Mr. Marsh gives ground on TMLs and
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• Mr. Richard Marsh, Minister of Transport, has tabled some amendments to the Transport Bill which, it is claimed, represent concessions to points made during Committee stage of the Bill in the House of Lords.
The amendments will be considered on the Lords Report stage of the Bill on October 7 and 8, before it returns to the Commons. The main changes proposed by the Government involve the functions of nationalized transport bodies, and the provisions for transport managers' licences.
A proposed new clause will put the nationalized Boards and Passenger Transport Executives under a statutory obligation to "act as if they were a company engaged in a commercial enterprise" when carrying on activities including the development of land not needed for their businesses, the provision of warehouse or storage facilities at ancillary premises, running hotels, hiring out buses and (in the case of the NBC and STG) running travel agency businesses.
This clause, it is claimed, will meet the criticism that the Bill has inadequate safeguards for private enterprise against unfair competition from State-owned and State, financed bodies in fields which are ancillary to their primary functions.
In the case of transport managers, the Government will limit the grounds on which a Licensing Authority can revoke or suspend a licence. Revocation or suspension will be intended to apply mainly to persistent offenders—those whose convictions or misdemeanours appear numerous enough to warrant it—or where the facts of a particular case seem serious enough to the LA to justify this action.
The purpose of this amendment, it is stressed, is to make clear that revocation or suspension of a manager's licence is something that would never be undertaken lightly.
Another amendment will empower the Minister to change by Regulation any of the provisions of the Schedule dealing with the detailed arrangements for licences. This would enable the Minister after consultation with the industry to make any changes needed, and the industry has agreed with this. The change would bring the provisions of the Schedule into line with Clause 64 (which lays down the requirement for a licensed transport manager as a condition of holding an operator's licence), which is already capable of alteration in the future. There are also moves to strengthen the provisions for shared transport managers' licences, and a further amendment rubs out the requirement to give particulars of demand expected for the carriage of goods when application is made for an operator's licence.
Time spent driving vehicles off the road for forestry purposes will not now be counted against the limits on driving time under the proposals for drivers' hours. Forestry thus joins agriculture in this exemption, following an undertaking to consider this point in Committee.
As also promised in Committee, amendments have been tabled imposing on the Minister a wider obligation to consult representative organizations before making Regulations affecting drivers' hours and their enforcement.
Among many other tidying up amendments is a move to give extra safeguards for the interests of shopkeepers and frontagers. It provides that traffic regulation orders restricting loading and unloading shall be treated in exactly the same way as any other orders which interfere with access.
As the Bill stands at present, these orders are, for certain purposes, not to be regarded as interfering with access. Acceptance of the amendment will mean that, if the orders are to apply for more than eight hours of the day, they can be made only for limited purposes and will require the consent of the Minister.