Hauliers Anxious About Permits: Strong Line in West Midlands
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REPORTS front many areas indicate the concern with which the Road Haulage Executive's announcement on permits has been received. As reported on the opposite page, hauliers in the West Midlands last week passed a resolution calling on all operators to disregard the revocation of permits.
Other areas have not taken such drastic action, but mass meetings are being held all over the country. Inquiries by "The Commercial Motor" show the position in various parts of the country.
Scotland.—Mr. W. D. Gilmour, chairman of the Scottish Area of the Road Haulage Association, stated that Scottish hauliers were receiving much more severe treatment in the issue of permits than operators in England, Nevertheless, he urged hauliers whose permits were to be revoked to "hang on." It was better for an operator with five vehicles to retain three, than to sell out completely and become an employee of the R.H.E.
North-West.—Reliable sources of information estimate that some 800 original permits are being revoked in the area covered by the R.H.E.'s NorthWestern Division. which extends from the Potteries to Carlisle. This would be about half the original permits issued in that territory. In a further 500 cases, it is believed, substituted permits will be given, the remainder being continued.
Test checks taken over limited areas in Lancashire have tended to confirm the figures quoted.
North-East—lt is understood that in the North-Eastern Division of the R.H.E., 650 out of just over 2,000 original permits granted are to be revoked. Another 688 will be substituted, leaving about 670 to be continued. Up to last Saturday, the R.H.A. Northern Area secretary, Mr. F. Milton, had been informed of 71 cases of revocation, 90 of substitution and 50 of continuation in that part of the area falling within the R.H.E.'s North-Eastern Division. In the zone within the R.H.E.'s NorthWestern Division, 28 revocations, two
would be renewed. About 75 per cent. of permits were to be revoked and 15 per cent. substituted.
East Anglia.—Mr. R. B. Brittain, chairman of the Eastern Area of the R.H.E., announced last Saturday that only 874 of the thousands of original permits sought in East Anglia had been granted this year. Now, 328 of these were to be revoked, 258 were to be substituted, and 288 were to be continued. He said that of about 10,000 Aand B-licence vehicles in the Eastern Area, only 416 would be allowed to operate beyond 25 miles.
London and South-East—It has not yet been possible for the Metropolitan and South-Eastern Area of the R.H.A. to gather precise returns, but in the cases reported, about 90 per cent, of original permits are to be revoked.
An open meeting of hauliers is to be held at the Central Hall, Westminster, at 2 p.m. on November 20.