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The times they are a-changin'
Page 38
Page 39
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The conclusion of our two-part history of the Traffic Commissioners
begins in the cosmic sixties when some applications were far from earthbound. Patric Cunnane gets in the groove...
At the beginning of that splendid decade of flower power and mind-expanding substances, a bemused Western Traffic Area was called upon to consider a licence application for a hovercraft.Well, why not?
Unfazed, it reported: "An application by an operator to run a hovercraft from a base in Cornwall was referred to the Air Transport Licensing Board... future legislation might require him to apply to us for a licence if he intended to hover for hire or reward over or along a road."
However, even the way-out sixties never produced the legislation that made this necessary. So the sight of hovercrafts gliding down our newly constructed motorways never came to pass, The TransportAct 1962 created little work for the Traffic Commissioners."Its principal purpose was to end the British Transport Commission, devolving its powers to various boards as public authorities." says transport lawyer Geoffrey Jones in his paper 75 Years of Traffic Commissioners, to which this feature is indebted. The BTC had been set up in 1947 to oversee the nationalisation of the road transport sector.
In 1965, the first female TC was appointed. Mrs M Blower served as one of the TCs in the Eastern Traffic Area but it was to be more than 30 years before a full-time woman TC was appointed.
The Transport Act 1968 was a major piece of legislation heralding a new licensing regime to replace the A. B and C carriers' licences, The system became quality-based, with operators' licences granted on the basis of an applicant's fitness to run and maintain a road haulage fleet. The operator was required to hold a transport manager's licence or employ someone who did.
The HGV licence was introduced. Revised drivers' hours rules cut the maximum allowed by truck and bus drivers from 14 toll a day with an allowance for a 'spreadover', subject to a maximum of 60 hours a week. Driving was limited to 10 hours a day with a provision to cut this further to nine hours a day.
Tachos over 30twt
Tachographs had to be fitted to all CVs over 30cwt (1.5 tonnes) unladen weight and buses had to carry tachographs to record driving time.
The TCs had three years to deal with the transition from carriers' licensing to operators' licensing. In the TCs' 1969/70 report,theYorkshire TC summed up the changes that were taking place:"We're faced with anew concept of licensing in which the emphasis is on road safety and in which the condition of the applicants' vehicles and the facilities and arrangements for their maintenance are all important."
The extra workload that year in introducing the new licences meant that operators were cut some slack when it came to disciplinary proceedings. The West Midland TC reported: "There will be those who say there has been too little disciplinary action during the year under report. My answer to this is that it is in the na tional interest, including that of the transport industry. for the introduction of the new licensing system to be given priority."
The Western TC drew on large numbers of volunteers from other staff to write vehicle discs "to give much-needed help to those of the troops who were in the front line throughout the battle". By 1971, 0-licences were fully implemented and the TCs could concentrate on other things.
Supporting the system mo,1 I ( 's were supportive of the new system but the Northern TC vented his feelings in his report of 1973/74: "The high rate of entry to and exit from the industry indicates that the saturation point of operators and vehicles is long past. Every newcomer today is calculated to take work from an existing operator.
"Healthy competition." he concluded, "has given way to wasteful competition."
This refreshingly outspoken TC retired in December 1975. Before he did, he appointed a Deputy TC whose son would be known in 20 years' time as Labour Party leader.
Dr Leo Blair became DTC and Deputy LicensingAuthority in July 1975. He resigned in July 1977, but received no mention in the annual report.
Perhaps he realised the TCs' power base was on the wane. The Transport Act 1980 removed many of the TCs' responsibilities, especially concerning passenger transport such as the regulation of routes and fares. Several classes of service, including express operations, no longer required a road service licence.
The Transport Act 1982 introduced the requirement that operating centres must be suitable on environmental grounds. The extra work was welcome since TCs were to lose out further when buses were deregulated in 1985.
In April 1984, three 'Traffic Areas were merged into others. Yorkshire and part of the Northe rn Traffic Area were combined to form a new North-Eastern Traffic Area, while the rest of Northern and the East Midland was split between the West Midland and the Easte.
The cuts continued. 1991 saw the end Metropolitan Tra file Area, wi th most of it ferring to the South-Eastern and Metropi Traffic Area. Vocational licensing swii to the DVL A and traffic examiners t Vehicle Inspectorate.
In 1995 the Goods Vehicle (Licensi Operators) Act made some important an ments and the title of 'licensing authl disappeared. The next year, continuous Ii ing was introduced with a five-yearly revi road safety and environmental matters.
Bell rings the changes In 1999 Beverley Bell became the first ft TC and, at 40, the youngest appointed.
Enforcement was boosted in 2001 whc Goods Vehicles (Enforcement Power) R.( tions enabled VOSA to impound vehicles The consequences soon became evidei the North-Eastern TC noted in the 21 report: "The effect of impounding has dramatic.The number of previously unlicc operators applying for licences has inert markedly." He reported that 27 out of 28 des seized had been in a dangerous condi So over 75 years of TCs, what has char In 1930. 13 male TCs presided over 131 Areas. Now there are seven TCs, includin women, and eight Traffic Areas.
"75 years on.TCs have a very different says Geoffrey Jones. -They no longer cc the quantity of buses and lorries on the ro some ways they have a more difficult ensuring the quality of those operations."