Hiring Dearer Than Direct Operation
Page 41
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'WIRED transport is more costly than 1 I ancillary vehicles for the haulage of coal, coke and the other traffic of a gas undertaking. Mr. B. R. Miller, chairman of the national council of the Institute of Traffic Administration, made this statement on Monday, when he addressed the Birmingham centre. Transport expenses of the gas undertaking with which he was associated were carefully assessed and had been compared with the cost of hiring vehicles from contractors.
Mr. Miller stated that the pre-war vehicles of his undertaking had been
reconditioned and fitted with light-alloy bodies developed by the Northern Aluminium Co., Ltd., and built by H. Sparshatt and Sons, Ltd. The floors of such bodies had a high resistance to wear. Bodies in use since 1949 gave no indication of floor wear.
The newest vehicles _ were Foden 15-ton tippers with light-alloy bodies which weighed 19 cwt. The two-stroke engines had run satisfactorily for over 80,000 miles with no major attention. The speaker emphasized the value of meticulous tyre maintenance. He had misgivings about the use of metallic tyres.