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Your correspondent, The Hawk (January 26), seems to take such delight in vilifying Profes sor Foster, chairman of the Committee of Inquiry on Opera tors' Licensing. that balance and accuracy take second place to responsibility in his writing.
Hawk dislikes the fact that Foster endorses Geddes's view that own-account operators should be allowed to carry for hire or reward. This practice, he says, encourages subsidised competition from own-account operators with professional hauliers, The illogicality of this statement is brought out rather well in section 11_26 of the report
when Foster comments: -While the own-account operator is
being charged with sophisticated behaviour in his use of capacity, he is also accused of naivety in his investment decision making'' Such a comment is much more of a valuable contribution to the question of third-party haulage than your correspondents out-of-context reference to hauliers' profits.
Also, it is wrong for Hawk to suggest that Foster's recom mendation for an annual review
of hgv excise duty has been -sunk without trace" because
of the changeover to fuel tax. It is quite clear, and CM reported it on October 27, that the Government will continue to levy vehicle excise tax on hgv to reflect the high level of track cost contribution assigned to them.
J. C. COOPER, The Polytechnic of Central London, London NW1.