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Law on Records to be Eased ?

13th January 1956
Page 49
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Page 49, 13th January 1956 — Law on Records to be Eased ?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Keywords : Labor

0"of the first matters to be considered by the standing committee on the Road Traffic Bill when they

resume on January 26 will be an amendment to lighten the onus on employers with regard to the keeping of records.

It has been promoted by the Traders' Road Transport Association through the National Road Transport Federation and stands in the names of Mr. Geoffrey Wilson, Mr. Harold durden and Mr. R. Gresham Cooke.

It provides that it shall be a defence in proceedings brought under Section 16 of the 1933 Act if the licence holder can

prove that he took all reasonable steps to ensure compliance with the law on

the keeping of records and that the offence was committed without his knowledge.

A similar amendment failed in the + House of Lords during the tenure of the previous Government, because it

wa thought to open wide the door to abuse. This the T.R.T.A. strenuously denies.

• During the past year various employers who have proved that they have taken elaborate precautions against

record .offences have been fined because drivers have transgressed• the law for

their own ends. Even where, in defiance of instructions, men have gone home instead of spending nights away, but nevertheless have drawn subsistence allowance, the employers have been convicted. Tn several cases the magis trates held that the employers should have secured receipts from boardinghouse keepers.

The amendment is aimed at preventing injustice of this kind.

MINISTER REAFFIRMS CONTRACTOR'S RIGHTS

A "CLEARLY marked preference" f1 0f the Royal Air Force for the services of Smith's Luxury Coaches (Reading), Ltd., justified the rejection of an appeal by Chiltern Queens, Ltd., the Minister of Transport announced last week.

The appeal concerned the • South Eastern Licensing Authority's refusal to grant backings to Chiltern Queens in respect of two express services between Woodcote R.A.F. station and Reading, and the Authority's grant of a similar service to Smith's Luxury Coaches. '

The Minister reaffirmed that it was right for an Authority to have regard both to the claims of an existing operator and to the express choice of a contractor.

Costs were awarded against the appellants.

TAX TALKS PENDING

NO date has yet been fixed for a meeting between representatives of road passenger operators and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to dismiss fuel tax and Excise licences. • The operators' associations wrote to the Chancellor before the Christmas Recess.

"Sense of Urgency"— Mr. Watkinson

DEFERENCE to the "major task" -1.‘of equipping Britain with a modern and efficient transport system, was Made at Windsor last week by the new Minister of Transport, Mr. H. Watkinson.

"1 hope I bring a sense of national urgency to this task," he said. He was sure he would receive the full cooperation of employers, trade unionists, technicians and operators, so long as he asked them to make their contribution' for the sake of the future prosperity. of the nation.

It was important that they should worry less about political theories and more about practical and technical developments. The railways, Mr. Watkinson added, had a larger part to play than ever before.

POSER FOR MR. HANLON

"T's application involves a difficult question so far as the roadhaulage industry is concerned," _stated, Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon, Northern Licensing Authority, last week, when he. deferred decision on an application by Mr. E. Thompson, Gosforth, for a B licence to operate a 3-ton vehicle on opencast coal sites in Northumberland and Co. Durham.

The applicant stated that he was a foreman of Messrs. Dowsetts, who were working opencast sites in the area. If he obtained a licence, he said, he would employ a driver, because he would continue as a foreman. The vehicle itself would be sub-contracted to the main haulier on the site.

A supporting letter from the contractor's agent was produced.

HIGHER PAY PLAN

PROPOSALS are to be made by the wages council for the bread and flour confectionery trades for an increase in wages of 111s. 6d. a week for male transport workers and 8s. 6d. a week for females, following a submission made by the Transport and General Workers' Union.

• " ARTIC " BUS PROPOSAL

LAST week's meeting of Fowey7 Council unanimously agreed to support a proposal by a resident, Mr. I Flower, that he should operate a 24-seat articulated bus over the hilly route between Polvillion Road and the town centre. , [Articulated vehicles are not-allowed to carry passengers.]

NEW LIGHTING REGULATIONS

N'provisions covering the rear lighting of works trucks and trailers came into force yesterday. They are contained in the Road Vehicles Lighting (Amendment) Regulations, 1955 (Stationery Office, 2d.). The positions of red lights and reflectors are laid down.

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