§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of War Transport the average annual number of miles that lorries run empty under the Government pool system; and what has been the annual and total cost to the taxpayer since the pooling of motor transport began.
§ Mr. BarnesThe figures asked for are not available, but as I informed the hon. and gallant Member for Bucklow (Lieutenant W. Shepherd) in December last, in so far as empty running figures have been analysed they show an average of about 20 per cent. A proportion of empty mileage is unavoidable in operating a fleet of vehicles and cannot be costed separately.