§ Mr. Magnayasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport why road vehicles 7Q10/31, 7Q10/34 and 7Q10/41 were sent empty from Swindon Transport, Limited, on 22nd October last to Newport to report to the A.R.H.O. there and then ordered to proceed empty to Skewan where, eventually, they were loaded; whether he is aware that this involved four days of travel, including a full day on Sunday, 24th October, at double rates of pay and 426 miles of unloaded journey; and whether he will now consider using the services of established clearing houses to obtain a more efficient use of road transport?
§ Mr. Noel-BakerThese vehicles, with others, were sent to South Wales to move urgent and essential traffic for which local transport was not available. The journey from Swindon to the point where loads382W were obtained took a little more than one day. If clearing houses had had traffic available and suitable for road movement to load the vehicles from Swindon to South Wales, they would, no doubt, have offered it in the usual way.