Not many people could afford to run a family car during the war. Shortage of petrol too. My paternal GPs had a motorbike, the rest of us, nothing. Priority went to occupations such as farming. I believe there was a lot of criminal activity in the 'black market for various foodstuffs, because of the shortages of imports. Forged food coupons etc. Foyle's War ( TV series) was about wartime crime. Apparently quite authentic.
Digressing. As Tricia states not many cars about in those days.For the individual the most that could be accessed was a motor bike and ownership would stem from prewar most likely.Those having cars which did not qualify for the Home Office priority allocation had to depend on rationing and I am not sure how it functioned.Priority went to those who duties which were essential to the war economy......(later the same scheme was laid down for the Suez crisis where only senior management were issued with petrol coupons in essential industries....didn't matter too much because very few of workforces had a car...some possessed a motorbike perhaps but the majority travelled by bike). One feature I remember during the war was the three wheeled steam powered lorries used by the railway companies to deliver goods from their goods yards....always seen around in town.The other point was large presence of horse drawn transport...milk floats,coal delivery carts and general haulage....horse drawn carts similar to what is seen in Roumania now...never heard of anybody pinching a horse and cart. Our GP had a car which when it was garaged,I used to sit in.in the drivers seat with hands on the steering wheel pretending to drive it.The GP's son was a friend of mine so I was able "to drive the car" in the garage.Looking back it must have caused some strain on the vehicle with the steering wheel turned at standstill. Rationing...black markets...people trading or borrowing cups of sugar from neighbours was a feature...no fast foods,crisps etc and even the local fish and chip shop could not open regularly...when it did,news travelled fast and it was a case of queuing with often finding "fish cakes only" as the fish ran out. Home reared pigs also provided a source of rationed food by illegal means...such animals being reared should have been declared to the Ministry of Food in order that there should a adjustment....a reduction made to the owner and family's meat coupon allocation.Slaughters were licensed and through this, often had malpractices to benefit themselves and relatives by the illegal slaughtering of pigs.There were not many eggs about and all were on ration. Later egg supplies were complimented by US imports of egg yoke powder. As regards the illegal sourcing of petrol.I have often seen it related about aviation petrol being "requisitioned" for motor bikes and cars.Seems unusual not to find problems reported and damage caused by using 100 octane fuel for engines which were not designed to use it. Overall I do not think that the war led to a downturn in crime.Indeed criminals were inducted by conscription into the armed forces and carried on with their illegal activities until found out.As regards civilian offences,these were of a wide spectrum with war regulations continually being circumvented.Not to mention rape offences,violence and robbery,cases of which are well documented during wartime. A few years ago at a reunion I was talking to a former WAAF and her husband, a former navigator on a Lancaster squadron and I mentioned the self navigation of Lysander pilots of special duty squadron down to Perigueux. She then mentioned and her husband nodded in agreement of an airman with a name similar to Perigueux and another with a common English name who carried out criminal activities until they were found out and court martialled. These two types must have had duties which were not closely supervised and obviously they had the opportunity to carry out criminal activities on the station and probably externally since they had the continual use of a station vehicle... a vehicle with a RAF B/1 identity would seldom be challenged off station by the police.
Harry Ree - thanks for that. You have a phenomenal memory! I enjoy these history threads, not so many at the moment (or 'right now,' as they say now.)
I wish my eyesight for reading was as good as my memory....I think anyone who lived through the war years would remember the basic living and shortages we endured....clothing coupons for children with an extra allowance for children of an increased size in footware.....no clothing was thrown out in those days.
Two points; Eggs. People could opt out of the egg ration and get a small amount of corn or meal to feed chickens instead. My grandparents did. From a Canadian book: our hero was the guy who realised that the red dye in agricultural petrol could be removed by filtering it through an Army gas mask filter. Just as well it never came to chemical warfare! Chris
Roll forward fifteen years from 1941. " The London Metropolitan Police at work, 1956. Updating the map of Vehicle Theft Incidents in the Map Room in London Metropolitan Police Headquarters, Scotland Yard. In 1956, 8,000 vehicle thefts were reported in London, with 90% successfully retrieved within 48 hours. On the map, a stud pin indicated where a vehicle was stolen, a flat pin where it was found. Other maps were used to log thieves' methods, and sometimes enabled the police to track a serial criminal." THE LIFE AND WORK EDWARD G MALINDINE, PHOTOJOURNALIST AND OFFICIAL ARMY PHOTOGRAPHER 1906 - 1970 (HU 102912)
