n What proportion of goods vehicles are operated by private enterprise as compared with those owned by nationalized undertakings?
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A Any figure given in reply to such a
question as this needs some qualification. Thus there is a high proportion of the 1.3m. goods vehicles operating under C licence consisting of small vans. While many of these are used as traders' delivery vehicles there are also many employed on duties hardly distinguishable from that of a private car. In that event the term "goods vehicle" could be statistically misleading when read alongside figures relating to the number of vehicles operated by professional hauliers. If, in contrast, attention was given to the 96,000 goods vehicles operated under A licence then this would give a more realistic comparison with the 24,000 vehicles operated by BRS or 32,000 run by British Railways.
A further qualification needs to be made however. In addition to the 56.000 goods vehicles run by the two main nationalized transport undertakings there are those operated by the national utilities and local government. There are also 54.000 goods vehicles operated under the Crown Vehicle scheme of which 49,000 do not exceed 3 tons unladen. Incidentally, by far the largest fleet of vehicles in the country is that of the General Post Office with 46,429 as at September 30, 1965.