§ 1. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation if he is aware that, despite complaints made eighteen months ago, second-class passengers on long-distance non-stop trains between Manchester and London and on other routes throughout the country are having to stand in the corridors while first-class seats remain vacant; and if he will reconsider giving the British Transport Commission a general direction to change this practice.
§ The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (Mr. G. R. H. Nugent)This is a matter of day-to-day management for the British Transport Commission, and is not suitable for a general direction.
§ Mr. AllaunDoes the Minister remember telling me that if the ticket collector on a train found it grossly overcrowded he had a certain latitude of action? Will he therefore ask the Commission to tell the ticket collectors to use this discretion, and to seat standing passengers? This seems to be a sensible solution to the whole problem.
§ Mr. NugentMy right hon. Friend did tell the House that ticket collectors have a certain discretion in the matter, but the use of it is really a matter for the commercial judgment of the Transport Commission, so that its service is attractive on the one hand and not extravagant on the other. I think that the Commission has been fairly successful in the past year, considering the improvement in the traffic receipts for passengers.