Conversation Service For Lonely Drivers

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30288, 14 November 1963, Page 17

Conversation Service For Lonely Drivers

/Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

LONDON, Nov. 13. A group of young men in ■ London who used to run a charring service have now gone into the car conversation business, says the “Daily Mail.” You can hire them by the hour to talk to you while you drive. They are in constant demand by lonely drivers. “We’ve got our regulars now —about 40 of them,” said the organiser of the service. 22-year-old Jonathan Norris “People like the woman who hires us once a fortnight to go to Norfolk and never goes at more than 15 miles an hour. “The whole thing started when the South American diplomat asked me to go to Bristol with him instead of washing up. He was afraid he would fall asleep at the wheel if he didn't have someone to talk to. ‘To be honest we don’t like lonely women much—well, not the ones we get. And we don't take anyone without a proper introduction. “In fact, though, we have to talk in self-defence. If you let drivers talk to you they start talking at you. That's terrifying. They take their

eyes off the road to look at you. “Normally we charge about £3 for an eight-hour day, but where driving is atrocious we add 10 per cent danger money," Mr Norris said.