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IN WESTMINSTER
Page 41
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from our Parliamentary Correspondent
Reduced hours: no date yet
• The Ministry of Transport hopes, within a few weeks, to give a starting date for the first stage reductions in drivers hours, said Mr. Neil Carmichael, Parliamentary Secretary, last week.
The Department will want to study the effects of this stage before proposing any further reductions, added Mr. Carmichael, who was replying to Commons questions from Mr. Leslie Huckfield (Labour, Nuneaton). He noted, too, that they were not yet ready to make any announcement about the introduction of tachographs, Mr. Carmichael said that the Ministry would be continuing discussions with the road transport trade unions about implementation of the various provisions of the Transport Act, 1968, including the provisions concerning drivers' hours.
He told Mr. Huckfield that there were no plans for specific discussions on wages and conditions of lorry drivers.
Continuing, Mr. Carmichael said that the Transport Catering and Accommodation Joint Committee had written to the Department about the provisions of overnight accommodation, for long-distance lorry drivers, and the proposals were being considered. A meeting would be arranged.
The Parliamentary Secretary turned down a suggestion from Mr. Huckfield that the Minister should seek powers to make provision for improved accommodation. This, he ,said, was primarily a commercial matter for the road transport and catering industries.
And to round it all off . . . Mr. Carmichael said that he had had no discussions with employers and unions in road haulage about the effect of the introduction of British Standard Time on their operations.