Focus on
Bringing the Bethnal Green disaster to light
The government tried to keep the details of the Bethnal Green Tube shelter disaster of 1943 private – but a court case brought the terrible story to light.
Series
Emergency Road Transport Organization
Catalogue reference: MT 55
What's it about?
MT 55
This series consists of files of the Road Transport Divisions of the Ministry of War Transport relating to the operation of the Emergency Road Transport Organization, together with circulars issued to Regional Transport Commissioners and Area...
Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
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MT 55
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Title (The name of the record)
- Emergency Road Transport Organization
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Date (When the record was created)
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1935-1954
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Description (What the record is about)
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This series consists of files of the Road Transport Divisions of the Ministry of War Transport relating to the operation of the Emergency Road Transport Organization, together with circulars issued to Regional Transport Commissioners and Area Road Haulage officers, and minutes of conferences of the Regional Transport Commissioners.
The series also contains minutes and papers of the following committees: the Committee on Road Safety in War, 1941 to 1943; the Committee on the Use of Home Produced Fuels in Internal Combustion Engines, 1940; the Motor Vehicle Maintenance Advisory Committee, 1941; the Road Haulage (Defence) Advisory Committee 1938 to 1939; and the Road Haulage Consultative Committee, 1940 to 1948.
Some papers concerning the London Passenger Transport Board are included
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Arrangement (Information about the filing sequence or logical order of the record)
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Arrangement
The papers in this series have been selected from those created in the Road Transport divisions and have been listed in their original subject and file reference order
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Related material (A cross-reference to other related records)
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Other records relating to the Emergency Road Transport Organisation are in MT 50
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
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Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
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English
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Creator(s) (The creator of the record)
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- Ministry of Transport, Road Transport Division, Emergency Road Transport Organisation, 1939-1941
- Ministry of War Transport, Road Transport Division, Emergency Road Transport Organisation, 1941-1946
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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
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493 file(s)
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Immediate source of acquisition (When and where the record was acquired from)
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In 1972 Department of the Environment
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Administrative / biographical background (Historical or biographical information about the creator of the record and the context of its creation)
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The Ministry of Transport and the the Road Transport (Defence) Advisory Committee established the Emergency Road Transport Organisation in September 1939.
Under the Road Transport divisions of the Ministry the organisation operated on a regional basis, each region being under the control of a Regional Transport Commissioner and sub-divided into districts, sub-districts and groups.
The structure enabled control to be maintained of war-time needs like the rationing of fuel for commercial transport; the transport requirements of the fighting and defence forces; the economic allocation of transport; zoning of foodstuffs and essential commodities; allocation of materials for repair and maintenance of vehicle fleets and the arrangement of transport facilities for the vastly altered peak-hour travel which came about with the building of new factories.
In each region there were Regional and District Advisory Committees consisting of representatives of the operators of commercial road vehicles and including representatives of railways and labour. Consultative Committees were set up by the Commissioners in areas likely to experience passenger transport difficulties due to redistribution of industry and labour.
Co-operation was maintained throughout with other ministries, e.g., with the Ministry of Food and the Board of Trade in connection with food zoning; with the Ministries of Supply and Labour and National Service regarding the allocation of materials and labour; with the Petroleum Board for the rationing of diesel oil and petrol for goods vehicles.
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C11104/
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
156,093 records
Within the department: MT
Records created or inherited by the Transport Ministries, and by related bodies,...
You are currently looking at the series: MT 55
Emergency Road Transport Organization
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