Pankhurst Stuff
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By The Hawk
IRS. B. A. LANGDON. of Wiveliscombe, Somerset. whose I death was reported by The Commercial Motor last ek, must have been one of the most remarkable women conled with transport. She was not only a director of Tone le Transport, Ltd., but was chairman of B. A. Langdon and is, the largest private-enterprise egg-packing station in the st of England, which has a large C-licence fleet. Mrs. -igdon built this business up herself, starting from scratch ore the 1914-18 war with the princely capital of £7 10s.
4er first vehicle was a Ford van which she bought in 1915. few weeks afterwards a large consignment of poultry had be delivered to the railway station and nobody was available drive the van. On the strength of two short lessons, Mrs. igdon decided to do the job herself. This she did with riplete success, although when she returned to her premises the second part of the load, she was forced to make a our of several miles because she had not yet learned how reverse the Ford.
htuse Decision
AILWAY high-handedness forced Mrs. Langdon, like many another, into long-distance road haulage. The last straw olved a big consignment of chicken for a major City ban' t. Clearly marked to be collected at Paddington, the poultry sent off from Wiveliscombe on the morning of the banquet, when the load arrived in London it was dumped on to a si delivery railway cart and dispatched. By the time the se-drawn cart had plodded round the streets 'under a blazing for several hours the chickens were well past their best, the caterer refused delivery.
Langdon claimed on the Great Western Railway, but y bluntly disowned any responsibility for her heavy loss, ■ rtly afterwards, she bought a Chevrolet 3-tanner and began :et road deliveries to her London customers. One wonders v many hundreds of pounds in lost freight charges that use decision of the Great Western has meant to them and r heirs and assigns, British Railways,
Info
NEW driver, in trouble on the road, was told to telephone the local agent. The following conversation ensued: What's the trouble?"
Dunno."
What make is it?"
Dunno."
Is it an oiler?"
Dunno."
he owner is now wondering whether to reduce his fleet, .rt to driving or assume that a replacement could not .ibly he worse. Meanwhile. he " dunno." either.
.uquet Misses
-1ERE is no dining-room in Bristol large enough for all those who wish to attend the annual dinner of the Road lage Association's Western Area, and some of the guests : to be accommodated in an annexe. At last week's dinner relay system was unfortunately out of order and Mr. Arthur Akers, who was host in the annexe, was unable to hear himself described by Mr. R. Morton Mitchell, the chief executive officer, as "probably the best area secretary" in the Association. Members warmly applauded the sentiment. When I told him what he had missed, he chuckled and modestly said he didn't believe it.
Foursome
THE national chairman usually attends the Westeru Area dinner, but there were four R.H.A..functions last week and Mr. R. N. Ingram was a guest at Hull. Mr. Morton Mitchell, who appeared in his stead, made the nearest thing to a by-election speech I have ever heard at a transport function —and the members obviously approved of it.
Good Example
mR. C. J. HORSLEY, Fry's transport manager and chairman of the Western Area of the Traders' Road Transport Association, is gratified by the reception given locally to the " Kerb Space is Precious" campaign, although it is too early to judge the practical results.
He believes that much can be done to reduce waiting time at the roadside by carefully loading vehicles in delivery order and prominently identifying each consignment. He certainly practises what he preaches. For instance, all consignments leaving Fry's are serially numbered in delivery order and arc loaded accordingly. This is a tip worth following.
Telly Ho!
THEcampaign received a boost last week, when it was featUred by B.B.C. television. The narrow main streets of Richmond, Surrey, were the subject of an investigation of the problems of a crowded shopping centre used by through traffic. Mr. R. E. G. Brown, secretary of the London and Home Counties Division of the T.R.T.A., and Mr. Loving, the Association's public relations officer, were interviewed, along with shopkeepers and lorry drivers.
Hugging His Chains
THE " only man in the gathering to wear chains in fine weather," as he put it. performed the official opening of the Automobile Association's new regional headquarters in Manchester last week. He was the Lord Mayor)of Manchester, Ald. 1. E. Fitzsimons. whose business interests he in tyre distribution.
Manchester's Information Service has recently been at some pains to establish that city in tbe,public's mind as second only to London. A new statistical leaflet points out that the custom of assessing priority on e basis of resident population is apt to produce curious results. For instance, London, with _1 resident population of 5,324 would rate pretty low. But it is the population within an accepted eadius that makes the City of London the largest in the country. On the radius basis Manchester is a sure second.
Incidentally, Manchester has more cars per head of population than any other city, including London, which is why its traffic is so congested.