BRIGHTON FRONT
Page 69
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WHAT Mrs. Barbara Castle gives with one hand she sometimes appears to take away with the other. There was reassurance for road operators in her statement at the Labour Party conference in Brighton last week that there was a great deal to be said for not recreating a publicly owned freight monopoly. This was only repeating what the operators themselves had been saying for a long time.
Even her proviso that there should be fair competition seemed no more than reasonable. Once again this was echoing the hauliers, although they and the Minister may have had different restraints on competition in mind. Her statement was linked with the decision to review the general scope and detailed provisions on drivers' hours. The day after her speech the Ministry announced that associations, trade unions and other interested organizations had been asked for their opinions in advance of detailed discussions.
There was no room for complaint here. The statutory hours of work have remained virtually unchanged since 1930 and the time for another look at them is perhaps overdue in view of the substantial changes in other industries and in other countries. There was all the more reason for reconsideration if. as Mrs. Castle appeared to be alleging, the present provisions gave road operators an unfair advantage over their competitors, by which presumably the Minister meant the railways.
Closer examination of the Minister's words showed that her argument was more tortuous. What really worried her was not so much the present state of the law as the extent to which it was being ignored or disobeyed. She would have to reconsider nationalizing the private sector of the road haulage industry if proper hours and conditions could not be enforced throughout that industry.
On this interpretation Mrs. Castle envisages nationalization as a punishment for misbehaviour. This would be extremely rough justice. The good and bad operators would be treated alike and the innocent presumed guilty. Because a minority of operators do not measure up to the standard set by the State-owned organization they must all be condemned.
Perhaps this was not the meaning the Minister intended to convey. The statement issued on the following day makes it clear that methods of enforcement and the penal
ties for infringements are to be reconsidered as well as the permitted hours themselves. The present sanctions may not be thought sufficient although if taken to the limit they can involve the revocation of an operator's licence and the consequent cessation of his business.
In this way the bad operator can be eliminated or intimidated. The normal wellbehaved operator has nothing to fear. This may be the result which Mrs. Castle hopes to achieve by tightening up the law. To put her wish in the form of a threat against hauliers in general may not be the best way to win their support.
One unjustified assumption is that the blame lies only with the operator. The driver who wishes to suit his own convenience can usually contrive to do so whatever efforts his employer makes to keep the operations of his vehicle strictly within the law. Measures such as the fitting of recorders and the use of inspectors must be taken cautiously and are usually not taken at all if the opposition is strong.
The Minister had nothing to say on this problem unless it is to be supposed as her opinion that employment in a State-owned undertaking automatically makes the driver more law-abiding. The introduction of the theme of nationalization into a straightforward statement on hours of work seems to have been due to the terms of the composite resolution on transport introduced by Mr. Sidney Greene, NUR general secretary. The resolution called on the Government "to introduce legislation to establish an integrated transport system".
Mr. Alex Kitson, general secretary, Scottish Commercial Motormen's Union, who was the next speaker, put the position even more plainly. The transport industry could be controlled properly, he said, only by the renationalization of the road haulage industry and the sooner the better. In the prevailing atmosphere Mrs. Castle's avowal that there was something to be said on the other side seems almost courageous.
Harsher penalties and more rigorous enforcement may be needed in the road transport industry but the case for or against nationalization should not be fought on this front. As with the war on maintenance the tendency is to begin at the wrong end and to concentrate there. When a series of publicized roadside Checks was held the greatest display of emotion invariably came when an immediate prohibition was attached to a vehicle bearing a household name. Satisfaction was at its most complete when the name was that of British Railways or of British Road Services.
That these well-known undertakings could improve their maintenance standards was• already well known to them. No operator can be confident that every one of his vehicles is in perfect condition. Reasons for the defects may include faulty manufacture, shortage of new vehicles and spare parts and the lack of skilled mechanics. Responsible operators are aware of these difficulties, do their best to overcome them and would continue their efforts in their own interests whether or not the law placed the obligation on them.
The shock administered to their pride by an immediate GV9 might have a marginal effect. The serious culprits are to be found elsewhere mostly among the small operators. They are careless of the condition of their vehicles and they have no scruples about working their drivers for as long as they are foolish enough to stay on the road. These gross offenders are less easily traced and identified than their better-known fellow operators. Enforcement officers, who are very thin on the ground, may prefer to concentrate on the larger victims and ignore the small fry.
More effective enforcement would redress the balance. Nationali7ation would do nothing to help. It would weld many of the good operators into the monopoly for which the Minister has betrayed no great affection. The bad operators, many of them already operating under dubious licences or none, would merely retreat further into the grey area, the twilight zone which provides the best environment for evasion and for escaping detection. Experience has already shown that when free enterprise is repressed by law the need for it continues and may find its satisfaction by disreputable means.