Valuable Loads Being Stolen From Lorries
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THEFT of a load of brass, valued at 1 £700, from a lorry owned by a Leeds haulage concern, is reported as one of the latest robberies by gangs of thieves working on the Great North Road. A Leeds driver drove, thelorry to London, where it took on its load of brass, intended for munitions, But, when the driver went next day to pick up the loaded vehicle at his company's " change-over " point near Barnet, it had vanished; five hours later it was found abandoned—minus the load of brass. It seems likely that the thieves
unloaded the vehicle at a place where they used a crane, otherwise they would have had difficulty in removing the load. A lorry and a trailer are reported to have similarly disappeared recently.
An instance in which food thieves went to some trouble to cover up a theft from a lorry relates to a case of tinned brisket. It was noticed that a piece of wood forming part of the case was a little out of position, and its removal revealed that the thieves had substituted a couple of bricks for two .4-1b. tins of brisket which had been stolen.
One Yorkshire haulage concern is reported to have refused to carry tobacco and cigarettes because of losses through pilfering on the read. Much of the stealing, it is suggested, takes place while lorries are parked during the time that drivers eat. or rest.
Yorksbire hauliers' complaints of thefts are, by no means confined to
London traffic. For instance, a disquieting increase in pilfering on the Leicester-West Riding route is reported.
DAMAGES AGAINST DRIVER WHO REFUSED TO WORK
HOW an employee had refused to take his vehicle on a journey, as instructed, was recounted at Salford Police Court last week when the man concerned was ordered to pay 4,4 as damages to his employer, a prominent north-west haulier. His lorry was loaded with food and, owing to the driver refusing to make the journey, a driver-mechanic had to take over, leaving his own work on an important overhaul.
As a result there was a delay in getting the overhauled vehicle back on to the road ; the operator claimed for loss of profit from this cause, The action, it was stated, was brought with the. object of showing employees that they could not leave work at a protected establishment without notice.
For the driver, it was said that his lorry could be started only by towing and he thought that this would be difficult to arrange as it would be necessary to stay overnight in a strange town on the journey.
ANOTHER BIG MEETING PLEDGES SUPPORT
BETwEEN 400 and 609 Lincolnshire ',goods-vehicle operators pledged support for the Government haulage scheme, at a mass meeting held in Lincoln, on Sunday last. The meeting was organized by the Lincolnshire Transport Association in co-operation with other operators' organizations in the county.
Mr. J. H. Stirk, North Midlands Transport Commissioner, who was in the chair, dealt with a number of points on which clarification has been sought.
Councillor Charles Holdsworth, a member of the Road Haulage (Operations) Advisory Committee, and chairman of the North-eastern Division of the C.M.U.A., reiterated the call to hauliers and ancillary users to enrol vehicles in the " defence lines."
Another speaker was Mr. Harry Clark, manager and secretary of the Federation of Yorkshire Road Transport Employers, to which the Lincolnshire Transport Association is affiliated. Describing the Government scheme as "the road operators' charter," he said it was of immense value to the industry. WASTE PAPER TO BENEFIT CHARITIES THINGS seem to be humming in respect of the 420,000 Waste Paper Contest, which concludes on January 31. It is arousing enormous interest, and should provide a large tonnage of paper.
For the purpose of the competition, the country is divided into 20 areas, for each of which is earmarked a prize
total ef £1,000. The prizes will be divided amongst kcal authorities in each area (city, town, urban or rural) which, during the month, collects most by weight of waste paper and cardboard per head of the population, based on the latest return of the .local Food Officer.
Half of each prize must be donated by the local authority to one or more of the following :—The Red Cross, Mrs. Churchill's Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund, R.A.F. Benevolent Fund, and B2Q, the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmen's Families' Association. The other half must be given to any local charity or charities designated by the successful authority.
To avoid wasting paper, no entry forms are required, but a certified record of tonnage collected by each competing local authority must he submitted to the Waste Paper. Recovery Association, Ltd., 154, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4, to arrive not later than February 9.
