Split RTITB, says RHA chief
Page 18
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
BIG HAULAGE GROWTH FORECAST BY SIR DONALD STOKES
• A suggestion that the Road Transport Industry Training Board should be split into separate autonomous subsidiary boards for the different sections of the industry was made by the RHA chairman, Mr. Noel Wynn, on Tuesday. in his address to the R HA Conference in Eastbourne he said he felt that hauliers were entitled to demand full value for the levy they paid, and it would be idle to pretend that up to the present they were completely satisfied with the position. lie asked whether it was right to lump together passenger operation, goods transport operation, vehicle maintenance and'a number of other categories: in spite of the Association's very vigorous protests, the Board had imposed the same rate of levy in respect of all these activities.
Mr. Wynn asked whether there should not be a substantial change in structure. He felt the structure should be vertical rather than horizontal, and if this were done through subsidiary boards the levy for road haulage could be calculated on a fair and proper basis and with more scope for controlling the way the money was spent.
The chairman announced that a survey of RHA services to members was well in hand and he had already had a conference with area chairmen and secretaries, looking particularly at the changes resulting from the Transport Act. It was hoped to lay a detailed plan before the areas at a second conference to be held in the near future.
The future potential of road haulage was strikingly emphasized by Sir Donald Stokes in the paper which he presented to the RHA
Conference on Tuesday. He revealed that British Leyland's economic experts expected a growth rate in the haulage industry of around 6+ per cent per year over the next five years, even allowing for the prospect of quantity licensing. This was about twice the growth rate predicted for the national economy, and BLMC believed that 3+ per cent per year would be in increased carrying capacity and 3 per cent in increased truck sales (in categories over 3.5 tons g.v.w.).
The Minister of Transport, said Sir Donald, had indicated that regulations would soon be revised to permit bigger loads, He believed there would be a continuing "trading up" process in the next few years, certainly up to the 16-ton two-axle rigid.