The amendments so far
Page 31
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THIS week I am departing from my practice of looking at a specific clause in the Transport Bill in order to examine the amendments already agreed to by Standing Committee F (the Transport Bill Committee). These amendments are to Part 5 of the Bill which covers the carriage of goods by road.
Although in almost every case, the Minister has laid the successful amendments, at least one not insignificant one was made by the Opposition. The Committee has almost completed its consideration of the Bill which will be reprinted in report form with the amendments incorporated.
The first three amendments, to Clause 56, have the combined effect of altering the ,description of vehicles exempted from the conditions of quality licensing. Whereas under the original section, this exemption applied only to vehicles of 30 cwt unladen weight, it has now been extended to include vehicles with a plated weight of 31 tons. This plated weight applies to rigids and to articulated or drawbar outfits whose aggregated plated weight does not exceed 3+ tons.
In Looking at Licensing No. 2 I dealt with Clause 57 which states which vehicles will be authorized under an operator's licence. In sub-section C, the licence was required to state that the operator had permission to add vehicles to be acquired up to a stated maximum. This has been amended and unless the licence specifically does not permit it, the addition can be made.
Clause 58 dealing with applications for operators' licences is subjected to grammatical changes which are of little practical importance but could have been misconstrued if allowed to stand. For example, the word "was" is replaced by "has been". This shows that the applicant had been a director of another company as opposed to his being a director of another company when the application is made. Formerly, a partnership was not included in these categories of companies required to show the previous transport activities of the applicants; this has now been included. In addition, the activities of a holding company are included in this group.
Previous directorships connected with transport must also now be declared and particulars of any convictions during the previous five years must now be supplied for all who are named in the application as directors, partners, subsidiaries or holding companies. This information was originally required in respect of the applicant alone.
The Licensing Authority shall not be obliged to publish an application if he is satisfied that an increase will not be substantial when related to the existing number of vehicles. This qualifies the word substantial which was formerly, related to au
thorized vehicles as opposed to existing vehicles. Authorized vehicles need not necessarily exist, they may have to be acquired.
The right of objection by local authorities in England and Wales has been amended. It is now confined to county authorities or London Boroughs.
To ensure that there is never a period when vehicle fitness will not be a legal requirement, the clause dealing with it in Part 5 has been amended to carry the appropriate section from the 1960 Act.
The period for replacing a transport manager has been extended by amendment from one month to three months or for a longer period if the LA sees fit. The Minister may by regulation extend the period.
Clause 64 has been amended to define clearly in what circumstances an LA need not publish an application to vary a licence. If he is satisfied that any increase will not be substantial: if the application is to reduce the number of authorized vehicles: if the application is in his opinion trivial: he need not publish it.
The grounds for revocation, suspension or curtailment have been extended to include false statements of intent in an application, breach of transport manager's licence requirements, or of any other condition attached to an operator's licence. An offence against section 1, 6, 9 or 11 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1967 is also included as a ground for revocation, suspension or curtailment.
Any order made under this section may be limited to specified traffic areas. So therefore an application could be made in an area, other than the one for which the suspension was imposed. • There are numerous small amendments which are of no real importance but in the section dealing with special authorizations the amendments are important. The volume of a container will be ascertained by the external measurements, and pallets have been defined as having an area of not less than 50 sq. ft.
The most important amendment, however, in many operators' eyes, is that which says that special authorization "shall not apply to Devon and Cornwall or any development area so designated by the Board of Trade".
The accompanying map provided by the BoT shows the development areas to which special authorization does not now apply.
If an application for a special authorization is accompanied by a statement from British Railways Board or the NFC to the effect that they are not objecting to the application, a copy of the application will not be sent to them, as it otherwise would.
The NFC will not receive copies of appli
cations, for special authorization for the carriage of loads in excess of 10 tons, but less than 100 miles.
If an operator is called upon to provide a transport service which could not have been reasonably foreseen or there is a degree of urgency, the LA can grant a special authorization without adhering to the Act. Such a special authorization will last three months.
Whereas a normal special authorization cannot be transferred to a sub-contractor except with express permission, this does not apply to one granted "expeditiously."
Among the documents to be carried by a driver on a specially authorized journey, are two of particular importance: the special authorization and the consignment note. If an enforcement officer wishes to see these documents and they are not immediately available, they must be produced at a traffic area office. Notice of this will be made in writing to the licence holder and the period for production will be not less than 10 days from the serving of the notice.
There have been over 40 sittings of Standing Committee F and many of the amendments which were laid have either been withdrawn or were not called.
By far the greatest number of successful amendments were laid by the former Minister of Transport and many of these were for clarification, and did not, in any way, alter the intention of the section to which they applied.
The first amended print of the Bill will be available shortly and Looking at Licensing will return to examining the sections in detail on May 24.