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Small men get short shrift from RTITB, says bus operator

12th November 1971
Page 44
Page 44, 12th November 1971 — Small men get short shrift from RTITB, says bus operator
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• The Road Transport Industry Training Board's justification of its broad policies is used to give the small operator the brush-off, an Uttoxeter psv operator has told the Board, responding to its invitation for comments on its consultative levy grant document.

Mr Tony Whieldon, managing director of The Green Bus Co Ltd has told the Board that "the lofty-principled shrugging of shoulders", when small operators' interests have to be sacrificed on the altar of administrative efficiency and maximum benefit for maximum numbers, is the factor which so alienates the Board from those upon whom it depends for its existence.

There is no need for big organizations to behave in this way, he asserts in his letter to the Board; the Inland Revenue is far bigger and deals with far more detail, yet it shows scrupulous fairness in dealing with individuals.

Mr Whieldon says his company resents the policy of levies being determined by retrospective emoluments, when staff redundancies in the early part of a training period make such assessment inappropriate. He also points out that the way in which levies are related to an average labour turnover means that efficient companies with low labour turnover are penalized because the claim inevitably falls short of the levy. The sum of money involved is, he says, greater than the company's average annual profit, so this represents a deficit with the Board which is little short of catastrophic.

Concludes Mr Whieldon: "We think training is a vital part of our operation. But at present the Training Board is a bloody menace to our whole operation, and apparently quite insensitive to the fact. It is a fat lot of good prescribing for a sick man what he cannot afford or cannot obtain; especially when the main sickness is lack of cash anyway! At this point the argument has a tendency to go circular, with fervent training maniacs suggesting that lack of cash must indicate lack of training. That's the trouble, you can't win. For at least I have to admit that the Board is itself well-trained in plausibly justifying its existence. Come to think of it, all parasites operate pretty effectively, generally outliving their hosts."


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