.
IN THE
NEWS...IN THE STREAMLINE CABBIES SET A HIGH STANDARD IN SOUTHAMPTON
We thought it appropri- ate, at the beginning of a new year, to highlight the success of one of the UK’s longest standing taxi co-opera- tives. The NPHA has always advocated that “there is strength in numbers” – if you have sufficient numbers of like-minded licence holders in your district, band together and get the job done! The first meeting was held in a room at the Bank Inn, Everton Street, Southampton, In 1938. From that and subsequent meetings, 25 licensed taxi propri- etors
formed the
Southampton Stream- line Taxi Association, which began operation on May 16, 1939 with
25 standard saloon cars. From that day, the all-black cars with cream bonnets became a well-known feature in Southampton. The previous day an advert appeared in the Daily Echo with the slogan, “There may be a last tram or bus but there is no last Streamline”, announc- ing that from 2pm the new “all cream bon- net” taxi service would be open for business. According to the advert the name of the company stood for: Streamline Transport is Reliable and Economical Always “on duty” Modern cars Licensed and
Uniformed drivers ‘on parade’ with their newly delivered taxis in May 1939
Inspected by the authorities Never Ever closed
In 1972, when Stream- line marked its 33rd anniversary, it claimed that its service had only been interrupted for a period of three hours during the Sec- ond World War, when unexploded bombs
were discovered near the company’s office at Hanover Buildings. According to the Southern Daily Echo, during the 1939 to 1945
hostilities,
Streamline taxi cabs were used to tow the Auxiliary Fire Service tenders. They also helped in the evacua- tion of children and
were used as transport for the ARP and other emergency services. In 1972 a company spokesman said: “By the end of 1939 the Streamline taxi fleet had grown to 50 vehicles. Over the past 33 years this number varied only slightly. It is made up of taxis with the familiar full cream bonnet and PHVs with the cream stripe on the bonnet.” The Streamline fleet became radio-con- trolled on January 23, 1950. This brought about some difficulties at the time, but quickly became
accepted
throughout the trade. In the latter part of 1969, Streamline taxi members started to take an interest in the
possibilities of LPG as a car fuel. After trials the company was granted permission to adopt the fuel for many of its cars. “This again created great interest through- out the trade and, from the experience gained from Southampton Streamline, many large taxi fleets began using this fuel,” said the company spokes- man 40 years ago. “The Southampton Streamline Taxi Asso- ciation have remained progressive and will continue to improve their service, thereby maintaining the pledge of the association’s founder members to maintain a supreme service of taxis both by day and by night.”
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PHTM JANUARY 2013
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