§ Mr. Ernest Daviesasked the Minister of Transport the number of vehicles owned on 1st January, 1948, by the undertakings which by virtue of Part II of the Transport Act, 1947, came under the direct or indirect control of the British Transport Commission and, before initiating legislation, what estimate he made of the number of vehicles employed at the present time by the undertakings so acquired by the Commission or by their successors or comparable sections of the Commission.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydI am informed by the British Transport Commission that the operating stock of road motor vehicles taken over on the vesting of undertakings under Part II of the Act was as follows:
- (a) 13,178 (including service vehicles) from the railway companies (excluding the London Passenger Transport Board);
- (b) 10,600 (including buses, trams, service vehicles, etc.) from the London Passenger Transport Board;
- (c) 59 from the canal and inland navigation companies; and
- (d) 3,558 from the road haulage companies owned or partly owned by the railway companies.
I understand that at 15th June, 1952, the number of road motor vehicles, excluding service vehicles, operated by (a) the Railway Executive, (b) the London Transport Executive, and (c) the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive, was 14,555, 10,272 and 180, respectively. The vehicles acquired from the road haulage companies formerly owned or partly owned by the railways were taken over by the Road Haulage Executive and it is not possible to identify them all with any particular section of the Executive.