East Kent criticizes Minister's statement
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
MR. R. P. BEDDOW, chairman, in his address to the 51st a.g.m. of the East Kent Road Car Co. Ltd. last week, criticized a statement by Mrs. Barbara Castle in her White Paper on Public Transport and Traffic.
Mr. Beddow said that the long-awaited Transport Bill had now been published, and that it was a volume of 260 pages which seemed to be full of socialist dogma. The Bill had been preceded by more than one White Paper filled with masses of verbiage. It included the bland statement that "the main network of public transport is no longer an appropriate activity for private companies whose prime duty must be to their shareholders, even though they are subject to public regulation. Indeed, it has long been recognized that these basic passenger transport services could only be effectively provided through public ownership—whether local or national".
"The East Kent company could properly take grave exception to this bland and carefree statement, particularly having regard to its record of 50 years of public service," said Mr. Beddow.
• DURING the past financial year, South Shields Corporation's transport undertaking made a loss of £13,079 due to wage increases to platform staff. The transport manager said in his annual report that while fares had been unaltered, wage costs for drivers and conductors alone had gone up by £35,749. The number of passengers carried-32,950,169—was down by more than 239,000 on the previous year. And in that year there was a surplus of £10,510.