DON'T DISTORT GOODS TRANSPORT WITH 'SUBSIDIES', SAYS RHA
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EACH form of transport should be allowed to develop naturally without Government discrimination and without a distortion of transport patterns through fiscal policies or enforced integration: purely -social" factors should not be allowed to intrude in goods transport, whose operators' sole objects should be the provision of efficient, flexible and economic facilities for trade and industry. These prime points are among the essentials of a goods transport policy which the Road Haulage Association stressed in a statement issued this week in advance of the imminent White Paper.
The RHA, which recently met the Minister of Transport to discuss the White Paper, repeats that trade and industry should have complete freedom of choice in respect of transport services, and claims that the haulage industry has "consistently given satisfactory service to its customers at minimum prices which have never been the
subject of complaint.The industry possesses the capacity to play an everincreasing part in national economic development, says the RHA, if its structure is not artificially distorted.
The statement calls for fair and genuine competition, with charges covering the entire cost of a transport operation, and the avoidance of monopoly through Government subsidy. Expansion of State haulage should be based on commercial considerations, says the RHA (BRS is a contract member of the Association).
Existing voluntary co-operation between transport interests should be encouraged, says the RHA, and obstacles like the bar on access to liner train terminals should be removed.
The statement ends with a plea for continuation of goods vehicle licensing to secure stability for the industry and responsibility towards the public.