Ministry Quiz on Operators' Costs
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BIG SURVEY IN THE NEW YEAR r-t A MAJOR survey of goods transport operators' costs is to be undertaken in the New Year by the Ministry of Transport, which wants to gather a lot more basic information about the cost of transporting goods by road in the UK. The operators approached for information will be under legal obligation to answer by the provisions of the 1947 Statistics of Trade Act.
The survey will be the first of its kind undertaken by the Ministry and the first comprehensive official inquiry into costs of operating road vehicles ever made in this country, it is claimed.
Questionnaires will be sent to some 8,000 operators of A-, Band C-licensed vehicles. They will be asked to give particulars of the cost of operating their fleet during their past financial year, together with data on numbers employed on road transport work, size of fleet, and total transport performed.
Furthermore, individual vehicles will be chosen at random from an operator's fleet and details asked of the work done and cost of operating these vehicles during a specified period. The Ministry says this data will provide useful information on the average cost of operating different types of vehicles under different conditions.
It is estimated that road goods transport operators spend between £1,500m. and £2,000m. annually on running their fleets. Wages are probably the biggest single item of expenditure, accounting for perhaps 40 to 50 per cent of the total. Capital expenditure on vehicles probably amounts to about E200m. annually.
The Ministry stresses that since the information supplied by operators is being treated as strictly confidential, it will be used solely in the compilation of general statistical data and the results of the inquiry will be published in a way which will not reveal the particulars relating to any individual undertaking.
Results are expected to be available before the end of 1966.