A BARONY FOR MR. CHARLES LATHAM
CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. Charles Latham, chairman of Singer Motors, Ltd., and leader of the London County Council, on whom has been conferred a barony, thus elevating him to the peerage. We hope that he will be able to do good work for the industry in the Upper House.
IMPORTANT HAULIER'S NEW BRISTOL ADDRESS hSORE commodious premises have IVirecently been taken over at Bristol by Burrows Transport, Ltd., the headquarters of which are at Jamaica Garage, 12, Jamaica Road, London, S.E.16, and the new address at Albert Road, St. Philip's, enables the company to provide better facilities for its -customers and sub-contractors. Apart from garaging space, there is a loading bank, and lifting tackle is available.
PERSONAL PARS MR. NOEL BROOKES, of F. Perkins, Ltd:, arrived in Britain a few days ago. His many friends will be glad to hear of his safe return after a lengthy period of service for the company in Australia, New Zealand and Malaya.
MR. W. W. F. SHEPHERD has now taken over the managing directorship of ,Ferodo, Ltd., while retaining his appointment as joint managing director of Turner and Newel!, Ltd. Mx. W. Smith, formerly of Newalls Insulation Co., Ltd., is now director in operating control of Ferodo, Ltd.
Mlf. HARRY PICKARD, Of H. Pickard and Sons, Dewsbury, has been reelected president of the Heavy Woollen District Transport Association. MR. T. Jacxsost, of Bower and Jackson, Ltd,, Dewsbury, has been elected honorary secretary, in succession to Mr. M. E. Crosland, and a new honorary treasurer has been appointed in MR. 1-1, CHADWICK, who succeeds Mr. George Oldroyd.
MAJOR A. D. CURRIE, chairman and managing director of Currie and Co. (Newcastle), Ltd., the well-known haulage-contracting concern, who has been appointed chairman of the Newcastleon-Tyne Committeeof the National Traffic Pool, was appointed a member of the Northern Regional Advisory Committee on Road Transport at the beginning of the war. He has taken an active part in plans for mobilizing the country's road-transport services.
WE learn with regret of the death VI( of Mr. W. A. Oubridge, late chairman, director and founder of the British Piston Ring Co., Ltd.
DID MILITARY EXCEED THEIR AUTHORITY?
DURING a police court case at York,' last week, in which a soldier was fined £5 for driving an Army lorry without reasonable consideration for other road users, an Army officer said the military authorities had already punished the man in respect of the same incident—a collision. They had fined him 35s. and suspended his military driving licence, for driving without due care and attention.
Police Superintendent Williams: " With all respect to their authority, they have no right to assume jurisdiction over an offence against statute law. I think the military authorities are wrong in punishing a man when they know that civil proceedings are pending."
1941 HIGHLIGHTS OF LONDON TRANSPORT'S ACTIVITY
Le ONDON Transport had a busy year
in 1941, and from the list of facts and figures which4the Board has issued, the following are some of the outstanding:-538 tons of paper were salvaged from road and rail vehicles; 9,500 women workers replaced men as
conductors, mechanics, greasers, cleaners, and in a host of other transport jobs; 218,400 yds...of netting were put on vehicle windows to safeguard passengers against air-raid damage; the 467 provincial buses lent to London during last year's blitz were returned; 72 special bus trips were run to enable London parents and friends to visit children in evacuation areas; the first of 43 trolleybuses, originally intended for Durban and Johannesburg, went into service.
ARMY BUSES FOR WORKERS' SERVICES IN GLASGOW
A RMY bases with Service drivers are 1-1.supplementing the ordinary bus services for wotkers in Glasgow and industrial areas in Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, and Ayrshire until January 31. The additional facilities _provided by the fleet of military buses will ease the conditions of workers during the most inclement weeks of the winter.
