MIDWIFE TO A CLOCKWORK MAN
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IN HER introductory speech to the second reading of the Transport Bill Mrs. Barbara Castle spoke of "one unifying theme, what I would call practical Socialism". It should be possible to trace the theme in each of the Bill's major provisions. There should be particularly clear evidence of it where the Minister plans to act as midwife at the birth of a new type of man, the transport manager, holding what Mrs. Castle described in an earlier statement as a "personal licence".
The section under which her new man is to be created is one of many obscure passages in an obscure Bill. The transport operator will find little in it to assuage his understandable suspicions. He would agree with the principle that each business and perhaps each depot ought to have a properly qualified manager who could be brought to account if serious faults were found with the standard of vehicles and of operation. He would welcome the assistance of the Minister in promoting proper
What is disturbing is the proposal that the Minister should play a part in the actual choice of managers. The operator who has read Part V of the Bill is left in no doubt that he himself will be required to demonstrate his ability to look after his business before he is granted his own licence and that failure to live up to his promise will bring sharp retribution. In view of this he might expect to be trusted with the appointment of his own staff.
If this is his opinion section 61, headed "Conditions to transport managers' licences" will disabuse as well as bewilder him. He will find that before his own licence can be granted he will have to employ in a position of responsibility a man who is already the holder of a transport manager's licence.
If there are several operating centres there must be one, or in some cases more than one, transport manager to each. Evidently it is Only in a very small business that the operator and the transport manager can be the same person.
It is at this point that section 61 takes on a surrealistic tinge. Sub-section 61(5) gives the Minister the right by regulations to scrap all that has so far been laid down and substitute whatever other requirements she chooses.
In thus giving herself complete freedom to change her mind Mrs. Castle certainly seems to be making full use of the traditional privilege of a lady and the customary practice of a politician.
Uneasiness at what further tribulations she may be planning will not increase the enjoyment of the operator as he reads on. He will find many points far from clear even after reference to schedule 9 which gives further details of transport managers' licences. The qualification is essential before a transport manager can take up his appointment and ultimately there will be a "prescribed test".
It also seems to be the case that the licensing authority may refuse to allow the holder of a licence to transfer to another job perhaps involving more responsibility.
This will certainly apply until a system of tests has been established. It can lead to some odd situations. The operator's choice of his own transport manager will be governed among other things by his assessment of the personality of the man seeking the post and by the salary asked.
If the Licensing Authority withholds permission another applicant whom the operator does not particularly like may have to be taken on for more money than he wishes to pay. There is no suggestion in the bill that the Government would make up the difference with the same willingness that is being shown to shoulder the financial obligations of the railways.
It could even happen that a manager virtually foisted on the operator because no other candidate was found acceptable to the Licensing Authority would proceed to involve the company in a number of offences leading to fines and ultimately to revocation of the operator's licence. The Bill makes no provision for the operator to seek redress against the Licensing Authority or the Minister.
Difficulties will also arise when a transport manager leaves or dies. The operator would at once be breaking the law if it were not for section 61(6) which gives him a maximum of one month in which to fill the vacancy. If in that time he fails to find somebody suitable both to himself and to the Licensing Authority he will have to close down his busi ness. On this point also it is interesting to speculate what recompense the operator would have for the possibly unfortunate consequences of making too hasty a choice.
Schedule 9 contains the provision that a transport manager must have his licence renewed every five years. An explanation of this strange requirement may be given when the committee of the House of Commons discusses the Bill point by point. As it stands the quinquennial test seems the final discouragement to anyone who contemplates making transport management his career.
Mrs. Castle has repudiated the suggestion that she wishes to destroy the road haulage industry and the Bill is supposed to put in legislative form a plan for improving the health and efficiency of that industry. There must be more evidence before operators are convinced.
The extent to which the Minister's intentions are reflected in the section on transport managers' licences may be estimated in many ways, some fanciful and some more plausible, but few of them reassuring to the operator. He cannot see the need for so many complications.
It is as if the Ministry officials responsible for drafting the Bill had been instructed to provide a blueprint for the perfect transport manager who would also be a monument to "practical Socialism" and had nothing else to draw upon except their own experience of designing vehicle types. The picture conjured up is that of a clockwork man who has to be type tested before he is allowed to start work and who has to be wound up every five years.
Very little of all this showed through the White Paper on freight transport published in advance of the Bill. The proposal at that stage was that the operator would be told how many managers he must employ mid would on the whole be left to make his own appointments on the understanding that both he and his manager would be in trouble if the vehicles were not properly maintained and managed. Subsequently the Government would promote a system of examinations and ultimately hand over the administration of transport managers' licensing to the road transport industry.
Excellent as it seemed in outline the scheme in detail is far less appetizing.