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Snags in Municipal Haulage

18th March 1938, Page 94
18th March 1938
Page 94
Page 96
Page 94, 18th March 1938 — Snags in Municipal Haulage
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Some of the Difficulties Which Prevent Stabilization of Haulage Rates. A Definite Method of Assessing Rates THE first and most obvious of the snags which arise in connection with municipal haulage is that the rates paid for such work axe, in the majority of cases, less than they should be. In a good many cases, hauliers themselves are to blame for this.

There is not the slightest doubt that in this business, perhaps more than in any other, the owner-driver is the biggest stumbling block in the way of coming to agreement with the local or county authorities on the question of economic prices for the work. I do not say that the owner-driver is the only culprit. I know of a good many places where the more substantial concerns, operating quite a number of vehicles, are just as culpable.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that, usually, the activities of the owner-driver tend to reduce rates below an economic level. On the other hand, some of the difficulties do arise from the unfair and shortsighted attitude of local and county surveyors. The following are some of the examples of difficulties that have arisen.

Tackling the Rates Problem..

Before proceeding to cite actual cases I should state that, all over the country, haulage associations are tackling this problem and doing their best to put municipal haulage rates on a proper footing. In some areas they are meeting with success, but in others they are not. In some cases, their own members have let them down; in others the intransigent attitude of the local authorities is the difficulty.

For obvious reasons I do not, except in one particular case, give specific information of localities or associations. .

In one county, where the council and the surveyor are—may I say?—benevolent in their attitude towards the haulage industry, there was held, rather more than a year ago, a mass meeting of those hauliers interested in this subject The matter was thrashed out, and a fair and reasonable scale of rates for municipal haulage was agreed upon. Tenders were, at that meeting, completed and sent to the county council.

For nearly a year nothing more was heard of the matter. When tenders for the subsequent period were sent out, the chairman and committee of the area of the haulage association which had taken this energetic step were surprised to note that the council made refer c56 ence to rates considerably below those previously agreed.

The question was taken up with the county surveyor and his reply was. that, following the receipt of the tenders at agreed rates, he received, by an early post, communications from a number of those .present at the meeting referred to, asking if they might withdraw their tenders and put in fresh ones at lower rates.

It should be noted that there was no pressure applied by the council. It was, in effect, agreeable to the course which the association had taken, and the tenders received as the outcome of the meeting would have been accepted. This is a case in which the association's own members have let them down.

In other areas, and two come to mind, the course of events is almost contrary to that just outlined. In these districts, the local hauliers got together, agreed upon rates (I should add, they were fair and reasonable having in mind all the conditions), and submitted them to the local council. The latter, through its surveyor, took the attitude that this similarity in prices indicated that a ring had been formed. It turned all the tenders down and invited fresh ones from other hauliers outside the so-called ring.

Dealing with Tenders.

In yet another district the local association has come to this arrangement. When tenders are invited, all the members interested meet in the association's offices, tenders are written out and completed there and then and left to the secretary of the association to post. That procedure, in that particular area, has achieved absolute success—for two reasons.

First, the association is particularly strong and the number of non-members is almost negligible. Secondl', the local authority has been approached and persuaded that the rates are reasonable.

In other districts, representations by the associations have had the effect of persuading the authorities concerned that, if all the conditions essential to the carrying out of a municipal contract are to be observed, certain miniinum rates ought to be paid. They have accepted that view.

. Finally, in this series of examples I come to a particular case, that of Northumberland County Council. Here a curious situation had arisen. Hauliers engaged on municipal contracts had been asked to pick up workmen on their way to the council depot from which their day's work was to start. In some cases, this meant a detour of as much as 15 miles; in others, delays involved meant a total of an hour's extra work. The workmen were being conveyed at times which did not come within the periods of their employment by the council.

It was discovered that no payment was being received on account of these extias and that no provision had been made for relieving the hauliers of their liability in the event of any workman being injured while being conveyed to work.

Ban on Carrying Workmen.

As a result, it has now been established that workmen must not be picked up in this way, unless the haulier has direct authority from the divisional officer of the county council who is concerned with the ordering of the work, and that indemnity against claims for damage shall be provided under the county council's own scheme of insurance.

It is interesting to note that one haulier, realizing the risk he ran, inquired of his insurance company and discovered that an addition of £6 per annum to his insurance premium would be necessary to cover the risk.

As to fair and proper rates for this work, the figures in The Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Cost are a sound guide. Those which should be used are to be found in each table under the heading of "Time and Mileage Charges."

If it be day work for which a quotation be required, the haulier needs to ascertain only what his daily mileage is likely to average. In ordinary circumstances, a fair indication of the miles per hour is the radius of the area within which he will be operating. That is to say, if it be within a radius of five miles he can assume 5 m.p.h.; if it is eight miles, 8 m.p.h. His rate, therefore, taking the case of a vehicle carrying 2-ton loads, must be on a basis of 2s. 9d. per hour, plus 4d. per mile. If the radius be five miles, his price must be 2s. 9d. plus five times 4d., which totals 4s. 5d. per hour. If it be within an eight-mile radius, 2s. 9d. plus eight times 4d., which gives 5s. 5d. per hour. If it be the haulage of stone, then he should take the time likely to be occupied per journey, plus the mileage covered. If he be conveying grit, for example, and depositing it in heaps along the road-side and he has found that a lead of four miles from the station or quarry takes him an hour, and if he be carrying three tons, then, in one trip, he will cover eight miles, for which he should obtain not less than 6s., which is equivalent to 2s. per ton S.T.R.

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