I've always been unclear about London Transport's financial makeup. I assume it was in some sort of public ownership, yet it seemed to have shareholders, because Frank Pick resigned from his post in 1940 because he felt that they were not getting a fair deal at that time. If anybody can shed light on this, I'd appreciate it.
Chris Hebbron
08/06/17 - 06:08
You are quite right, Chris. The London Passenger Transport Board financial structure was not the same as that of outright nationalisation, which did not occur until the London Transport Executive was set up on 1st January 1948. When the LPTB was formed in 1933, the companies taken over, notably the Underground Group and Tilling's London operations, were 'bought' partially with cash and partially by the issue of interest-bearing stock - C stock - authorised by the enabling Act, which meant that those former businesses continued to earn yields from their holdings. However, by 1938, the net financial performance of the Board was so weak (partly because of the truly massive investment in high-standard Underground equipment and buildings, bus fleet renewal, and a serious strike in 1937) that the future of the entire LPTB concept was temporarily placed in doubt. In the previous two years, the Board paid only 4% instead of the agreed rate of 5.1% on the C stock held by the former transport operators, and suggestions were made that a receiver should be appointed run LPTBs affairs. In fact, the stockholders had not lost any capital value on their holdings, as the purchasing terms in 1933 had been somewhat generous. Evolving international events in the months following, which escalated into WW2, led to attention being directed elsewhere, though clearly Frank Pick was not mollified. In the post-war years, London Transport became a component of the Labour government's nationalisation programme.
Roger Cox
11/06/17 - 06:08
Chris, I think the last straw for Frank Pick was the compensation enforced by the government for taking control of the railways in wartime. The arrangements for repairs, including war damage, were also harsh. The railways accepting these conditions reluctantly, but without protest, as fears of an invasion were very much to the fore at the time. Bus services were also slashed, with little thought at the outset of the differing conditions of the operators.
David Wragg
Note:
The 1937 busmen's strike had its roots when, at the end of July 1932, the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC), the largest of London's bus companies, announced that staff wages would be reduced and 800 jobs lost over the following month, due to the decline in receipts during the recession. In response to this threat, Ernest Bevin, on behalf of the T&GWU , brokered a settlement in which the posts were saved and the pay reduction tempered, in return for his members accepting tighter schedules. These entailed a shift in driving speed from 9.3mph to 14.3mph, which necessitated a speed of 30mph between stops.
On 17 January 1933, a wildcat strike broke out in response to the posting of the new, speeded up schedules at Forest Gate Bus Garage. Five hundred busmen walked out with 300 participating in a picket. Within four days, another 26 garages had stopped work with another 13,000 drivers and conductors joining the strike.
The new schedules came in fully, but, over the years, there were rumblings of discontent about health issues, such as 'Busmen's Stomach', plus increased driving pressures, due to increased traffic and other new inventions such as traffic lights, slowing traffic down.
The May 1937 'Coronation' bus strike, involving 27,000 London Transport bus drivers and conductors, was a protest about conditions of work, notably hours of work (busmen wanting a reduction to a 7½-hour day), rates of pay and a further proposed speed-up of London buses It lasted for four weeks.
Ernest Bevin, who headed the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&GWU), wrecked the London busmen's strike by refusing to call out the trolleybus/tramwaymen, sending back to work provincial busmen who had come out in several areas and making no attempt to involve the Underground or other railwaymen.
The result was a Court of Inquiry recommendation which did not meet the busmen's demands, the calling-off of the strike on this basis and a brawl within the union.
Chris Hebbron
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