Prescott promises serial tachos
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• Shadow Transport Secretary John Prescott is taking a close look at operator licensing — and he has pledged to serialise tacho charts if the Labour Party wins the next general election.
Speaking at the Road Haulage Association's North East meeting, Prescott said he might support a move towards quantity licensing. He called on the RHA to submit its views on possible changes to the licensing system.
The old ABC quantity licensing system, which was introduced by a Labour government, restricted the number of licences available to transport operators.
Licence applicants had to prove there was a need for their transport services.
Prescott stressed that he would not like a return to the
old system. Instead, he said, there might be support for a new system which combined quality standards with quantity controls.
"The basic operator licensing system is meant to maintain quality standards — but this is not enough," says Prescott. "By granting more and more licences we are undermining the system by putting companies on the road which are not viable operations."
Speaking at the same RHA conference, North East Licens
ing Authority Frederick Whalley said he had to revoke 0licences far too often. He urged hauliers to report illegal operators to their local Traffic Area Office or to press their trade associations to object to unsuitable licence applications and renewals. Official RHA objections to operators' licences "are as rare as hens' teeth," he says.
The need for stronger enforcement has also prompted Labour to support serialised tachograph charts, which have been ruled out by Roads and Traffic Minister Christopher Chope (CM 13-19 December 1990).
Prescott believes that without the back-up of prosecutions tachograph inspections are only a limited deterrent to drivers' hours fraud: "The United Road Transport Union has .long been campaigning for tachographs to be numbered in order so they can be checked," he says. "This is a simple improvement that has been ob structed and will be implemented immediately by the next Labour Government."
Frank Griffin, general secretary of the United Road Transport Union, has welcomed this comment: "Christopher Chope should be called Christopher Dope," he says. "John Prescott's support for tachograph serialisation shows vision."
Prescott added that the Labour Party was also considering tax concessions for operators combining road and rail transport; a rail link around the M25; and CV-only lanes on four-lane motorways.