§ Mr. Charles Morrisonasked the Minister of Transport if she will list all the private road hauliers who have been acquired by the Transport Holding Company since 1962, showing the date of acquisition, total sum paid, and number of vehicles and of employees at the date of acquisition for each.
§ Mr. SwinglerMy right hon. Friend is informed by the Transport Holding Company that since 1962 it has announced144W the acquisition by the company or its subsidiaries of the road haulage undertakings listed in the table below, which also shows the approximate number of vehicles involved in each case. It would not be in the best interests of the Company to provide information about the price paid for individual undertakings or the number of employees in those undertakings.
Year Undertaking Approximate Number of Vehicles 1963 None 1964 Westfield Transport Ltd. 20 Furness & Parker Ltd. 44 Griff Fender (Swansea) Ltd. 30 1965 Ives & Smith Ltd. 20 Suffolk Plant Hire Co. Ltd. James Express Carriers Ltd. 90 Gavin Wilkie Ltd. 20 George Read (Transport) Ltd. 50 *Harold Wood & Sons Ltd. 500 Corringdon Ltd. 70 †Tayforth Ltd. Not published William Cooper & Sons (Carriers) Ltd. 20 J. E. Cartwright (Haulage) Ltd. 50 †P. F. Boers (International) Transportbedrijf N.V. Not published 1966 (to date) E. G. Smith Ltd. 120 Castle Bros. (Hauliers) Ltd. James Smith (Bicknor) Ltd. 40 West Coast Transports (Argyll) Ltd. 20 James McPhee Ltd. †Bridges Transport Ltd. 100 Lawther & Harvey Ltd. Not published Notes: * In the case of Harold Wood & Sons Ltd., it was announced that the cost of purchasing the share capital and discharging certain liabilities was approximately £1.7m. † Acquisition of 75 per cent. control. (In the case of Tayforth Ltd. it has been announced that the cost to the Transport Holding Company of acquiring a 75 per cent. interest was about £5m.)