THE FLATLEY DRYER

[Stanley]

The Flatley Dryer is a symbol of things and institutions that used to be part of the fabric of life but are now gone. We can point to obvious examples like the Barnoldswick Urban District Council and National Service. The trick is to spot candidates before it happens. Who would have predicted the death of the local cinema and the rise of home entertainment? Did anyone ever imagine a town without a police station? Looking at the town today my candidates are the remaining pubs and the Petrol stations. Both are under threat in different ways.
Barlick could look different again in ten or twenty years.

[plaques]

Banks. those bastions of solidarity. Large stone built buildings that would last forever. Safe as houses that you could trust with your money. Now-a-days people carry the banks round in their pockets. You want a loan... use your credit card.

[Stanley]

That's a good one Ken, dead easy to get a loan but astronomically high interest rates and no need for bank staff to do anything. A Cunning Wheeze and we let them get away with it.

[Big Kev]

That's a good one Ken, dead easy to get a loan but astronomically high interest rates and no need for bank staff to do anything. A Cunning Wheeze and we let them get away with it.

My experience with a credit card (when I needed to buy a car) involved an initial 0% apr, for 12 months, then 'rate tarting' which cost me 3% of the balance to transfer to another card with a 0% apr for another 12 months. All paid off in less than 2 years with only 3% interest on half the amount borrowed.
Fortunately in a position now to only use a credit card to 'protect' purchases, I wouldn't know what the interest rate is as I pay off the balance as soon as it shows on the app.

[Stanley]

"I pay off the balance as soon as it shows on the app."
So do I Kev but we are the lucky ones and can run our cards like that. Many aren't so lucky and even on 'best rates' are paying over 20%, first time users are on higher rates, as much as 35% on the best cards. The ones that specialise in bad credit score clients charge astronomical rates.
I rate the highest rates of interest as Flatley Dryer country because in the bad old days they would be illegal.

[Big Kev]

Just had a look and, if I did have to pay interest, the rate is 18.9%.

[Stanley]

So is mine Kev but that's the best rate they do for ordinary folk and relies on direct debit repayment.



This was my dad's bank in Stockport, Lloyd's in Underbank. I can remember my mother going each week with a cheque for cash and that was the housekeeping money. The 1940 version of the hole in the wall. The big black pram meant she had to walk into the town, buses were not equipped to accept prams, so it was a walk of about a mile and a half just to get to the bank. A loan meant a visit by the account holder, an interview with the bank manager and a signed agreement. Puts a whole different meaning on the word convenience!

[Stanley]

I can remember the days when you had to have a dog licence. I think it was 7/6. Just looked it up and found this...

"In England, Wales and Scotland, dog licensing was abolished by the Local Government Act 1988. Prior to this dog licences were mandatory under the Dog Licences Act 1959, having been originally introduced by the Dog Licences Act 1867 but the requirement was widely ignored, with only about half of owners having one. The final rate for a dog licence was 37 pence, reduced from 37½p when the halfpenny was withdrawn in 1984. This figure was an exact conversion from the rate of seven shillings and sixpence set in the Customs and Inland Revenue Act 1878. The revenue went to local authorities. Dog licensing was in effect a tax on dogs: the scheme did not ensure the welfare of dogs nor did it restrict who was allowed to keep dogs. In 2016 it became a requirement that all dogs in England and Wales have a microchip; Scottish legislation was also changed to make microchipping of dogs compulsory from 2016.
In Northern Ireland, dog licences are required under the Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983. As of October 2011 dog licences cost £12.50 a year, with reductions for pensioners and owners of neutered dogs."

I didn't know you still needed a licence in N Ireland.
(I have an idea that 7/6 was also the fee for a marriage licence. )

[Tripps]

I'm on a roll today. . . Mainly politics, but bus conductors won't be coming back.

Rebecca Long Bailey says she has not spoken to Keir Starmer about policy, for many months, bu she is always available to do so.

Andy Burnham just said he wants the North to 'level up'. Says he wants the bus fare in Harpurhey (4.50) ! to be as little as it is in Harringey (£1.50). See what he did there?

Impressive interview - says he's quite happy where he is, but might return to London in the future if he is needed. Yeah right. He'll be back. Just needs to forget about N.Staffs NHS.

I checked out bus fares in Manchester. Buy a ticket All quite straightforward. Lost the will to live. I'd prefer to stay at home.

