Bird's Eye View
Page 64
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Goodbye to All That
By The Hawk
QIR JOHN ELLIOT'S impending resignation from the I..) chairmanship of London Transport, announced last week, is unlikely to cause sorrow at Transport House, but it will rob the industry of one of its few brilliant speakers. Apparently he has not fallen out with his two masters, Mr. Harold Watkinson, Minister of Transport, and Sir Brian Robertson, chairman of the British Transport Commision, but merely wishes to devote more time to his other interests.
I can well imagine that anyone would be glad to be rid of the responsibility for London Transport, even at the sacrifice of a salary of £7,500 a year. It is strange, however, that during the 51 years of leadership by a public-relations expert, relations between London Transport and the staff and public seem'to have deteriorated.
Buy Now
mR. I. CALLOW, sales director of the commercial division of Gilbert Rice, Ltd., Horsham, has a persuasive and original line in sales letters. In his latest he urges operators not to wait until after the Budget on April 7 to order Thames vans.
He points out that if there is a reduction in purchase tax, the drop in the market price of used vehicles offered in partexchange would probably be more than the existing tax—about f50—on light vans. In addition, by buying now the operators would make an immediate saving in running costs. He may be right.
Misplaced Honour
BUT for the intervention of Mr. S. J. Lamborn, guests at the annual luncheon of the Mansion House Association on Transport, last Friday, might have been misled by Mr. L. A. Carey, the vice-president, into believing that the "Kerb Space is Precious" Campaign was initiated by the ,Ministry of Transport.
Mr. Lamborn, who is a past chairman of the London and Home Counties Division of the Traders' Road Transport Association, as well as a member of the council of the M.H.A.,
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pointed out with some spirit that the credit belonged to the T.R.T.A. He noted, more in sorrow than in anger, that Mr. G. R. H. Nugent, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, had not taken the opportunity presented to him of disclaiming an undeserved honour for the department.
Tax Ruling
hAR. N. E. MUSTOE, Q.C., has now edited Mr. Justice ILl Donovan's judgment at Durham Assizes in the case of Herring v. British Transport Commission and it has been published by Taxation Publishing Co., Ltd, it is one of the key decisions on the deduction of income tax from damages and deals with a claim for loss of earnings by a haulier whose vehicle was damaged in a collision.
About a year ago there was such a demand for copies of the decision that The Commercial Motor had them duplicated as part of its service to readers. In at least one known case an operator was able, on the strength of the duplicated report, to resist a claim that tax should be deducted from damages payable to him.
High Price of Honesty
TT is significant of the frightful rate of theft of vehicles and I the difficulty of recovering them that Godfrey Davis, Ltd., are offering a reward of £1,000 for information about a Jaguar XKI50 hire car, valued at some £2,000, which has been missing since February 9. They are hoping that a 50 per cent. reward, instead of the customary 10 per cent., will encourage an informer to come forward.
Almighty Dollars
AMERICAN tourists in Europe are now demanding airconditioned coaches. They want their home comforts and will not be fobbed off with fans and other apologies for air filtration, refrigeration and dehumidification. It looks as though catering for Americans is going to be expensive.