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RHA urges action on vehicle replacement
Page 30
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ACTION must be taken immediately to counteract the problems caused by inflation in the financing of vehicle replacement, said John Silbermann, a national vicechairman of the Road Haulage Association.
Mr Silbermann, who was addressing members of the RHA Yorkshire (Leeds) area on Wednesday, said the problems facing hauliers arose from the fact that the industry was now unable to generate enough revenue to permit it to make reasonable provision for the replacement of vehicles presently on the road.
Over the past few years vehicle replacement costs had been subject to massive increases, and vehicle manufacturers appeared to be raising their prices as a matter of course every 90 days.
"The increase in the price of new vehicles between January, 1972 and January, 1977 has, in many cases, been in the order of 140 per cent, and for the 32-ton vehicle as much as 170 per cent," said Mr Silbermann.
"Many vehicles have already been taken out of service as a result of the general economic situation and this, coupled with a further reduction due to the lack of replacement capital, will create a serious situation when the long-hoped-for upswing in the output of manufacturing industries eventually takes place.
"In a nutshell, unless the road haulage industry is allowed to increase its revenue very substantially indeed, then road haulage as we know it today will not exist in a few years' time," concluded Mr Silbermann.