"Break Law or Lose Job," Court Told
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ALORRY driver appearing at Brierley Hill magistrates' court last. week on his fifth speeding charge in four years, said that if he had not bt-oken the law he would have lost his Job. The chairman told him:
" You have a shocking record, and whatever your employer insists on, it is ■ our responsibility."
.1The defendant, Arthur Edward Pickstone, aged 25, of 35 Heath Road, New Invention, Willenhall, said that when he was handed his worksheet on the morning of the offence, he knew he could not complete it if he kept under 20 m.p.h..
"II I tell the boss f cannot do it, he will say I can go and then get someone else," Pickstene stated.
All his offences had been committed w title serving the same employer, but he now had a job without driving.
Defendant was lined 0 for speeding and 10s. for failing to keep records. and disqualified from driving for a .7, ear.
"ABOLISH HAND SIGNALS"
ALL vehicles should he fitted with. efficient electric signals and it would be a good thing if hand signals were abolished. This was stated by " Mr. G. W. Huntbach, Stoke-on-Trent coroner, at an inquest at Hanky last week.
A lorry, which was stated to have no automatic signalling system, was involved in an accident in which a cyclist was killed.
Mr. Huntbach suggested that a flashing indicator on each side of the cab was preferable to having two at bumper level at front and rear. Hand signals were rarely given accurately or in thne.
7.3 M.P.G. FROM SUPER BEAVERS nPERATING under severe conditions, two Leyland Super Beavers in Sweden are returning 7.3 m.p.g. hauling 12-ton. trailers. On dry roads, 9.4 m.p.g. is obtained. The vehicles were converted to six-wheelers to gain greater adhesion on muddy and snowy surfaces and have Rydhs single-drive rear bogies. Messrs. L.. and B. Andersson re the owners.
AN EXPLANATION
SOM E confusion appears to have been caused by the leading article, " Another Nail" (The Commercial .1.1oror. August 19), which dealt with the appeal by rslottingham Corporation against the East Midland Licensing Authority's refusal to grant them permission to charge concession fares
to old-age pensioners. '
In a letter to The Commercial Motor, the Ministry of Transport state that the first paragraph may be read as indicating that concessions granted by local authorities within the terms of the
• Public Service Vehicles (Travel Concessions) Act, 1955,. arc subject to the approval of the Licensing Authorities. " Under Section 1 (7) of the 1955
Act," state the Ministry, " fares chargeable to qualified persons by virtue of travel concessions covered by the Act are placed outside the jurisdiction of the Licensint Authority, and the provisions of the Transport Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1954, in the case of trains and trolleybuses, and the road service licensing provisions of the Road Traffic Act, 1930, in the case of Publie sen, ice vehicles, do not itt that event apply.
"The concession which was the subject of appeal was not a concession to which the Public Service Vehicles (Travel Concessions) Act applies, as it was not being granted during the period January I. 1954, to November 30, 1954, and did not fall within the terms of Section 1 (3) of the Act; hut the Minister, in the appeal decision letter, made it clear that he was expressing no view on the question whether the charging of the concessionary fares in question would or would not be within the powers of the Corporation."
IN!. EXPORT VEHICLES PRODUCED BY FORD •
ACEREMONY to mark the production of lm. vehicles for export was held at the Dagenham works of the Ford Motor Co.. Ltd., on Monday. Mr. A. R. W. Low, Minister of State. Board of Trade. said that Ford had been one of the leaders in the rise of the motor industry to the position of Britain's biggest exporter. The occasion was a reminder to the country of how much it owed to the motor industry. •
EARLS COURT TAKE-OVER?
ASCHEME to take over Earls Court exhibition centre. has been developed b),. Mr. H. Drayton, chairman of the British Electric Traction concern, and others including Lord Latham. former chairman of London Transport, the ground landlords. The Prudential company may take an