ROADS AND RATES till wo big problems
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By G. A. PEARSON
/WAS still twisting and turning with the A38 road when W. E. Foster broke the spell at Roadway House,
Plymouth, with the comment: "You have, presumably, just driven along the longest lane in England." I had, indeed, and was prepared to sign entry forms right away for the Better Roads West Association in Devon and for the Roads Access to Cornwall Association, in which the Chamber of Commerce, the Hoteliers Association and others interested in movement rather than paralysis in the south-western tip of England, have joined forces. Mr. Foster who, as area secretary, represents 500 members of the R.H.A. (many of whom have only one vehicle) and 600 of the T.R.T.A., sits on both committees and he feels that their efforts have some influence with the Ministry of Transport.
A year or two ago Plymouth came off the Board of Trade list of places earmarked for development because it was no longer among those with a high percentage of unemployment. A splendid new city has grown up and several factories (among them Tecalemit, Bush Radio and Ranco) have contributed to the well being of the town with consequential benefit to hauliers.
French and Channel Island vegetables routed to London, Birmingham and Liverpool markets along with animal feeding stuffs contribute to useful haulage from the port.
Although adjacent to the famous Devonport dockyard, Tamar Wharf is not inspiring at first glance. Today the ships go around the corner to Millbay Dock and to Sutton Harbour, Plymouth. Nevertheless the wharf remains notable for not only does it house one of the most important operators in the district; that operator is a woman with a business so large that one is tempted to ask if there is anything bigger in the country, controlled by a woman.
THE TAMAR WHARF FOLK IN all of Plymouth, and for miles around, no person in the goods world commands greater respect than the managing director of Westlake and Sons (Devonport) Lt& and this is not because of the size of the business, although the staff of drivers is around 100 and the fleet among the biggest in Devon. The admiration is for the mighty efforts of a reticent elderly lady, widowed Mrs. Elsie Howard, who has .spent a lifetime in the business that her father started with horses over 80 years ago, She took control on the death of her brother three years ago.
There are four other directors, all sisters, but she is the driving force. Her office is a talking point among operators and drivers. A mass of papers covers every inch of space and threatens to submerge her. A modern accountant would flinch at the sight; but acquaintances insist that she can always lay hands on the appropriate document without any hesitation.
With a sister, she handles the whole of the company administration and office work. "It is her life," said a business
friend_ "She is there at 7 in the morning until the same time at night." And I am told that this redoubtable personage has passed her three score years and ten.
Also that she would rather have a new truck than a new coat.
She notes every vehicle passing the window on the Tamar Wharf and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the company commitments, so that telephonic inquiries which come in every minute or two are dealt with without any reference to other people:
Bills receive lightning treatment. Her father started the practice by paying on the spot when forage was delivered and said that when the company became mechanized fuel should be paid for in the same way. A supply arrived while I was present and when the driver presented the delivery note he in turn was presented with a cheque to cover the consignment. "They have asked me to open an account, but I prefer it this way," said Mrs. Howard.
She pays out £25 a week in ferry charges. Being sited at the riverside it is more convenient to use the ferry to Torpoint than the toll bridge and Westlake's benefit from the bridge in that it has now eliminated queueing to get on , to the ferry. There is no difference in the cost, the bulk rate of 8s. return being slightly less than in pre-bridge days.
FUEL CHANGES
ALL house coal for Plymouth and district comes by sea; so does some boiler fuel from South Wales; and benefiting from it are W. E. Harvey and Son Ltd., also of Tamar Wharf, where at one time the fuel was landed. Harvey's have four large tippers of 9/10-ton capacity in regular use on this traffic, and other vehicles are added as required. They anticipate extra work from railway closures because the bulk of the boiler fuel has hitherto been sent by rail and collected by merchants; a switch to road transport is expected in many cases.
