Wales is isolated by TAO double closure
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by Miles Brignall • Hauliers in Wales and the NorthWest face longer journeys to their Traffic Area Office following the Department of Transport's decision to close the Manchester and Cardiff offices from 31 March 1997. The closures reduce the number of traffic area offices to six, in line with the recommendations of the Curtis report. More than 80 staff are expected to be made redundant as a result of the closures—strike action has been threatened by all TAO staff across the country.
South Wales and West Midlands Traffic Commissioner John Mervyn Pugh describes the news as dreadful and says: "I can't believe the service will be as good."
The Government will now start a consultation process to decide where to draw the boundaries for the existing offices. It is thought that the whole of Wales will be dealt with by the Birmingham office. The northern counties in England might report to the Scottish office in Edinburgh with the Leeds office assuming responsibility for the old North Western area. An announcement on boundaries will be made in October.
Senior IC Michael
• Closing the Cardiff Traffic Area Office will "make life very, very difficult," says Llanelli haulier Hugh Owen.
Owen, who operates more than 100 vehicles as managing director of Owens Transport Services, says: "We have regular meetings with the Cardiff office and they have always been extremely helpful. It'll take us another couple of hours to get to Birmingham. It seems a senseless decision." Other Welsh hauliers were more phlegmatic. Stephen Mansell Davies, of Pembrokeshire-based Mansell Davies, says: "Frankly we are so far west anyway that Birmingham will only be another hour on the road. Two hours from Cardiff; three from Birmingham."
Betts says: "The bigger areas will inevitably mean we (the TCs) dissipate ourselves more thinly."
Although he regrets the job losses, he says he is delighted that a decision has been made as the whole network had "drifted" over the past year. He confirms that a new TC will be appointed.
The boundaries present some operational difficulties: the Scottish office would have to deal with differences in English and Scottish law; the loss of the Welsh TAO is seen as politically insensitive.
El CM will publish a regional spotlight on Wales in the 27 June-3 July issue.