Yockshire Hauliers Think Government Long-distance *Hiring Rates Too Low
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terms of payment which the Government overnment haulage scheme lays• down for the hire of chartered vehicles on long-distance services were criticized as being too low, at a wellattended general meeting of members of the Federation of Yorkshire Road Transport Employers, held in Leeds last Sunday, under the chairmanship of Mr. Frank Thompson (Leeds).
In provisionally accepting/ the scheme, the meeting stipulated as one of the conditions . of acceptance that the long-distance terms be revised " to bring them into closer relationship with present-day earnings of vehicles,
• bearing in mind the fact that excessive profits are not desired by the industry." Being fully desirous of helping the scheme forward, added the resolution in question, the Federation would be willing to submit suggestions for such revision.
The meeting also made its acceptance of the scheme subject to satisfaction being obtained by the Federation on certain other points.
Mr. J. S. -Hutchinson, of Messrs. C. and S. Parkinson, of Halifax and Huddersfield, was nominated for the post of chairman of the Leeds Area Committee of the Hauliers' National Traffic Pool. „
Reporting on examination of thIe
• -echeme by the Federation's Council, by • informal meetings of members, and by individual operators who had given their views to the Federation, Mr. Harry Clark, manager and secretary, said there was a body of opinion which felt that the long-distance rates laid down in the scheme were too low. Some alarm was felt at the prospect of these being made standard rates, and in this connection there was disquiet as to post-war possibilities.
'Mr. T. Jackson (Dewsbury) declared that there was no haulier in England who could profitably run a vehicle for 1,000 miles at the rates laid down in the scheme. Furthermore, he would like to know how the driver of a wagon of 15-tons capacity could possibly work his vehicle for 1,000 miles in a week and at the same time unload the vehicle.
A Pool of Drivers Mr. J. F. Archbold (Leeds) said that., the scheme provided for the employment of relief drivers. In each area there would be a pool of drivers.
Mr. Thompson, the chairman, said the Government apparently had some plan in mind to overcome the. difficulty arising from the shortage of drivers.
Affirming that the long-distance chartering rates laid down in the scheme were :totally inadequate, Mr. flutchinson quoted actual cost figures for an 11-tonner--a vehicle which, he said, was not new and which had been well depreciated on its owner's hooks— and calculated in detail what its•earnings would be under the scheme and if it made corresponding journeys outside the scheme. The overhead charges on the vehicle, he said—covering tax. insurance, the driver's wages for a 48hour week, and depreciation—totalled £18 per week, and in a week of normal running the cost of the oil fuel which it used worked out at 8d. per mile.
Under the long-distance lerms in the scheme, the standing weekly payment for the hire of the vehicle, irrespective of whether it was employed, would be £28 7s., and if it travelled 1,000 miles in the week, its gross earnings, including the standing payment, would be £62 6s. 2d. On the other hand, if during a week's operation outside the scheme the vehicle made two trips from the West Riding to London and back, carrying a 10-ton load throughout at 30s. per ton, its earnings for the aggre-gate of 860 miles would be £60. If, to complete the 1,000 miles in the week, it carried 10 tons to and from Hull at 15s. per ton, its week's earnings would be brought up to £75—£12 13s. .10d. more per week than it could. earn under the Government scheme. On an annual basis this difference worked out at £634 10s. per year, and after making allowance for bad days, breakdowns and holidays, he would put the net difference in the vehicle's earnings at £500 a year.
As this•reduction in earnings applied in the case of a vehicle which had been well depreciated, he suggested that if the vehicle were a new one the operator would lose "a packet of money" under the Government terms.