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Latest on Fuel Rationing

7th December 1956
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Page 58, 7th December 1956 — Latest on Fuel Rationing
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Short-term B Licences

for C-Licensees

Cases Presented to Government : Advice to P.S.V. Operators : Ration Guaranteed : T.U.C. Support

pOGLING of transport by ancillary users has been approved by the Government. They are unwilling to relax the conditions of C

licences, but they have asked the Licensing Authorities " to consider sympathetically the issue of a short-term B licence to the holder of a C licence to enable him to carry in addition to his own goods the goods of another person or persons which would otherwise have been carried in a C-licensed vehicle belonging to that other person."

A statement issued last week by the Ministry of Transport said that the Government were "most anxious that C-licensed vehicles should he enabled to carry full loads and that pooling arrangements between groups of firms should be made possible."

The safeguard that pooling shall apply only to goods that would have been carried in a C-licensed vehicle meets the objection of the Road Haulage Association to the complete freeing of ancillary users to carry for hire or reward.

T° provide guidance for the Government on the issue of supplementary rations for C-licence vehicles, the Federation of British Industries have conducted a rapid sample survey of the types of traffic which these vehicles carry.

The purpose ot this survey was to differentiate one class of C-licence traffic from another, and to discover those kinds for which there was least room for alternative methods of transport, and for which a heavy reduction in fuel supplies would entail particularly serious consequences.

The F.B.I. wrote to a large number of member trade associations asking them to make a sample inquiry among a cross-section of their members to assist in the identification of the varying classes of traffic. Associations were requested to reply by yesterday.

Ancillary operators were to have been asked what percentage of their normal mileage was covered by the basic ration, and about the possibilities of pooling transport.

Minister Sympathetic to R.H.A. Case

1-1. A SYMPATHETIC hearing was

given by the Minister of Transport last week when the chairman's committee of the Road Haulage Association met him to discuss their views on rationing.

The R.H.A. recommended a reducEl 2

tion in the basic ration tor all classes of road user to leave more fuel in reserve for essential purposes. Clarification of the procedure for dealing with supplementary allowances was demanded, and the committee urged that in the first rationing period A and B-licensees, on production of certified figures for fuel consumption, should be given at least 75 per cent of their normal requirements.

Petrol intended for commercial users should be coloured, said the committee who also desired that while the present emergency lasted no more

F.B.I. Survey C-licence licences should be granted for extra Traffic vehicles. Committees are being set up throughout the country by the R.H.A. to intensify arrangements for interworking andproviding return loads. These arrangements include co-operation with other providers of transport.

The national executive of the Association will meet on' December 19 to discuss rationing again.

P.V.O.A. Members Urged to Use Petrol

MEMBERS of the Passenger Vehicle Operators Association are being urged to run as many petrol-engined vehicles as possible, and clearly to indicate this use when applying for fuel.

To enable further representations to be made to the Ministiy of Transport, the Association are asking members to advise them immediately of the number of petrol-engined vehicles they have available for use.

When completing fuel application form Z/F/11, operators are recommended to give separate details of essential services or journeys. Wherever possible, they should indicate the number of vehicles, and the mileage on the respective services, which are operated on petrol and on derv.

Operators arc also advised to undertake work only within their own traffic areas, and to avoid waste or light mileage. Co-ordination with other concerns is also suggested.

The reduction or withdrawal of re

bates on fuel costs, and the higher cost of fuel, could increase the running expenses of an operator with 50-60 vehicles by as much as L3,000-£4,000 year, Mr. F. J. Speight, deputy chairman of P.V.O.A., said in Birmingham.

He advised members who were in severe financial difficulties as a result of the cut in fuel to contact the secretary of the Association, who would put their case to the Minister of Transport.

A member who asked whether extra fuel would be allowed to cope with the large number of additional passengers who.formerly travelled by car was told that' the chairman of the West Midland Traffic Commissioners, Mr. W. P. James, had pointed out that many factories in the Midlands would be working shorttime, which might compensate for the larger volume of traffic on working days.

Discussions on Christmas Mail Transport

DESPITE an expected increase of 1-2 per cent in postal traffic this Christmas, the Post Office do not think that the shortage of fuel will affect the "efficient" collection and delivery of mail.

A G.P.O. official told The Commercial Motor that they were having talks with the Ministry of Transport about the provision of transport for the carriage of Christmas mail. There was "no reason to suppose that the posit ion will not be satisfactory," he said.

Mr. C. J. M. Alport, Assistant Postmaster General, said that to relieve the position more of the G.P.O.'s own vans, which ordinarily would be used on other duties, would be employed. ,

No Cut in Ration : No Licence Rebates

rTh.A GUARANTEE that the ration would not be cut between December 17 and April 17 was given last week by Mr. Aubrey Jones, Minister of Fuel and Power.

Mr. H. Brooke, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said there would be no rebate on vehicle Excise licences during fuel rationing.

