Treble ROle By The Hawk
Page 60
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Bird's Eye View
A CURIOUS conflict of loyalties was created in the appeal., Pl. (reported on page 704) against the grant of a licence to Wallace Arnold (Tours). Ltd., for an express service from Leeds to Ringway Airport. The Minister of Transport found himself filling the treble role of adjudicator on the appeals and guardian of the British Transport Commission, who were among the appellants, and of British European Airways. who subsidiie the coach service to Ringway run by Wallace Arnold, Whether this strange state of affairs should be allowed to exist is a matter on which operators might like to ponder.
Happy Ending
THE Wiseombe affair, which some of the daily newspapers I took so much to heart, has ended happily. Derek Wiseornbe. the I7-year-old .youth who was refused .a B licence to undertake light removals because he did not produce evidence of need, has now gained the coveted authority, through the transfer of a licence from Hunt and Golightly. of South Shields. The licence is limited to -a 15-mile radius, Pickfords must be shivering in their shoes.
Q-Van
71SITING an operator who had completely renewed his fleet V in the past few years, I was impressed by the appearance of his vehicles until I spotted an incredibly ancient _van of high quality parked in his yard and apparently in an advanced state 1526 Of decrepitude. The Excise licence was still current, so the vehicle was obviously in use.
"That's what we call our bullion van," explained the operator. "It goes to•the bank to collect the wages each week. It's built like a battleship, so it would be suicide for crooks to try to ram it. Even if they did stop it the cab is so high that they couldn't easily reach the driver. It's mechanically as sound as a bell. We never clean it and few people would ever suspect its real purpose."
Missed Opportunity
AMONG the central features of the new Plymouth which is arising on the site of Hitler's clearance scheme will be a splendid bus station. It would have been pleasant if ;t could have been officially opened by the Minister of Transport when he visits Plymouth on February 7 to open a new viaduct road which passes over the main buildings of the new bus station. Unfortunately, the work is not sufficiently advanced and the station is unlikely to be ready for occupation for several months -REQUIRED--one bit, with sitting accommodation for 75 heads," says an inquiry received recently in Calcutta by the French Motor Car Co., Ltd. Mr. F. G. Shoobridge, who passed on this tit-bit to me, assured me that the inquiry did not originate trorn Naga territory.