RHA tells Mr. Gunter: We want differential training levies
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E FLAT RATE training levy of 1.6 per cent proposed by the Road Transport Industry Training Board should be replaced by differential levies according to the advantages to be gained. Small firms with no prospects of obtaining training grants or of benefiting from the supply of trained drivers should be exempted from the levy.
These proposals have been made by the Road Haulage Association to the Minister of Labour, Mr. R. J. Gunter. While the RHA reiterates its strong support for the principle of training, concern is expressed at the amount of the proposed levy "calculated with regard to an organization which, particularly in relation to its elaborate and, it would seem, premature regional organization, is unnecessarily complex and expensive".
The Training Board has announced plans (CM, June 23) for a levy to be paid in two instalments in October 1967 and March 1968 and to produce in the first year a revenue of about £111m., an average of about £17 13s 4d per employee.
The RHA points out that the road haulage industry with 260,000 employees, nearly all drivers, would pay over £3m., of which no more than £500,000 is likely to return in grants for driver training. Hauliers would not benefit to any great extent from training carried out elsewhere in the road transport industry. The skill of fitters employed in vehicle repair establishments would be used to a large extent in the work of repairing private cars. Many of the trained drivers also would leave professional haulage for other occupations in which their training would be wasted or for employment by C-licence holders who pay no levy to the training board.
Compared with the cost of training fitters, says the RHA, the cost of training drivers is very low. They begin with the basic ability to drive and the only really effective way of training is "on the j ob".
PLAN FOR EEC TO AMEND TIR CONTAINER SYSTEM THE TIR system will apply to containers whether or not they are carried on road vehicles, throughout their transit, if the EEC members agree to enforce the provisions of Article 2 of the Convention as though the words "carried on such vehicles" had been deleted.
The EEC working party on Customs questions has recommended this and also that a single carnet should cover several TIR-approved containers loaded on one vehicle. The carnet manifest would state clearly the contents of each container.
FELIXSTOWE FORWARDING PICKFORDS and Hay's Wharf Shipping and Forwarding Co. Ltd. have opened a branch office at Felixstowe. The harbour's roll-on roll-off and container facilities are expected to attract increasing traffic over the next few years, and Pickfords and Hay's Wharf handle European distribution for some major American exporters. Mr. J. M. Hicks has been appointed branch manager. Address: Pier House, Carr Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk (Telephone: 2606).