He claimed to invent the idea of flashing bulbs in orange plastic tubes and there were many hours late at night spent discussing patents.

Beeching did not simply deal with closure of lines , he identified the strengths of the railway system, he recommended high speed expresses and block working of freight trains, please read the report and look upon Beeching as a visionary not a hatchet man. The Inland Revenue was demanding that he pay nearly 30 years' back taxes on his residence in Eccleston Street, Belgravia, London, as well as capital gains tax on his properties in Kensington. Alfred Ernest Marples, Baron Marples of Wallasey, is very happy because the Ordnance Survey have released free postcode data.

In addition to this, tenants of his block of flats in Harwood Court, London, were demanding that he repair serious structural faults and had threatened legal action. In 1948, the two men founded Marples Ridgway and Partners, a civil engineering company that started with one five-ton ex-army truck and one crane.

The Road Traffic Act of 1960 introduced the MoT test, roadside single yellow lines and double yellow lines, traffic wardens, and the 250cc engine limit for learner motorcyclists.His ribbon-cutting speech was probably considered twee even at the time, and it was certainly ignored.