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MOVING TARGET

12th May 1961, Page 57
12th May 1961
Page 57
Page 57, 12th May 1961 — MOVING TARGET
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

OMETIMES it would be better for the heavy vehicle operator if he took a stronger line with his critics. The carrier of the abnormal indivisible 'dad in particular is ncfined to comfort himself too easily with the reflection hat he is indispensable. He is reluctant to reply to attacks n case he succeeds only in drawing more attention to himelf. The long-distance operator also, until recently, has ried to ignore adverse publicity, although the main effect I his silence appears to have been to make his opponents older.

He may rely too much on official statements of the kind made by Mr. John Hay, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Transport, at the end of the Commons debate on the parking of road vehicles. Commercial road transport was absolutely vital to the continued industrial and commercial health of the country, said Mr. Hay. "We have to be very ;areful lest we do something which would damage or disturb that." The very fact that he found it necessary to make the ;tatement may indicate that he had doubts whether everybody would take it for granted.

VV HATEVER their view, and whatever the good advice .he Government receive from their experts, they must take aotice of public opinion. This was reflected during the kbate by speakers from both sides. There were several .eferences, invariably unfriendly, to the overnight parking 3f heavy vehicles in the street, especially in London. Lorry oarks were the obvious solution proposed, but alternatively and in spite of Mr. Hay's warning) there was general agree-nent that the nuisance should be suppressed. The possible ;onsequences were hardly taken into account.

The argument is one aspect of a wider issue that has been ictught over ever since the Industrial Revolution. New nventions and discoveriei that have brought comfort and 3etter living to the majority, have invariably upset the nterests and sometimes the sensibilities of a smaller number A people. The dispute flares up each time there is some lew industrial or commercial development. The construeion of a power station is resented by most of the people who live near the site, and by occasional visitors who may 'ormerly have found quiet and beauty there.

BEFORE long the dust settles again. The objectors either tdjust themselves to the new circumstances or move to mother district. In a few cases they may be given cornnnsation. Familiarity plays a powerful part in the process A reconciliation. What was once vilified as a raw !xcrescence by degrees becomes an accepted part of the andscape. In a few years' time there may be strong 3bjections to a proposal to pull it down.

Examples of this kind of process may be found in trans3ort. Publication of plans for a new road automatically mings strong protests from landowners and house-owners Ill along the route as well as from country lovers. Properly :onstructed, the road is ultimately accepted and nothing nore is heard from the opposition. If reports are true, ven stronger arguments were advanced against the building. A the railways, which have now become the object of ;entimental, if not aesthetic, attachment.

Anybody who has spent the night near a main line, and :specially near a busy station, will have had to endure far more noise for a far longer time than he would encounter if his street happened to be used as a parking place for lorries. All the same, there are people who live by the railway and who seem to like it. The assumption is that they have become reconciled to a state of affairs that they are powerless to change—short of supporting the Railway Conversion League!

AS ROAD operators are now beginning to discover, the public will not accept so tamely the inevitability of a line of lorries outside their bedroom window. The very mobility and flexibility of road transport work in this respect to its disadvantage. There is no physical reason why the offending lorries should not move to the next street or to the next borough. Because the public are aware of this, their protests remain evergreen. Similarly, the special-type vehicle, which might be made into a shrine and an object of veneration if it remained always in the same place, is instead a perennial source of irritation. However many times he may have had the experience, the motorist who tries to pass it feels exactly as he did with the first obstruction he ever encountered.

. Heavy vehicle operators may begin to believe that every man's hand is against them. If this is the situation, they may find it useful to let it be known that they are doing something about the problem of night parking. The remarks made by Mr. George Strauss during the debate in the House of Commons may not call for direct comment, but they reflect the view of the common man down to their ambiguity. It was up to the Government to take a lead, said Mr. Strauss, and at once added that he hoped the Road Haulage Association had considered " what it can do to provide for the arrangement by local authorities or the Government of facilities for the parking of lorries."

HAULIERS, like Mr. Hay, have the perfect answer. They are the victims of circumstances. Their job is to carry the goods of their customers. If, after having collected or delivered his load, the driver has nowhere to take his vehicle for the night, something ought to be done to help. Proper parking places must be provided somewhere. Obviously, neither the driver nor his employer nor the customer can conjure the space out of thin air. When they come to think about it, the public appreciate this. All they want is to be reassured that the hauliers themselves understand the problem and are ready with positive and detailed suggestions. Whatever plan is put forward cannot be made to work without official backing.

The Government or the local authorities must come into the picture at some stage. It is better that they should have available the proposals of the people concerned instead of being compelled to formulate their own plan unaided.

A working party might well be set up by commercial vehicle operators. A fair amount of work has already been done by the vehicles security committee of the R.H.A. Their object has not been so much to give a good night's rest to the burghers of Tooley Street, as to find parking space where vehicles will be kept under surveillance through the night so as to diminish the risk of theft. If operators will use the space once it has been found, the complaints raised in Parliament will no longer be valid.


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