Arrangements were made between bus operators and the military authorities at a meeting convened in Glasgow, on December 29, by Mr. Archibald Henderson, Regional Traffic Commissioner for Scotland. A statement which was issued after the meeting explained that the Army vehicles and their drivers will be available for only a few weeks for services for workers' between the factories where they are employed and their homes.
Wherever possible the buses will be run on contract service without conductors. In other cases they will be,. operated on workers' services with the bus companies which serve the routes providing the conductors. Normal fares will be _charged.
The operators on the routes to be supplemented by the military vehicles are Glasgow Transport Department, the Central SALT., the Western SALT., and Young's Bus Services, Ltd. SHEFFIELD PLANS TO ABANDON TRAMS
ULTIMATE abandonment of Sheffield Corporation's electric-tram system is foreshadowed in a report by the municipality's special town planning committee containing first proposals for the replanning of the city. "Your committee has been advised and believes that, at no very distant date, trams will probably cease to operate, and that the only method of public transport which will then exist will be buses," states the report.
CO.OPERATIVE SOCIETY'S COACH TRAFFIC BADLY HIT
THE turnover of the traffic department, of the Plymouth Co-operative Society during the past year amounted to £7,283, an increase of 2 per cent, on the preceding year. The motor coach department's turnover was £7,188, a decrease of 19,4 per cent. This department was one of those which suffered badly during theblitzes of last spring, premises and many vehicles being destroyed.
MUNICIPAL ATTITUDE CAUSES FUEL WASTAGE
A MUNITION worker, in a hurry to
reach the factory where he is employed, sees a taxi approathing and signals it. The driver, returning to his depot, has to refuse the fare, although to accept it would not mean going a yard out of his way. Yet the worker cannot find room on the buses because of the pressure on them. This sorry state exists in Cardiff.
One of the city's leadinff° taxicab companies, Glamt,ax, Ltd., last year asked the watch committee to allow its fleet of taxis to pick up such fares. Although suggested as only a war-time convenience, permission was refused. Recently, there has been a keen public demand in the city to reverse this decision, and when the matter comes before the city council this month it is hoped that it vill not endorse such petrol wastage,
DRIVER-SHORTAGE PROBLEMS IN SCOTLAND
CALLING up of drivers is causing difficulties for bus and haulage companies in Scotland. Employers state that it is impossible to replace skilled men and ask the Ministry of Labour and National Service to leave adequate staffs for existing services.
The managing director of one concern states that a driver of a bus carrying miners to and from work was transferred to the coal industry, because Ile was former* a miner. The result was that the bus was stopped, and 30 men had to -seek *alternative transport. The driver was afterwards reinstated.
SPARE-PARTS SCARCITY HOLDS UP SCOTTISH TRANSPOItT NifORE than 100 municipal and pri1V1vate-company buses in Scotland are standing idle because of the lack of spare parts., One company alone has 25 vehicles out of use, and complaints are made that it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain services.
A FURTHER EXTENSION OF GROUP-VEHICLE INSURANCE INSURERS of goods motor vehicles
while they are used within a group scheme have agreed to extend existing policies to March 31, without any general increase. in rates. The same concession has been agreed to in respect of vehicles used for other purposes, on a certificate issued by a Regional Transport Commissioner that such use is necessary to deal with an emergency. Such certificates are obtainable from District Transport Officers, but not in connection with normal work for the Road Haulage Branch of the Ministry, that for civil defence, or use which could be put on a non-emergency footing,
IN AID OF THE QUICKER TURN-ROUND CAMPAIGN
THE welt-known cartoonist,. Magworth, has been designing a series of humorous posters for the Ministry of War Transport. These posters are for exhibition on the loading banks of tranSport users in order to stimulate the men who do the actual loading and unloading to get a quicker turn-round.
At the present time the transport system of the country needs many more vehicles, and the only way to solve the shortage problem is to cut down standing time and to increase the running time of the lorries now in use. The men on the loading banks, by using their initiative, can make a more valuable contribution to this part of the war effort.