MRS. CASTLE
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MRS. BARBARA CASTLE said in the Commons this week that she expected to be able to enforce the proposed new limits on drivers' hours from the day they were introduced. She hoped there would be time for productivity agreements to be negotiated.
Mr. Kevin McNamara (Labour, Hull North) told Mrs. Castle that some lorry drivers expected to lose about £5 a week and he said there was a great deal of suspicion about the use of tachographs. Mrs. Castle said she had had deep consultations with the unions who accepted that there must be increased inspection, including tachographs.
When Mr. Huckfield asked her for the Road Traffic Act to be altered so that "11 hours for rest will become 11 hours of rest", Mr. Stephen Swingler, the Parliamentary Secretary, said it was proposed to make it harder for the reckless minority of drivers to evade the law.
Mr. Huckfield wanted Mrs. Castle to give a general directive to the THC not to allow its subsidiary companies to conduct anti-nationalization campaigns against the CTA proposals.
Mr. Huckfield said that the Midland Red campaign was becoming "the sickest joke in the Midlands". Mrs. Castle said she had no statutory powers in relation to Midland Red, where the THC did not have a controlling interest.
She had asked for the documents about the Midlands authority to be kept confidential but she had made it clear that a detailed White Paper would be issued before any legislation. She had kept all the national passenger transport associations informed of her CTA proposals and had