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Goods Transport
Page 7
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LABOUR'S PLANS FOR TRANSPORT
FROM OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
BIG changes in the road haulage licensing laws are coming if the Labour Party achieves power. This was foreshadowed by Party Leader Mr. Harold Wilson himself in a speech in London this week. Launching a Labour Party-Trades Union campaign to stifle the Beeching Plan, he said the changes would include operating limits. And he continued:— " We must add frankly that this (licensing) problem cannot be solved without tackling the problem of C licensing. The national transport plan we shall work out will have to provide for settling this question". The Labour leader remained canny about how the Socialists will seek to achieve their aims, but he returned often to the party theme of integration, and gave notice that Labour would end the so-called "creaming-off " of profitable freight business into the hands of private haul iers.
Mr. Wilson said that one of the reasons • why publicly owned transport made a profit under the last Labour Government —despite the massive increase in road competition—was because all the 96,000 lorries on the roads were State owned,
• efficiently run and their profits were contributing to the national pool of the B.T.C. The 1953 Act destroyed the ability of British transport to pay its way. "The Tory Government simply came along and looted national assets to provide pickings for their friends," he said. He claimed that there was hardly any country where the railways paid their way, because of the modern surge in car ownership and the creaming-off of more profitable business by road haulage. "We cannot solve this problem until we have an integrated policy which will make sure that where profits are creamed off from rail to road they are brought into the transport pool as a whole, and not siphoned off to private owners," he declared.
Dr. Beeching had done a competent and efficient job. But he had been told to apply surgery in a situation where surgery was not the right answer. The surgery had been decided before a diagnosis had been made. :,r1r. Wilson said a number of things should now he done about the Beeching Plan and transport in general. First, no decisions on rail closures should be made until there had been a comparable and equally ruthless survey of the transport system of Britain as a whole. "In every area, there must be a proper economic costing, not just of railway profit and loss, but of the social cost and where it is involved," he said. • Second, the Bceching plan as a whole should be referred to N.E.D.C. for full study and evaluation of the interaction between national economic development, rail traffics, and the transport needs of the country. Third, N.E.D.C. should then begin again, and see what would be the future position of British Railways if we had an integrated transport system. Fourth. consideration should be given to using B.R.S. as a modern and effective feeder service for the railways. Fifth, there should be a national transport plan tied to regional and national economic development. Mr. Wilson's speech was the highlight of the Labour Party and transport trades unions' big send-off rally, at Westminster Central Hall, to launch the Socialist transport election campaign. A resolution giving effect to the Labour leader's proposals was adopted by the very large audience present.
T.R.T.A. CONFERENCE
NAR. J. DELICATE, general transport al manager of Courtaulds Ltd., and a national. vice-chairman of the Traders Road Transport Association, will present the paper: "Some practical aspects of C-licence operation" (see The Commercial Motor, June 14) at the Association's first annual national conference at Brighton from October 3 to 5.
DRIVERS' GUIDE
NvHERE to find good food and accommodation at reasonable prices is a question constantly confronting the road transport worker, so the latest edition of the Drivers' Guide will be of invaluable assistance. About 500 names and addresses of catering establishments are included in the guide, published by the Road Transport Catering and Accommodation Joint Committee at Is. All establishments listed have been inspected and drivers who usc others which they find suitable are recommended to invite the proprietor to ask for the inclusion of his name in subsequent issues. Copies of the guide can be obtained from the committee secretary at Roadway House, 22 Upper Woburn Place, London, W.C.I.
Insurance Rates to Rise in October
FROM October 1, an A-licensed 10-tonner based in London will cost £195 to insure, compared with £173 at the moment, and the same vehicle based in a country area will require a premium of £164 instead of the £146 now paid. A C-licensed 3-tonner in London will
have its premium raised from £41 to £48, or if based in the country, from £23 to £26. These examples of how goodsvehicle operators will be affected by insurance premium increases are basic rates which take no account of no-claim or fleet discounts.
The new insurance rates announced this week affect only policies held with the tariff companies, which form the Accident Offices Association. The increases will be applied to new policies taken out from October 1 and to existing policies renewed on or after that date: if a policy falls due for renewal up to September 30 this year the new rates will not apply until the 1964 renewal.
For goods vehicles the increases range from about 12 per cent to 17 per cent, the largest increase being for the bigger
vehicles, and the basic rate for cars will rise by between 15 and 30 per cent. Although the steeper increases in basic
rates for private cars will be partly offset by a more generous scale of no-claim discounts, the existing no-claim discount rates for commercial vehicles will be continued unchanged and there will be no
change in the fleet discount rate. But
a £15 accidental damage excess which is being applied to private cars will also apply to most goods vehicles and this means that policies will not cover the first £15 of a damage claim when vehicles are being driven by young drivers or those "of limited experience."
Public service vehicle insurance rates are not affected by these new increases. The tariff companies say the rises result from a continuing increase in repair costs and in payments to third parties.
The Road Haulage Association, while deploring the increases, points out that
the superior standard set by commercial
vehicles is reflected in the average increase for them being lower than for cars. The Association says it is more important than ever that members should give careful consideration to the special terms and other advantages available
from its insurance panel. H.B.C.
T.D.G. Buys D.M.T.
TS week the Transport Develop
.1 Group Ltd. has acquired the entire issued share capital of D.M.T. Transport Ltd. of Lincoln and of its associated company, Greetwell Garage Ltd. The purchase price of £70.180 was met by the allotment of 89,375 T.D.G. 5s. ordinary shares plus £6,500 in cash. D.M.T. Transport is a 26-vehicle haulage concern operating out of Lincoln as a general carrier. Mr. D. Turner will remain managing director of this and the associated company.