Bus trip down memory lane on New Year’s Day
HERE are two photos of (former Coventry bus manufacturer) Daimler buses from different 20th century decades.
The first, from 1947, formerly of Northampton Corporation with traditional chrome radiator, was of a type very common in Coventry before being replaced by more modern buses like the second photo shown in Huddersfield colours.
They were at the Coventry Rugby Club in the Butts, along with other buses and coaches, for a Bus Running Day and Transport Fair on New Year’s Day. This was the second year of this event attracting bus enthusiasts from all over the country, organised by Presbus Publishing of Coventry in conjunction with local bus restorer/ owner Roger Burdett.
Many of the privately owned buses and coaches gave free rides to the Midland Air Museum, Coventry Transport Museum and the Meriden Motor Cycle Museum, picking up and dropping off enthusiasts at Coventry Railway Station. In addition to the two buses shown were rides on a 1953 A.E.C. Regal Coach, a 1952 Wilts and Dorset Bristol bus, a 1970 Seddon Motorway Coach in the colours of former local operator Red House Motor Services – which many readers will remember – a former Metro bus new to Coventry in 1989 as part of West Midlands Travel (Coventry Transport ceased to exist after 1974), a former Midland Red D9 double decker and a rare 1988 Talbot Pullman built in Coventry. Many enthusiasts are looking forward to seeing wartime Daimler 366 in Coventry Transport Colours running this year after restoration by Roger Burdett.
Previously, after withdrawal, it was owned by the Transport Museum and used to feature on the annual Shakespeare Run before being replaced by the 1960s Daimler 333. Barry Greener Green Lane
Reckless spending as families struggle
DAVE Toulson claims he is ‘somewhat confused’ by my concerns over the Friargate fiasco (Jan 6). Let me clarify.
Perhaps it is just me but I believe it is reckless that local Labour leaders are still flogging this dead horse after years of failing to attract tenants and now want to bail out the developer with even more public money.
Mr Toulson implies that Conservative support for this white elephant justifies the Labour policy of carrying on regardless.
I beg to differ and whilst on paper this project looks like a fantastic proposition for the city, harsh commercial realities and the council’s abject failure to get the thing moving would suggest to any common sense politician from any party that it should at least be put on hold before any more millions are wasted and until actual tenants are signed up so there is half a chance of this debacle generating any decent level of revenue.
Mr Toulson concludes that he was “very glad to have woken up on January 1 to a Labour council”.
Tell that to the struggling families facing a a second successive 4.9 per cent increase in council tax and the thousands of ward residents taken for granted by remote Labour councillors.
And no Mr Toulson, the ‘austerity’ excuse just won’t wash as long as this Labour council continues to waste vast sums of public money on ill-conceived vanity projects while basic local services are left to go to the wall. Matthew Batson Coundon
Recent Iran unrest feels all too familiar
FOLLOWING media coverage regarding the recent unrest in Iran, I got an uneasy feeling that we going down a road that will yet again show that this country cannot help but interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.
A report states that ‘independent media coverage is hard to come by’ but goes on to say that cuts in subsidies to low income households served as a trigger. A statement that surely could apply to the state of the UK over the past seven years of Tory rule, which is usually ignored by the media. Bob Arnott Holbrook