The way ahead
Page 19
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The long-awaited regulations for operators' licensing, now revealed, contain few surprises in themselves. But the ramifications for foreign operators entering this country are considerable; in particular, the inference that British-based holders of transport managers' licences will be required suggests that the Ministry intends to exert a closer control over the standards of foreign vehicle fitness, and especially vehicle loading. This will be welcomed by British hauliers who have become bitter in their complaints that foreign operators were running vehicles well in excess of the weight limits and were coming and going with apparent impunity and immunity, while British operators abroad were facing tight limitations on their operations in several major transport markets.
At first sight, the operators' licensing regulations present few new bones of contention for hauliers or own-account operators in this country, though C-licensees will find themselves in a strange new world when delving into the details of traffic court procedure. Initially, existing operators have little to worry about, since the transfer from their present licence to an operator's licence will be virtually automatic. But there are a few apparent anomalies, as the Road Haulage Association has been quick to point out. For example, there seems no logical reason why refuse disposal vehicles operated by a local authority should be exempted while those run by a private operator are not; some recent cases have demonstrated that local councils have no claim to be treated differently in the matter of vehicle condition than anyone else, and they will in any case be required to hold operators' licences for vehicles other than the more specialized. types. It was to be expected, too, that the RHA would press for agricultural tractors to be included, since the use of all types of farm vehicles for carrying goods has long been a sore point with many hauliers.
While the administrative problems can be appreciated, we join with the Association in its plea that licences granted during the transitional should be published in Applications and Decisions; at such an important turning point in the history of the road transport industry it would be valuable to have on record the constituents from which it is currently made up.
Counting the cost
Operators need little reminder that costs have risen frighteningly in the past few years, and most of the increases have been obvious enough. But it is not always possible to quantify some of the hidden increases which have resulted from changes in legislation or operating patterns, and the article in this week's issue provides a striking example. CM's Tables of Operating Costs, while perforce having to strike an average for any particular item of cost or class of vehicle, have always been based on practical considerations and not simply on some theoretical index. The 1969 edition, to which the article refers, takes into account a particular fact of life which operators are discovering for themselves, namely that the "working year" has been reduced from 48 weeks to 45, with all the effects on costs that that entails. This comes on top of many more specific cost increases and shows that, far from a pause following the cost rises in the previous year, the increase has continued at an undiminished rate. With increases running typically at a level of 2d or 3d a mile in the space of 12 months, there can be little argument that hauliers have been, and are, entirely justified in seeking substantial uplifts in rates.