It is expected that issuing offices will be fully engaged until December 17 in distributing coupons for basic allowances, so that some operators will not know until the New Year what their supplementary issues will be.

Meanwhile, dealers will receive by December 16 60 per cent. of their fuel allocation for the whole of the month. They have been asked to ensure that their stocks when rationing begins on December 17 will be adequate to enable them to collect sufficient coupons to cover their first delivery under the rationing scheme. For the next 10 days, fuel sales will have to be carefully regulated.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Fuel and Power said last week that it was too early to talk about ending restrictions on oil supplies in this country as the result of the United States scheme for providing oil to Europe. It would be well into the New Year before any effect of the American effort would be felt.

Supplies from the USA, would reduce the United Kingdom shortfall from 40 per cent. of normal supply to about 25 per cent —possibly less at a later stage. In the case of such products as fuel oil and derv, the position would remain difficult,

T.U.C. Support in Fighting Hardship

"IRRESPECTIVE of differences of

I opinion about events leading up to the present difficulties. the general council regard it as part of their duty of protecting the interests of workpeople to do all in their power to minimize the effect of the now unavoidable oil restriction on industrial production and employment."

This statement was issued last week by the general council of the Trades Union Congress. Discussions have taken place between the general council and the Minister of Fuel and Power, and through the National Production Advisory Council on Industry.

" These problems." said the general council, "are the responsibility of the eMployers and of union representatives concerned and must be dealt with through normal or special means Ilf joint consultation." Confidence was expressed that affiliated unions would assist constructively in r educ i ng difficulties.

Rationing arrangements were resulting in an extensive black market, warned Mr. Jack Jones. Midland regional secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union, at the annual meeting of the Midland regional advisory committee of the T.U.C.

A resolution expressing serious concern at the "mishandling of the fuel situation by the Government was passed unanimously.

C-licence Traffic Pool

THE extent to which C-licence

operators should be allowed to pool traffic to save fuel during the present emergency was discussed by speakers at the dinner held in Bristol last week by the Western Division of the Traders' Road Transport Association.

Mr. C. H. Clements, president, Bristol Chamber of Commerce and Shipping, said he thought the confusion. as much as the hardship, of rationing was causing irritation. Though Britain was less dependent on imported fuels than other European countries, the fuel crisis might be a more difficult period than we had expected,

Mr. T. D. Corpe spoke strongly in favour of eliminating any form of empty running during the period of rationing. Where a C-licence operator could not load back he should hand the outward load to a haulier.

Alternative Scheme for Rationing

puEL rationing should be based upon

I operators' certified purchases over a selected period, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce is to tell the Minister of Fuel and Power.

" The scale of rations so far authorized will be entirely inadequate to enable operators to meet essential demands for traffic which must he carried by road in the absence of alternative facilities," the Chamber stated last week.

Average "Basic" Third of Normal

AT a meeting of the London and Home Counties Divisional Committee of the Traders: Road Transport Association on Monday. Mr. S. J. Lamborn. chairman, stated that several hundred members' replies to a circulated questionnaire showed that the basic ration would be about 33 per cent. of normal consumption. ranging from 10 per cent. to 50 per cent.

This information was classified and sent to the Minister of Transport and Regional Transport Commissioners. '

"It is obvious that the meagre basic ration is utterly inadequate if the trading and industrial life of the country is to be continued efficiently. and it is essential for traders to have guidance at once on the amount of supplementary they are likely to get, otherwise there .would be chaos, not only in distribution but in production itself." said Mr. Lamborn, He was sure that T.R.T.A. members would take full advantage of the con. cession concerning the issue of shortterm B licences.

The biggest scope for economy, however, lay in the pooling of collectiOn and delivery of goods. It was difficult to see how this could be done with the cumbersome machinery of the B licence, and, in any case, difficult to imagine how the Licensing Authorities could deal with the mass of B-licence applications in the short time now available, said Mr. Lamborn, He felt that a general dispensation should be made to enable mutual pooling arrangements between C-licence holders to be undertaken without restriction.

No Extra Fuel for Coat?

QUPPLEMENTARY fuel rations o..-) would not he granted for coal transport unless it was, clearly shown that loads could not be carried by rail. This was stated by the Minister of Transport in the House of Commons on Monday.

Representations have been made to the Minister on behalf of big works in the provinces which draw their coal direct from the pits. They use road transport and they expected the traffic to be stopped.

"Stop Chaos,91 says Lord Mayor I " AM asking that something be done " AM asking that something be done

immediately to stop the chaotic method of supply of petrol and diesel oil. A national lead is long overdue." A lett& in these terms has been sent to the Minister of Fuel and Power by the Lord Mayor of Hull.

The Minister is warned that widescale unemployment will be unavoidable unless. he acts at once. Time was being wasted by lorries having to make a tour of filling stations to gel sufficient fuel to deliver loads from the docks.

The Lord Mayor states that two large food distributors in Hull are unable to deliver their products because they cannot obtain fuel.


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