Strait and Narrow
Page 45
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WHATEVER HATEVER one may think about the Transport Act as an attempt to solve the transport problem, there is no denying that the British Transport Commission was given a precision instrument to carry out the acquisition of long-distance road haulage with the least possible disturbance of trade and industry.
At each stage in its development the Road Haulage
Executive was able to take just the amount of traffic it required and could manage. It could control the operation to a hair's breadth by means of the permit system. The one thing lacking was the co-operation of the customer. His unpredictable and intractable refusal to accept the sacrifice of free-enterprise road haulage put the precision instrument out of tune. The primrose path prepared for the R.H.E. by the Transport Act turned out, through no fault of the Act, to be full of potholes.
By contrast, the return journey mapped out by the Transport Bill seems to follow very much the strait and narrow road. Acquisition took place in a series of planned stages. A voluntary period was followed by a compulsory period, and then by further acquisitions when original permits were refused or revoked. The 25-mile limit also was imposed step by step. Both processes, set on foot when the golden age of Socialism seemed well established, still remain unfinished.
The present Government proposes to sell the R.H.E.
in one operation and to abolish the 25-mile limit on one appointed day., The instrument is far more simple arid even cruder than the one which brought about nationalization. This time the R.H.E., and not the haulier, has the job of making the wheels go round for the benefit of somebody else.
But the haulier, now the trend is to be reversed, would much prefer to have the job himself. His customary spokesmen have so far responded to the Bill with the strained silence that one would imagine greeted the ugly duckling who everyone hoped afainst hope would turn out to be a swan. The individual operator is by no means so tongue-tied. He is prepared to preach like angels trumpet-tongued against the deep damnation of his fobbing off.
Simple Expediency The Government's reason for not abolishing the restriction immediately is one of simple expediency. "Purchasers of new transport units must have time in which to establish their businesses," said Mr. Gurney Braithwaite, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, the other day. "Without that assurance they might be reluctant to buy."
Insofar as the haulier is himself a prospective
purchaser, there is merit in this argument. Many operators have neither the money nor the inclination to bid for a transport unit in present circumstances, and others may be less keen when the time comes. The fall in traffic which has recently had a spectacular effect on the fortunes of the RILE. has also affected many independent hauliers. With vehicles laid up for an indefinite period they are in no mood to enlarge their stake in the industry.
No" doubt Mr. Gurney Braithwaite is aware of this and in one way it supports his argument. If the 25-mile limit were abolished forthwith, the R.H.E. might well lose even more of its shrinking traffic and the value of the special A licence would be correspondingly reduced. The haulier is faced with a double-edged weapon. When there is work in plenty and to spare, he should be eager to expand by taking a transport unit. In time of dearth the unwillingness to buy a unit brings home to him the difficulty the Government may have in selling, a difficulty which would be increased if the 25-mile limit were prematurely lifted from the traffic-hungry hauliers.
There is something to be said on the other side, both generally and on behalf of individuals. The trader, particularly when he does not run his own lorries, may feel indignant that, during what he regards as an unnecessary interim period, he is still to be denied the right of saying who is to carry his traffic. In most cases he will be compelled for the time being to accept the services of whoever buys the vehicles at present doing his work.
Temptation to Cut Rates Placed exclusively at the service of one customer, many R.H.E. vehicles are operated as if they were on an A-contract licence or a C-hiring allowance. It seems inevitable that the trader concerned should have some right to approve or otherwise of the way in which his vehicles are being disposed of. A good many other R.H.E. vehicles are at the moment laid up. If they are released as integral parts of transport units, the purchasers may turn them loose in the short-distance field, and here again the temptation to cut rates unfairly will be great.
Although the Transport Bill nowhere deals with the issue of permits up to the date when the 25-mile limit is repealed, it is generally assumed that ordinary permits now held will be continued and that, the normal number of job permits will continue to be granted. It appears that at present, in some parts of the country in any event, there is a tendency to whittle down the scope and number Of permits. There is nothing to prevent the R.H.E. from adopting any policy between the extremes of cancelling all ordinary permits and of granting them without limit.
• It is not likely that this step will be taken. Nevertheless, there is something to be said for transferring the permit procedure, say, to the Licensing Authorities. They would be empowered, for example, to grant permits valid until the appointed day and equal in scope to those held at the date of the General Election. In addition, an operator who had retained the whole of his business should be entitled to a permit on the same terms as any original permit he may have held. The. Licensing Authorities should also have discretion to grant only A-contract licences to purchasers of vehicles used exclusively for one customer. Steps might also be taken to ensure that nationalized vehicles not on active service should not be sold with licence rights attached.
Arrangements on these lines would possibly' involve some extra Ioss.on the sale of transport units. However anxious it may be to secure a ready market, the Government must take other things into account. Hauliers in genuine difficulty because of the 25-mile limit must be helped as a matter of urgency, and the present scope of the R.H.E.'s undertaking must be represented accurately by the licences granted to purchasers.