Scottish Workers Call for Greater Powers for B.T.C.
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NAANY traders who were opposed to IV! nationalization on political grounds were giving preference to the private haulier or providing their own Clicensed transport, said Mr. Alex Falconer in his presidential address to the Scottish Horse and Motormen's Association's conference at Rothesay, last week.
"This political bias." he said. "is, in my opinion, the most formidable obstacle vihich has to be overcome if road transport nationalization is to be a success." Most of the vehicles now operating under A, B and C licences were often running side by side with State-awned vehicles, and it was not uncommon to see the State vehicle empty, he observed. "If the Government continue to allow the development of and extension of C-licensed operation to proceed unchecked, their own scheme of road transport nationalization is heading for almost certain failure," he declared.
" Many private hauliers are in an infinitely better position than they were prior to nationalization. After selling to the State their businesses, which had grown to considerable size and been developed from the profit they made in the industry, some of the former owners a24
have actually set up again in the road haulage business," he continued.
"Not only have they entered into competition with the State, but they have been successful in taking away from the State-run business, traffic which they formerly handled in their pre-nationalized days."
"Take Stock Now" The British Transport Commission must be aware of the many disadvantages under which it operated and it should take stock now. If it did not have the power under the Transport Act, it should ask for amending legislation which would give authority to remedy the inevitable imperfections which must arise within the limitations of the present nationalized system, Mr. Falconer stated.
A resolution was passed declaring that, whilst nationalizaion was supported in principle, the Association was deeply conscious of its failure to secure any tangible improvement in operatives' conditions or reasonable concessions to consumers. An investigation into the "millstone of compensation" was demanded, and into the tendency for former hauliers to continue to run the industry.