BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Page 53
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Whither Progress? In calling for a reappraisal
of the removal trade's associations at the N.A.F.W.R. conference this month, a past president, Mr. D. R. Pearce, had this to say. The N.A.F.W.R. itself had been formed 64 years, the B.A.O.F.R. 40 years and the Institute 25 years. Had not the time arrived to have one authority, for example "The British Removals Association "?
Underlining the revolution that had taken place in all walks of life during those intervening years, Mr. Pearce said that less than 40 years ago Army and Navy Store, of which he is removals and warehousing manager, employed 140 messenger boys!
Unknown to Mr. Pearce, one member of the Press reflected ruefully on that apparently harmless comment on past events. Only within the previous 24 hours there had been no alternative for him but to journey across London to collect urgent copy if press times were to be met. A claimed 24-hour postal service would have sufficed but just could not be relied upon.
Perhaps messenger boys are not so out-dated after all!
We hear so much these days about rail closures and the switching of rail traffic, goods and passenger, to the roads, that the thought of the reverse happening seldom enters our heads. Yet in a quiet sort of way a little revolution is taking place on railway main line routes, where passenger traffic is 'very much on the increase.
The other day I read that two coach operators, Overland and Global Tours, are to switch to rail for the British end of a large part of their total Continental business. Reasons given include the "unquestionable reliability" of trains on this route—Global have used rail for some time for their more expensive tours—compared with the near impossibility of keeping to schedule when operating by road. Global feel that the advantages to their customers will far outweigh the small extra cost which amounts to only three or four shillings. Passengers will be able to leave Victoria later—and for many people in the Home Counties (and farther afield) it will eliminate the need to spend a night in London. Sounds ominous to me.
Switch to Rail
Service Spectacular "Motorists drive up a long approach road through an avenue of trees and arrive at a setting-down point in front of the main catering building. Here passengers may alight while car or coach drivers take their vehicles to their respective parks among the trees. Walking back from these parks . . . the public are protected from inclement weather by covered ways that are lit by night...." All this perched on cliffs 300 ft, up with a picnic area and a restaurant with seating on two levels. so that those seated at the back of the restaurant may still
enjoy the views—and you may imagine that this is a fabulous night-spot on the Adriatic or Riviera.
But no. It is part of the planned M4 service area to be on the eastern end of the new Severn Bridge at Aust. Gloucestershire. The service area will be run by the Rank Organization and, apart from a main restaurant seating 350, a self-service cafeteria for 450, and a coffee and snack bar seating 100, I gather there will be 30 fuel pumps and parking for 436 cars, a special plot for cars with trailers and caravans—plus space for 80 lorries and 60 coaches.
The service area, which will be served by slip-roads in each direction, is scheduled to be in operation in 1966.
Be Brief—Be Polite It really is amazing the amount of money that large companies spend on the dayto-day running of their business. Shell-Mex and B.P. Ltd., for example, spend as much as £1,000 a day on telephone charges. With this, no doubt, very much in their minds, and in view of the increasing use of subscriber trunk dialling (STD), this company has now issued to all members a its staff an interesting little booklet called
Shell-BP Speaking ".
This is divided roughly into two parts. The first sets out to help all the firm's telephone users to get the best possible value from the service—using it economically. One (very broad) hint for users is as follows: "Restrict your conversations to essentials. Your state of health and the state of the weather are mostly not relevant to the company's business." How much notice will be taken of that, I wonder? The first of the "Hints for Operators" states that "a telephone operator must always be polite, helpful and good-humoured ". No comment from me.
Who among us has not been passed on the road (probably on a corner) by a Mini in full cry? And quite likely a Minivan at that. The fact that the latter commercial version of the Austin and Morris Mini vehicles exists is, on the face of it, the only real , justification for talking about Minis at all in this journal. But Minis, like science, know no frontiers and I offer no apology at all for mentioning that "The Mini Story" has just been published by Temple Press Books.Lirnited. It has been written by Laurence Pomeroy, one-time technical editor of our next-door neighbour Motor, and a personal friend of Mini designer Alec lssigonis.
The whole Mini history—or as much as can be told at this time—appears in the book, a fascinating. tale which goes for a start as far back as the Issigonis birthplace of Smyrna. The book also has plenty of technical and motorsporting interest, bags of illustrations, and is certainly worth 21s. (net) for anyone who has the slightest interest in motor vehicles. Personally recommended by me.
Nlinimatters