CHARGES W ILL BE FAIR
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A TRANSPORT BILL in the autumn would
define the constitution of the National Freight Organization, said Mr. Stephen Swingler, joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, on Tuesday.
The State-owned companies would use the service for rail trunking of suitable traffic but facilities would be offered to any interested parties, especially those prepared to book in bulk.
Appearing with Mr. Swingler at a Brains Trust arranged by the London division of the Institute of Traffic Administration were Mr. D. W. Awdry, Conservative MP for Chippenham, Mr. J. P. Wells, a vice-chairman of the RHA, and Mr. D. E. Lee, a TUC research officer.
Pressed by Mr. Awdry to confirm that the terms offered to other Freightliner users would be absolutely fair. Mr. Swingler said the NFO would obviously be financially interested in selling the service to the maximum possible extent and it would be foolish to "cabin and confine" it in any way. The charges would be published and circulated.
Mr. Wells praised the operational flexibility of small units in road haulage and noted that BRS operations were not under unified control. The destruction of the THC was to be deprecated, he felt.
As regards inland clearance centres, he thought the Customs stranglehold should be broken. There should be large numbers of ICDs here as on the Continent, said Mr. Wells, otherwise the movement of export goods to the Continent by road would be strangled.