LONDON FARES WILL SOAR IF STATE AID ENDS
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By our Political Correspondent
MrS. Barbara Castle has, I understand, opened talks to end the Government's massive liability for holding back London passenger fare increases.
The freeze on fares was introduced earlier this year with a Government assurance that the resulting losses to London Transport and the railways would be met.
But with a thaw coming in July, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is said to have dug in his heels about paying any more of the general taxpayers' cash to subsidize London fares after June 30.
London's buses dived into "the red" last year and they are headed for a Vim. working loss this year. Removal of the Government's guarantee would mean a hefty hoist in fares to wipe this off.
MPTA CONFERENCE
TWO PAPERS will be presented at the Municipal Passenger Transport Association conference in Eastbourne this year on the afternoon of September 13 and the morning of September 14. The annual dinner will be on September 14. The conference, at the Grand Hotel, opens with an informal reception on September 11 and runs until September 15.
HE TOOK A BUS
At Bradford City Court last week a man who admitted taking a double-deck bus from the West Yorkshire Road Car Co.'s Bradford depot and driving it until it crashed into a wall causing damage to the vehicle amounting to £222, was remanded in custody for three weeks with a view to his being sent to a detention centre. He was Laurence Richard Wimbles, 20, unemployed and of no fixed address, and he admitted taking the bus without consent and driving it without insurance and a licence.