From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Correspondence page from 'The Autocar' magazine discussing free lifts and car immobilisation during wartime.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0175 | |
| Date | 13th December 1940 | |
| December 13th, 1940. The Autocar 607 CORRESPONDENCE Try guessing the county of this view and you may be wrong. Actually, it is in a part of south-west Scotland that the average tourist from south of the border is apt to miss. OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF OUR CORRESPONDENTS, WITH WHICH “THE AUTOCAR” DOES NOT NECESSARILY AGREE. LETTERS INTENDED FOR PUBLICATION SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR, “THE AUTOCAR,” DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 FREE LIFTS Abuse of Motorists' Willingness to Help by Those Who Can Use the Public Services [49885.]—Criticism which is being showered on motorists by pedestrians and newspapers for abusing the Free Lifts Scheme prompts me to recount my own experiences in the matter. In the large south-western suburb in which I live I have found, I am sorry to say, a great deal of abuse of the scheme, but all on the part of the pedestrians. I know of many cases of well-off middle-class business men who boast of saving bus and train fares by being given free lifts, and who wait about for lifts instead of taking their usual bus or train to the City. (One business man I know told a friend that he had not renewed his season ticket because he could usually reckon on a free lift to town!) When, moreover, a motorist stops and offers them a lift, they show considerable annoyance if he is not travelling in their direction. The same criticism holds good for typists and office girls, who wait about at bus stops for free lifts and never think of boarding the bus they would normally take in peacetime. In my suburb there are four separate bus services to the City, and two train services (all of which are proceeding normally), yet pedestrians still try to cadge lifts for which they have no real need. It seems to me, therefore, that casual lifts, except to members of the Armed Forces, are not altogether desirable; and that the system of “private arrangement” (i.e., four neighbours sharing running expenses, etc.) is infinitely preferable. Casual lifts are really necessary only when there is a definite breakdown in the local transport facilities, and when this happens the crowds of people waiting at bus stops show clearly what is the matter and that lifts are especially needed. When this happens, I feel that a large notice saying “Lifts Wanted” or something similar, might be displayed. ROBERT POLENDINE. General Secretary, The Society of United Motorists. London, W.C.2. [As to a system of “private arrangement” suggested by our correspondent it must be remembered, as previously emphasised in The Autocar, that insurance policies are liable to be invalidated if by any plan, direct or indirect, a private car owner accepts payment for conveying passengers. He may then also be liable to prosecution for using an uninsured car.—ED.{J. L. Edwards}] “IMMOBILISING” Car Alleged to Have a Door Not Properly Locked— Result a Fine of 30s. [49886.]—It is common knowledge that the police are generally overworked at the present time. That is largely inevitable in the circumstances, but it would help to maintain efficiency if the Force would concentrate its activities on things that really matter and cease to waste energy on those that do not. Among the latter are the unnecessary harassing, not to say persecution, of motorists. I left my car during the lunch hour recently in Eastcheap, having previously removed the ignition key and locked the door. When I returned a police officer declared that the door on the passenger’s side had not been properly locked; the result was a conviction at the Mansion House and a fine of thirty shillings. The likelihood of the descent of enemy parachutists into Eastcheap at that time of day is clearly remote. If the experiment were tried the attackers could not escape immediate A 19 | ||