Open door for 0 licensing
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IN A BID to gather more evidence from small operators, the Foster Committee on 0 licensing is to set up a series of meetings up and down the country.
This latest step by the committee of inquiry is aimed at those owner drivers and operators with fleets of up to 10 vehicles who, it is estimated, represent between 40,000 and 60,000 firms in the haulage industry.
The committee says it appreciates that many of these operators are not members of the various associations and that it is difficult for them to find the time to produce written evidence.
For these reasons four public meetings have been arranged in which the chairman and two or three members of the Committee will hear small operators' views and opinions of the current 0 licensing system.
The Committee hopes the operators will tell them what the system's effects on safety, the environment and the economics of the industry are, what enforcement of controls it providc.s, and how it could be oved.
Immediate reaction from the National Association of Owner Drivers was one of obvious delight.
John Cameron, national coordinator of NODA, told CM: "We certainly are pleased about this. With these small meetings to take oral evidence they obviously are seeking a more comprehensive report than ever before.
"Some of the questions involved are highly emotive and it'll be easier to have a short verbal reaction than to go on with screeds of paper."
The meetings will all begin at 7pm at the following places: • March 6 — The Queen's Hall, Ealing Town Hall, New Broadway, Ealing • March 9 — The Park Hotel, Park Place, Cardiff • March 15 — The Mahogany Room, The North British Hotel, Princes Street, Edinburgh • March 31 — Birmingham Medical Institute, 36 Harborne Road, Birmingham.