Delays of Vital Transport Caused by Check-weighing
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The Authorities Concerned with Taxation Must See that Vehicles are in Their Correct Classes, but Their Methods of Weighing Require Early Investigation and Improvement
By Herbert Ladd
1:ZEFORE passing to the real subject of my letter I would like to mention that I have been a regular reader of your journal for 15 years, and that the perusal of its columns has been the means for keeping me clear of many Pitfalls.
Now I wish to add my tale of woe to that of the correspondent near. Bristol who wrote to you to say that he had to travel many miles with 13 vehicles to have them check-weighed: I, operate two lorries which have been wholly employed on the distribution of domestic coal since the beginning of the war. This work has continued with no time off, as I do my own repairs at odd moments, including Sundays. This is to give my customers (a large proportion of whom were bombed out of London, Bristol, and other cities) all that I could possibly do in the way of service. I can assure you that this has been a perpetual struggle. I have to be my own mechanic, loader at the pit, carman, clerk, and general factotum, but it worked tolerably well until the enemy raided Bath. Then, quite rightly, one of my vehicles was commandeered to help in even more urgent matters, a service I was pleaed to render.
However, in the middle of this work our local taxation authority ordered me to present thy vehicles for reweighing, although they had both been done before. Weighing was to start at 10 a.m, when, for me, half the day has gone, when looked at from the aspect of picking up a load at the colliery concerned.
Many Vehicles Diverted from War Effort
I started from home early in the morning of May 19, obtained my load, worked through dinner-time, and arrived at the appointed place only to find that there had been a queue of not less than 30 vehicles all day. The weighman, apparently, did not like the look of the long line of vehicles and promptly announded that he would not weigh any more after he had -.finished with the one which was three in front of mine, although it was then only 4.15 p.m.
My second vehicle, the driver of which had had instructions to return from Bath, where he was moving bombed-out people, then arrived, but we were both turned away and told to go to Shepton Mallet the next day. This, place is eight miles away and would have involved losing a day's work for both my vehicles, and
as at least 20 vehicles in all were treated in this way and some of them had to go fairly long distances, you can judge the loss of time and work, apart from this consumption of fuel and tyres.
I was also told that many of the operators there had already been ordered to other places and then been sent to the same place as I attended.
To corroborate my statement I obtained a certificate from other men who were there. (This certificate, which is signed by 15 drivers of various concerns, is in our hands.—En.) Incentive to Save Must Come from Above
There is one very serious aspect about all this type of waste. I move about amongst a large body of men who, by judicious and careful use of their vehicles can, cumulatively, save a tremendous amount of petrol and rubber. Sometimes, when I notice that they are letting their engines run while waiting for loads, I ask them to switch off and, so far, have achieved good results in this direction, but these fellows are not daft and when they see such foolish official actions as keeping queues of 30 to 40 vehicles waiting outside a colliery entrance while some man has an hour off for his dinner, and then have to take their vehicles on a fruitless journey to be weighed and are told to come again another day, it becomes sheer hypocrisy to appeal to them to make efforts to save.
I can truthfully say that I have put everything I know Into the war effort and will continue Co do so, but one becomes imbued. with a spirit of absolute frustration when one sees such actions being performed in the name of the law. I would like to ask the taxation authorities a pertinent question : "Does the amount of excess tax which they may possibly recover in a year, compensate for the full cost of the weighbridges, the wages of the clerks, and the running of vehicles to places for weighing which are often miles away?" I am convinced that it cannot possibly be anything like the cost of vehicleman-hours lost in the operation.
Despite w,hat I have been told to do about the reweighing I have been ordered to take my vehicle to Bath to-morrow to help again in restoring this beautiful city, so I suppose that I must face the possibility of a £20 fine for this " criminal " activity.