16 The London Bus
resolution of this, on 2 April
informed London Transport of
the union’s decision to withdraw
all labour on 4 May, as endorsed
by a majority of the 100-plus
delegates representing the
TGWU staff employed at all
garages and the Aldenham and
Chiswick overhaul works.
London Transport treated
this with hardly-disguised
disdain, and both sides became
entrenched in their attitudes.
By the end of April, London
Transport granted that crewsworking the double-deck Green
Line routes from Romford
and Grays garages should be
included in the arbitration
award. As a result, the TGWU
reduced its claim to 6/6d (32.5p,
or £7.48), but reaffirmed that
the revised figure must apply to
all staff. The reply from London
Transport was a predictable
thumbs down.
Bloody-mindedness by both
parties ensured that the strike
went ahead, starting on 5 May
1958, and made certain that allroad services were withdrawn —
Central Buses, Country Buses,
Green Line, Private Hire and
Sightseeing — with pickets
placed at all facilities covered by
the TGWU.
While both sides were playing
from a poor deck, the union
delegates had overlooked a
significant item, the London
railway system.
Both British Railways’
and London Transport’s
Underground employees were
represented by the National60 Years Ago
RIGHT: Probably
as a result of the
post-strike cuts,
in November 1958
was withdrawn
from Southall and
Uxbridge garages
the last of the
sub-class 14T12,
1946-built AEC
Regal II single-
deckers with
Weymann bodies.
This is T744 at
Haven Green,
Ealing, a vehicle
sold the following
month to the
Ceylon Transport
Board, which
bought many
surplus London
Transport vehicles.