AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

A Long Hard Look: I WAS very interested in Ashley

10th April 1964, Page 81
10th April 1964
Page 81
Page 82
Page 81, 10th April 1964 — A Long Hard Look: I WAS very interested in Ashley
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Taylor's article "The I Menace of Too-free Enterprise" (February 28) and in the comment and suggestions of Mr. Jack Wood and the Bradford and District Hauliers' Federation.

It seems to me that the transport union and the road haulage industry—probably one of the most over-protected industries in Britain today—should take a long, hard look at themselves before laying down the law as to the calibre of many commercial drivers and to what is good and what is not good for the industry.

What neither Mr. Wood nor the hauliers mentioned was the question of pay. Either they rate commercial vehicle driving as a skilled or an unskilled occupation. If the latter, then they have no right to expect marvels; if the former, then they should pay the rate for skilled labour• accordingly. The pay for both truck and bus driving is well below the national average. A factory labourer can expect to get higher pay than men who are entrusted with a vehicle costing up to perhaps £5,000—and very often a load worth considerably more than the vehicle itself.

In this area there is a C-licensed operator who pays his drivers 8s. an hour for a 40-hour week, plus overtime at overtime rates. But he is an exception. A Ministry of Labour spokesman once told me that in the same area most firms employing ,drivers wanted experienced men but were paying only between 4s. 6d. and 5s. an hour. Where union rates are specified, particularly in the bus industry, a man with 30-odd years' experience, holding safe driving awards, gets no more pay than the novice. So, apart from the man who likes driving for driving's sake, and likes to work alone, there is little or no incentive for a responsible young man to take up a career in commercial driving, when he can do so much better in Other industries.

As regards setting up official driving schools and the re-introduction of the heavy goods licence, a much simpler method would be the adoption of the two-licence system, as practised in Canada and the United States. This is the "operator's licence" which entitles the holder to drive his own car or those of his friends, or a vehicle ancillary to the job that he gets paid for, and the "chauffeur's licence ", which entitles the holder to drive any vehicle for "financial reward ".

The chauffeur's licence is much harder to get than the operator's and, before it is granted, the applicant must have.a document from the police in his area stating that he is without criminal record, and must also furnish two passport photographs, to go on file.

In some cities—Toronto, Canada, for one—the driver of a cartage vehicle—that is, one used within the city limits for public haulage rather than one used by the equivalent of a C-licensed operator—has to obtain a special cartage driver licence, which does not entail any road test, but is in the form of a questionnaire. This licence has to be renewed annually. P.s.v. (and especially school bus) drivers also have a separate but similar licence or permit. This licence is additional to the chauffeur's licence the driver would already hold. In driving tests, at least one Canadian province requires the applicant to pass one road test by day, another by night, then take both a written and oral test, and finally one using electronic equipment to test reaction times and so on in simulated conditions.

The big snag in North American tests, as with those here, is that the applicant, for practical reasons, takes the test in a car, even though he may be employed, subject to passing the examination, in driving a 55-ft.-Iong tractor and tandem trailer. The examiners know this and accordingly judge how the driver would fare with a large vehicle.

In respect of drivers exceeding the legal limit regarding hours, this law is rather an anachronism. When it was first introduced it was to protect the driver from exploitation by his employer (when drivers, as a class, were not car owners). After finishing his 11 hours, a driver taking

his truck four or five miles from the depot to his home would be committing an offence. Yet he could drive out of the depot in a high-powered car and tear up and down the MI at 120 m.p.h. for as long as he liked and still be within his legal rights. It just doesn't make sense!

For the Road Haulage Association and other hauliers to fly the banner of "free enterprise " is to my mind nothing short of impertinence. I cannot call to mind any other trade or industry which has such protection as this one has legally provided under the licensing system. The haulier is a businessman and like other businessmen shOuld be prepared to face knocks and to cope with them. It would be quite useless for the small shopkeeper in the high street to oppose the setting up of a supermarket next door on the grounds that he was capable of dealing with available trade in the district and that other competitors would only abstract his trade.

Why should road transport be any different? Why should the general public be forced to have to deal with only the chosen few hauliers in their particular district, with the only alternatives of buying their own vehicles or els': on contract? Either you have free enterprise or you haven't! It could not be called " free " now by any stretch of the imagination. Unless he lives and intends to operate in a very isolated part of the country there is very little chance indeed of the newcomer getting a carrier's licence by straightforward means. There will be objections to his application,many from established contractors whose business is not even remotely connected with the type of service that the newcomer intends to offer, but who lodge an objection purely on principle. This particular method is about the only chance that the newcomer has.

I think that really free enterprise haulage should permit anyone who wants to start up in the road transport business to be granted a licence subject to conditions, none of which should concern other contractors already established. The newcomer should be fully warned of the dangers and pitfalls of investing his money in a transport undertaking. Then he can decide whether or not to go ahead.

I would exempt intended tipper operators from this, but would strongly recommend them to join or form an association similar to the one mentioned in The Commercial Motor, February 14, for their own good and to ensure economical rates.

Hornchurch, Essex. S. A. TRO1T.

The Loophole IN your issue of March 13, page 43, you rather give the 1 impression that the McKelvie job will have a 23-ton legal load. This outfit, obviously a fine machine, will be limited to the usual 24 ton, we think. If not where is the loophole?

Preston, Lancs. "INTERESTED."

[I understand that this vehicle is for use in the carriage of abnormal indivisible loads for the steel industry. When a vehicle carrying such a load operates under the Motor Vehicles (Authorization of Special Types) Orders the limitations of length and weight contained in the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1963 would not apply.—ED.]


comments powered by Disqus