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Contract Problem
Page 45
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rFHE Western Licensing Authority, Mr. J. R. C. Samuel-Gibbon, has thrown a substantial cat among the pigeon's with his refusal to grant Contract A licences in chambers for tipper work. By bringing applications to court, he is forcing welcome publicity upon the uneconomic rates which quarry owners offer for tipping work. Rates as low as 10d. a mile are not unknown. A situation where (as is reported on the next page) an operator describes two runs a day from Somerset to London Airport as " easy " is little short of terrifying. This means a vehicle running something like 500 miles a day, and the chance of it being double-shifted is so remote in these circumstance, as to be laughable.
In such a state of affairs it is not very practical to moralize, although one is tempted to wonder why operators (newcomers, in particular) get into these ridiculous and unbusinesslike positions. If they will not (or cannot) protect themselves it is clearly the Licensing Authority's task to do so.. Mr. Samuel-Gibbon deserves the applause of all road hauliers for his stand; it is to be hoped that his colleagues in other areas will apply similar tactics where similar situations exist.
But there is a much deeper significance in this. It is not just a rates war. It is not just a case of unscrupulous customers victimizing unwise newcomers. It is the anomaly of the Contract A licence. These applications must be brought into line with other licences, and some right of objection be accorded to existing operators.
If the Geddes Committee does not suggest this, Mr. Fraser might consider the subject separately. It is quite wrong now.