SUNDAY TRAMWAY SERVICE, LEICESTER (Hansard, 15 December 1942)

§ Major Lyons (Leicester, East)
In the few minutes remaining before the House adjourns I want to raise a matter notice of which I have given to my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport. It concerns the cessation of tram services in Leicester on Sunday mornings, a position which has reflected harshly on the religious life of the city and which has prevented many from attending to worship at the 1889 places of their choice. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the consideration he has given to the matter and the concession made in so far as the Department made it clear that trams could be run on Sunday morning if local arrangements could be made for that purpose. Such a decision was conveyed to the local authority which came to the decision—I do not want to criticise them, but I think it was unfortunate—that they would not take advantage of that facility. They said that they would make no arrangement at all for the running of trams on Sunday morning, and that decision has been felt keenly by a number of people in Leicester and by the Leicester Christian Council, which took up this matter. Their appeal is really a substantial one. Time will not permit me now to go into the arguments, but with many others I hoped some reasonable accommodation could have been reached. I realise it is now a decision of the local authority, and I can only now express my previous hope, and therefore I ask my hon. Friend now whether he will consider making another approach to the local authority, asking them to pay some more regard to the representations made on this subject, about which there is strong feeling among a large number of high-minded citizens throughout Leicester.

§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport (Mr. Noel-Baker)
I am grateful to my hon. and gallant Friend for some of the things he said in his short, lucid and conciliatory speech. I should also have been grateful, if circumstances had permitted me to use this opportunity, to say a few words about the general policy of my Ministry in connection with the Sunday morning running of trams. As it is, I can only say that every restriction imposed by my Ministry on road passenger services is imposed with the utmost regret. They are imposed only because there are a rubber and petrol shortage, pressure on material and difficulty in maintaining material which is being constantly overdriven. The strain on the personnel of tram, bus and train crews also compels restriction. We have no choice. We must make economies in mileage. Many economies, it was thought, could be introduced by a reduction of the hours on Sundays, and we decided, on evidence which, if I could give it, would, 1890 I think, be regarded by the House as conclusive, that the hours of permitted services on Sundays must be between one and nine p.m. This was subject to the provisos, which I have explained to my hon. and gallant Friend in answer to Questions and which have been sent to Regional Transport Commissioners—

§ Major Lyons
And the local authority.

§ Mr. Noel-Baker
—and the local authority, that trams should be allowed to run if it could be shown that they were reasonably required and could be provided without creating operational difficulties. We recommended that services should be restricted to the hours of one to nine p.m.

§ Mr. Mander (Wolverhampton, East)
If there are no trams?

§ Mr. Noel-Baker
Precisely, if there are no trams. We thought that, nevertheless, that anomaly might be accepted. Our Regional Commissioner made a proposal that the Corporation of Leicester's services, including trams, should be abolished before 1 p.m. The Corporation agreed and immediately, through their transport committee, put it into effect. On the figures they put forward they have a very strong case indeed. They are operating very heavy services—

§ Major Lyons
I know the difficulty of the time, but could my hon. Friend say why some curtailment ought not to be made at night so that church-goers in the morning could have a reasonable skeleton service?

§ Mr. Noel-Baker
Because after most careful inquiry we are convinced that so many war workers and soldiers can only meet their families at the weekend and must return to their places of work or service on Sunday night, that you cannot possibly make a further curtailment beyond 9 p.m. I am very sorry, but I do not think we can make a further approach to the Corporation of the kind suggested. I think it would be open to various objections. I should like to do it if it were not open to objection, but I think it is, and-I think we must now leave the matter to the Corporation and the people of Leicester, who, I Am sure, will be able to settle the difficulties among themselves.