" Premature " Talk on Disposal
Page 40
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
TALK of stopping denationalization
I was premature, said Mr. James Barrie, national chairman of the Road Haulage Association, when he addressed Aberdeen Sub-area last Sunday. The potential purchasing power of private operators. was still substantial.
" It is very satisfying the way things are going," he claimed. "Over the past 14 months the industry has been able to absorb 1,000 vehicles a month without in any way upsetting trade."
The small-unit purchaser was being well catered for, and the British Transport Commission and the Disposal Board had kept 15,000 vehicles for disposal to such purchasers, The road haulage industry is enjoying a fair amount of prosperity," Mr. Barrie stated. "Work is there for those who are willing to work." There need be no lack of confidence on the part of those members of the industry anxious to buy more vehicles to go ahead with their plans. .
Over the past year the Association had been worried by rate-cutting. not by British Road Services, but by those coming back into the industry and breaking into long-distance transport.
Mr. D. Carmichael, chairman of the Scottish Area, urged hauliers to band themselves wholly behind the RH.A. to ensure that standard economic rates, and no less, were fixed. There would have to be a substantial increase in rates in local haulage, where there had always been stiff competition.
The Socialists, said Mr. Carmichael, now had to admit that the method of disposal was effective, in spite of their previous agitation.
B.T.C. REVENUE UP
STATISTICS just published by the British Transport Commission show that traffic receipts for last year totalled £653,614,000. This figure compares with £642,605,000 in the previous year.
Revenue from the Commission's provincial and Scottish buses rose from £49,820,000 to £50.734,000. Figures for British Road Services are not given separately.