I can remember when you stood at the bus stop - one came every ten minutes, you got on, sat down and the conductor came to you and collected your fare in cash. Easy, and the cost didn't require an overdraft. Is the modern method any better?
Flatley dryer country.

[Whyperion]

London Bus Fare £1.55 (*)( the extra shilling to pay for losses due to covid and no fares at all back in Feb 2020 (not many buses either !). Its £1.55 for any bus in 60 mins (actually 69mins) period, capped at £4.50 for the day, some routes not covered if they go out the London boundary. You might note for Barnoldswick Pendle and Burnley etc there is a Transdev day ticket that covers Burnley Bus Co, Rosso and related ones including new LCC Supported Ribble Valley Services. extra for travel to Manchester , bit less if you just stay in one of the towns. Does not cover any other LCC services not operated by Transdev - like the whatever company it is on the Preston-Clitheroe-Barnoldswick-Earby-Skipton route.

(*) for London at present this throws back one of the oddities where a single journey on some underground trains at £1.50 are cheaper than a single bus at £1.55 (but if you can finish what you are doing and ride back again the bus is cheaper).
Andy Burnham could sort out the tram problem in central manchester - if you have a train ticket to a manchester terminus the tram in Zone 1 is free, but if you have a bus ride to Chorlton Street say, its not you pay extra. - same for long distance coaches, which seems a bit unfair.
Stagecoach in Manchester had a fairly good off-peak day ticket price, and Burnham had got a £2.00 I think any single bus ride after 7pm at night deal done with most of the bus companies.

With Andy Burnham wanting a London Style of Surface Transport System I am reminded in 1968 Ralph Bennett had headed up the SELNEC passenger transport executive, introducing the 'Mancunian' style of Double Decker he had been working on I think since he was at Bolton Corporation he was taken on by the new London Transport Executive and introduced the Londoner style not dissimilar (less front window area), and both in some areas had the 'farebox' system of flat and similar fares turnstile controlled into the vehicles - the single deckers in both fleets were also going down the AEC Swift Chassis. For various reasons by 1974 neither authority had reliable bus services or reliable vehicles !

[Stanley]

"but bus conductors won't be coming back."
Not too sure about that David. It might not be bus conductors, it could be other roles, but one of the big mistakes that has been made over the last century is the relentless drive to replace jobs with technology. Profit for the capital holders was seen to be more important than skilled occupations as a bedrock for an artisan society. Marx had identified the problems before 1850 and you'll find them all in Das Kapital, de-skilling of jobs, repetitive tasks and an increase in the use of machinery. If he was alive today he would include Digital technology and robotics.
We have all seen this at work. A firm or government department commissions digital revolution and sacks the clerks before the new technology is proved. That's why bureaucracy is so slow today, not enough staff to interface with the clients. It's why banks hate physical clients and want them all on digital banking with no cash.
This all started with the blue collar workers but has spread upwards to white collar and middle class. Consultants like McKinsey advocate cutting out whole swathes of middle management. They argue for centralisation and 'hubs' instead of local provision. This is the real reason why Hancock starved the council social services and NHS of funding and made provision of key services like PPE and Testing the responsibility of new central organisations. (This was also a handy way of letting profit from providing health care be leaked out globally, a lot of the people who took up the opportunity were foreign hedge funds.)
I could go on but I think you get my drift, we need millions of decent respectable jobs that allow people to retain their dignity and con tribute to society as well as housing and feeding their families. Benefits and charitable food banks are not the way to do this. Cheaper to give the masses work. Proper cost benefit analysis of the present situation including allowances for the erosion of society and the effects on health and public discipline could throw up some surprises. How long before that is realised?

[PanBiker]

I checked out bus fares in Manchester. Buy a ticket All quite straightforward. Lost the will to live. I'd prefer to stay at home.

I can remember when you stood at the bus stop - one came every ten minutes, you got on, sat down and the conductor came to you and collected your fare in cash. Easy, and the cost didn't require an overdraft. Is the modern method any better?
Flatley dryer country.

In my jaunt's to Leeds over the last few years. I have used the bus service in that city quite frequently. I have to say that I can't remember seeing anyone pay with cash. Most folk especially the younger ones use their phones to pay. I assume that will be a pre paid app on the phone. I have got to the age where I have a bus pass as do most regular travellers on the town buses. Conductors are still active on the trains but mainly to check that you have a valid ticket. They will issue and take payment from passengers that get on a stations without a ticket office.

