'Co-existence' call by RHA and NFC chiefs
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• Ownership does not matter; State and private haulage have common interests and must work together. This is the theme which the chairmen of the National Freight Corporation {Sir Reginald Wilson) and the Road Haulage Association (Mr. Noel Wynn) have both adopted in speeches at public functions in the past week.
On Friday, proposing the toast to the RHA at the annual dinner of the South Wales area, Sir Reginald said: "As a result of the transport Act we are all in it together, more even than before." The NFC and private hauliers were in the same boat, with common problems. And the focal point for working together was the RHA.
It might be felt that NFC was out of scale with the rest—and could act like a Big Brother; but it was a useful big brother, capable of defending smaller brothers when necessary, and of providing help out of its greater resources. And private hauliers could certainly be of help to the NFC, which needed the protection of being banded together with its competitors and colleagues in the RHA. Being publicly owned was not the blessing some thought it to be. "Only time will show," he said, "whether we are allowed to be a sensible, commercial, competitive and, I hope, profitable road haulage undertaking or not."
Public ownership and size were two of the three main differences between the NFC and other RHA members, said Sir Reginald. The third was the NFC's stale in the Freightliner
company, and he gave a guarantee that use of the Freightliners would be open to all road haulage undertakings on an equal basis. "There will be published schemes of charges just as for a toll road,he said, and hoped hauliers would use Freightliners as much as possible "because this will help us get rid of the current deficits".
He thought quality licensing an excellent instrument for improving road transport—but it ought not to be botched "because some people were in too much of a hurry". But of quantity licensing he quipped: "least said soonest mended, and the least done the best."
Replying to Sir Reginald, Mr. Wynn took up the theme of the common interest of State and privately owned haulage and called upon members to forget the ownership distinction. And he hoped there would be no carping if people in the private sector moved into publicly owned transport, adding: "It has been known for individuals to move in the opposite direction without any great comment."
At the RHA East Midland luncheon on Tuesday Mr. Wynn returned to this theme, and was adamant that private road haulage had learned to live with the nationalized sector; he saw no point in overturning the present situation—as had been hinted at as desirable by the preceding speaker, Mr. Michael Heseltine MP, vice-chairman of the Tory transport committee.