French permit victims
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TRANSPORT MINISTER Norman Fowler is to look into claims that companies which have committed minor infringements of regulations can never get French road haulage permits, and that a second company which has a common directorship with another suffers from any ban on the first.
He also expects to announce shortly new measures to assist firms who have real difficulty in acquiring French permits.
The banning issue was raised in the Commons by John Wells (Tory, Maidstone) who said that with all the situation was causing great loss and hardship. The linking of separate companies, said Mr Wells, was wrong and illegal.
Questioned about the number of permits, Mr Fowler said there were not enough to meet demand and he took every opportunity to press for increases and the eventual abolition of all quotas.
Michael McNair-Wilson (Tory, Newbury) noted that the paucity of French permits was having a bad effect on our road transport industry. He wondered how it was possible for one member of the Common Market to impose a rest rictive transport policy while its leading citizens sought to give the UK lessons on being a good member of the Market. Mr Fowler recalled that increases in a permit quota had been negotiated — 24 per cent in the current year.