PASSENGER BALANCED PEAK
PLYMOUTH has taken some hard 1 knocks since the days of Drake and the Mayflower, but its passenger services " appear to be standing up well to the strain of modern times. The town escapes the pressure of anything more than nominal holiday passenger traffic. Since 1942, City of Plymouth Transport has operated joint services over a 14-mile radius with Western National, providing 80 per cent of the traffic. There are few problems and no disputes. Fares appear to be kept well under control and although there is an annual drop in traffic of between one and three per cent, passenger mileage remains high due to increased journey lengths. Buses neiw use the Tamar Bridge and a conservative estimate of saving in an average journey time is 30 minutes.
TYRE DOCTOR
THE city can 'certainly . boast of providing its fair share of " characters " in the transport world, and none does the district greater credit than A. A. J. (Doc) Watson who is now extending the tyre specialist concern,. Plymouth Tyre Co. Ltd., to provide a battery service in addition to handling brake linings, clutch plates, snow chains and providinga recovery service.
" The tyre track at our fingertips" ;s the slogan of the man who learned his profession at Goodyear and is in demand as a lecturer in this sphere. His staff of 10 is fully occupied coping. with the demand for service on sites and at depots.
Somehow or other Mr. Watson served as divisional chairman of the T.R.T.A. for 10 years and as chairman of theNational Tyre Distributors' Association for -two years. His outlook -is that if the spirit is willing the time can be found, and that a strong trade association is good for everybody.
PLUS TEN BOB " L'ROM Dartmouth up to Bude, from I Mevagissey to St. Merryn, we go anywhere. There isn't a hamlet that is missed. There are five two-day runs. How my journeymen get around in the summer holiday • traffic I don't know; they just do it." The speaker was R. G. Jewell, B.R.S. (Parcels) Ltd. manager at the successful Plymouth branch in the station yard at Devonport. A glance at a map will give emphasis to his comment.
Rail closures are bringing extra work and the three two-day runs to St. Austell often require two supplementary journeys. The Bude trip used to include Tavistoek. Now the men go direct. If the trend continues, an increase in the 14 vehicles, of which four have become articulated in recent years, will be necessary within a year.
Tamar Bridge has helped too. " Saltash, just across the river was once a journey but now it has become Plymouth plus ten bob; and the fact that we can give a better, fast service is also bringing more business ", he said.
c8 FOOD OF THE GODS
NiT1LK for the Ambrosia Creameries 1V-1has long been collected in 10-gal. " dumpy " steel churns. A taller aluminium design that is now the subject of experiments has increased loading capacity. Using a staggered formation, 108 churns weighing only 15zwt can now be accommodated compared with 90 weighing 35 cwt. before the cow contributed. The older steel churn needs no support other than a modest edge to the platform and an adherence. to speed limits, but the new churn has to be contained within stanchions and chains.
Tall, precise, Bill Sage, a T.R.T.A. committee man and transport manager at Lifton (where he has put in over 40 years for Ambrosia) has a fleet of 42 vehicles and at his fingertips he has detailed information on everything that they do: his criterion is not miles per gallon but rather gallons (of milk) per mile.
His factory is plumb on the A30, just east of the county boundary, four mites from Launceston. Often those four miles are jammed solidly. Such congestion may cost him up to £100 a month in drivers' time alone.
Butter and milk powder by the ton supplement the main production of millions of milk puddings a week at
Lifton. There is a further Ambrosia factory at Lapford. Both form part of the Bovril Milk Division which includes Hammett's Dairies who, from Exeter, operate a fleet of approximately 140 vehicles distributing to shops.
INTO CORNWALL
THE divisional chairman of the Traders Road Transport Association is Cdr. E. M. Shaw, east Cornwall manager for the Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation Ltd. The biggest quarrying company in the country, it has considerable interests in Cornwall. Cdr. Shaw emphasizes the need for a traders' association to preserve freedom of choice of transport. His own company's outlook is simple -and straightforward, and they are quite prepared to use the most economical form of transport that is available. Locally they have a dozen C-licence tippers in use and daily they hire from 15 to 20 vehicles.
The £2m. improvements plan for the A38 is not enough, he says; dual (Continued on page 59)