults and we trust that the organizing committee was equally aware of them. The event has been well organized now for a number of years and it is just possible that the committee is forgetting the detail that was once so important.
We look forward to a return to a well organized final event next year and see no reason why the committee, which was so successful in the past, cannot once again achieve the high standards that we have become used to.
J. P. B. SHERRIFF,
Transport Manager, Dunfermline Corporation Transport.
Information please
I HAVE been very fortunate in being able to buy an I example of a Singer 1928 delivery van, albeit in a rather tatty condition.
About 18 months ago, while talking to an ex Singer worker, I discovered that the first of the Singer commercial vehicles was produced in 1928, using surplus 1927 Senior 10/26 chassis and engines. It may be remembered that in 1928 this model was replaced by an altogether larger 11.9 h.p. Senior model. Using chassis numbers as a guide, I have roughly calculated that some 900 chassis were available for this van body fitting, though in actual fact I doubt if there were many more than 500, if that. I have a 1927 10/26, with a chassis number of 15062. The van has serial 15171, only 109 chassis younger, so one can safely assume that the tourer was one of the last in 1927, while we can also assume that Singers would hardly run chassis up to serial 15999, 16000 being the first of the 1928 series.
Although I purchased the vehicle in March of this year, I was not able to collect it, from near Stafford, until recently, and although I visited the HCVC rally at Bramcote, where it aroused great interest, I was unable to learn anything of the model's history.
A quick inspection has revealed it to have almost all of the features of my tourer, the differences being purely
detail, and therefore the above history seems to be borne out. I would be most interested to hear from anyone who had original experience of this particular model, and if you could find room for a plea to this effect, I would be most grateful Farnborough, Hants. .M. E. N. Moony.
[Readers may write to Mr. Moody at 34 Woodlands Road, Cove, Farnborough, Hants.—ED.]
HCVC and Taxis
IT was very heartening to members of the .HCVC to read A your commendatory remarks about our display at Bramcote, especially to those who had travelled long distances with their venerable machines. However, your comments about the inclusion of a taxi in the light passenger vehicle class appears to require some explanation.
Normally the club does have separate classes for taxis but at this event there were only two entered. As there was only that number entered for the light p.s.v. class, it decided to combine the two classes to make it more competitive for the three awards.
The HCVC has always recognized taxis as commercial vehicles and when the London Taxi Society—which had some 100 members—disbanded about five years ago it assumed responsibility for the preservation of this class of vehicle. Anyone who is interested in preserving taxis should therefore contact this club.
London SW1. JOHN H. FIELDER,
Publicity Officer, Historic Commercial Vehicle Club.