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Parliamentary auction
LEGISLATION must always have some justification, however far-fetched. For every provision in the Transport Bill a reason has to be given. Provided there is no arbitrary gag on discussion the Committee stage allows the Government to explain its proposals in detail. On many points more convincing arguments will be required than have so far been put forward.
This applies to whole sections of the Bill as well as to single clauses. The wear and tear tax on heavy lorries was introduced as the logical end-product of an official inquiry of which the results had not at that time been published. The report when it came appeared to the unprejudiced observer to make the case for a reduction rather than an increase. The Minister of Transport ought to be made to do better than this before the tax is approved.
Material for the proposed new licensing system has been taken from a number of sources. The Geddes report advocated a return to the paradise where licensing was unknown. In all three political parties there has been some support for this. The Minister would prefer to say that the road transport industry has outgrown the present licensing system which should be replaced by "an effective instrument of a modern, national freight policy".
This apparently means giving priority to railways wherever they are running a service. The idea is a favourite one among sections of the Labour Party and is made more plausible by reference to the practice in some other countries. From other countries again the Minister has borrowed the concept of a road transport elite based on merit rather than the old criterion of need.
So long as it is confined to discussions and even to White Papers Mrs. Barbara Castle's eclecticism has a certain usefulness. It provokes thought and argument. It presents the road transport scene from a new angle and suggests lines of approach which could lead to improvement. Dismay comes when these mixed items, many of them scarcely developed beyond the germ of an idea, are quick-hardened into a form which with all its imperfections could become law before the end of 1968.
Signs of haste are apparent at almost every point. It is not surprising that well over 2,000 amendments have been put down. In many cases a single clause, even a single sub-subsection, can provide plentiful material for a debate which may cut across party lines and reach to the shaky foundations on which the whole Bill rests. Almost the first new item in Part V, dealing with the regulation of carriage of goods by road, puts into legislative form the "complete exemption from any form of carder licensing of goods vehicles not exceeding 30cwt unladen weight" which was promised in the White Paper on the transport of freight. The need for an operator's licence, says the Bill, will not apply to those vehicles or to other vehicles "specified in regulations".
As the Minister has pointed out, nearly lin of the 1-fm goods vehicles in Britain will thus be excluded from licensing at a single stroke. There has been no opposition to the principle that light vans, nearly all of them engaged on local retail deliveries, are in a special category and that to keep them within the licensing system would be a waste of administrative time and money. There is by no means the same measure of agreement that 30cwt unladen weight should mark the dividing line.
The main Ministerial argument seems to be that vehicles up to 30cwt have formed a convenient category for other purposes and that in addition they will not be subject to examinaation at Government testing stations. The analogy is irrelevant. Special facilities for testing vehicles above 30cwt were necessary only because the normal garage was unable to undertake the work.
The purpose
The purpose of the new licensing system as set out in the Bill is to ensure that operators of goods vehicles are able and willing to look after the transport side of their business properly. The provisions designed to have this effect follow one upon another until a structure is built up which may prove much more rigorous than the present licensing system. If there are to be exceptions they must be chosen carefully.
Evidently the House of Commons Committee is of the same mind. At least three alternatives have been put forward in amendments. The lowest figure in this Parliamentary auction is 15cwt, put forward by two Labour MPs. The Liberal Party representative would prefer 20civt. The Conservatives, on the other hand, want the line of demarcation raised to 2 tons. The Minister so far prefers to stay at her own first choice of 30cwt.
Often an amendment will have antecedents It will not be the original idea of the MP who officially sponsors it. He will put it forward as the result of discussions with his constituents or with other interested parties.
That the suggestion of 15cwt should come from the left is not wholly surprising. The trade unions favour as wide a spread of con trol as possible. It helps them to keep an eyt on conditions of employment and othe; matters. What may also be assumed is tha hauliers would welcome either of the amend ments designed to reduce the excluded sec don of the industry.
Many hauliers run vans of 30cwt or les; usually as part of a mixed fleet. For the re maining vehicles they will need an operator'; licence and will have to accept the obligation that go with it. For practical purposes thei maintenance facilities would have• to hi equally good for all their vehicles. On wort for which a van is suitable they might fre quently find themselves undercut by a smal operator with less exacting standards.
There will certainly be no lack of compe. tition in this field. Past experience shows hom many people there are, with little or in capital but with some driving experience, whc have ambitions to become their own mastei and look upon the road haulage industry a: their oyster. The present licensing systen frustrates them and the new system may Ix even more effective except in the rare in stances where they can persuade a Licensing Authority that they are worthy to holc an operator's licence.
Many an ambitious newcomer would bc satisfied with a grant for a 30cwt vehicle. Ii would give him a payload of perhaps 2 tons Under the new Bill he will have no need tc ask. He will be entitled to carry any traffic an: distance whether or not the goods are his owr Hauliers see the danger clearly because it affects them directly. The Minister ma3 not have paid sufficient regard to the possi bility of a large increase in the number oJ vehicles of the 30cwt and under class, addinf materially to congestion particularly in towni and in many cases splitting loads which conk more efficiently be carried in one largc vehicle.
Where the unladen weight of a vehicle i! over 30cwt by however small an amount till new Bill insists that the operator must burdei himself with all the obligations to be laid upoi a licence holder and run the risk of losim his licence if he fails in any particular.
In those circumstances or if he is refuse( a licence in the first place he will still have thl right to run another lighter vehicle or even t4 adapt the rejected vehicle so that it come, down to the 30cwt limit. The advantage o this kind of practice would be much reduce( if the limit were brought down to the 15cw or so which some of the amendments suggest On this point hauliers and traders are pull ing in opposite directions. The trader is ii favour of raising the limit certainly to the tons proposed from the Conservative side o the Committee and possibly even higher Opposition to the Bill, although it presents solid front at first glance, shows one or tw tell-tale cracks on closer inspection.
Complete abolition of licensing as pr posed in the Geddes report has had th general support of trade and industry, som times tacit, perhaps out of deference to th feelings of hauliers. The trader might wish t go further and dispense even with the ne safety-orientated type of licence propose in the Bill. He can see no hope of succeedi to this extent, but would look favourably o proposals which would extend the range lighter vehicles enjoying absolute freedom.