The Communist transport system left in Prague is a proper integrated job. You can buy a pass from multiple outlets, dedicated ticket booths, metro stations, newsagents etc. You buy them for a single day, 3 days, 7 days, a month or annually. You are obliged to validate the ticket on the first journey. There are validation stations on all buses, trams, metro and trains, you shove your pass in and it stamps the time and date and the clock starts ticking. Inspectors roam the system and do spot checks for valid passes. There are punitive fines if you are trying to freeload. The passes are so cheap there is no point trying to rob the system. I think it was less than £5.00 each for a 7 day pass, we were there for four days. The 7 day was the cheapest option for us. That got us on the train both ways to and from the airport which is about 20 miles outside Prague. During our stay free travel on all buses, trams and Metro. One good tip for the traveller is to get on the circular route tram which does a figure of eight route through the centre and round outskirts especially if you get a wet day. It takes just over an hour and you get to see all of Prague. The only transport they don't cover are the taxis which are charged point to point on the clock.

[Big Kev]

[Most folk especially the younger ones use their phones to pay. I assume that will be a pre paid app on the phone.

The local bus app here works quite well, P used it a few times before retiring.

[Cathy]

This is how we validate our bus, train or tram trip, with pre-paid MetroCards.
Over 60’s have a Seniors Card for free travel between 9am and 3pm.
We don’t have conductors, only inspectors that get on occasionally.

470F90B4-678E-4266-B10F-687C8FEC11E2.jpeg

[Stanley]

Lets go back to the bell ticket punch and the wooden ticket holder wielded by a proper clippie. Let the driver concentrate on driving the bus, not being general manager and doing at least two jobs at once.

[Cathy]

Because of COVIDSafe procedures, we are still not allowed to pay public transport fares with cash.
It’s Card Only.

[Stanley]

So if you are too poor to have a card you are barred from the bus? Great!



The 1940 equivalent of the electric car. Bags inflated with coal gas from the town supply on top of cars during the war. They didn't last long because it was found that when partially deflated they flapped a lot and that wore holes in the balloon fabric they were made from.

[chinatyke]

Heath Robinson comes to mind. Did they not have compressors at that time? Some of the buses had trailers that carried the gas bag. The good old days!

[Stanley]

I never saw a gas bag on a trailer China but the North Western Road Car Company (LINK) towed small gas producing plants like the ones in this picture. They were fuelled with charcoal and had a brief spell of popularity but then vanished. I thing there must have been a problem with them.

[Stanley]

Church Street in 1982. The names on the store fronts are a Flatley Dryer litany in themselves.
Mind you, the tarmac looks in good condition. It's the same now 40 years later.....but full of patches!

[Stanley]

The younger end might not believe it but once upon a time (like in 1982 when I made this pic) we had branches of banks on the main streets and people went in and out of them all day. It's all a dream now.....

[PanBiker]

The property consortium that now owns the building since the bookies came out won't sell the building. They would rather sit on it as part of their 600+ building portfolio. It's in quite a state inside. Bosom Friends made a realistic offer for the property but they are having none of it.

[chinatyke]

I never saw a gas bag on a trailer China but the North Western Road Car Company (LINK) towed small gas producing plants like the ones in this picture. They were fuelled with charcoal and had a brief spell of popularity but then vanished. I thing there must have been a problem with them.

I might be wrong about the gas bag trailers. I had a friend who drove for BC&N JTC and we were in Queensgate bus depot one night when he pointed out an old trailer and told me about the use of gas bags. It may have been a trailer carrying the gas generator not the bag, I may have got it wrong. There was also a donkey engine which they used to engage the cranking handles to start the bus engines in a morning, though by that time it was redundant.

[Stanley]

China. My first wagon was a Bedford with a six volt electrical system. On a cold morning you had to crank them by hand. You soon learned not to park them with the front bumper against a wall!
I've only ever seen a motorised crank handle on a racing car. I like the idea of having them in the bus depot. Our 4 cylinder Albion had a crank handle and you needed to be Charles Atlas to use it!

[Tizer]

Wasn't sure where to post this but here will suffice...I've just read that towards the end of WW2 the Natural History Museum in London had two of its galleries and a corridor taken over by the military. The spaces were used by the SOE for working up some of their `dirty tricks'. It makes sense because the remaining Museum staff had been doing scientific work for the war effort and one of the main projects was development of animal-type camouflage. So a Camouflage department was ... good camouflage for the SOE!