Another Association Pledges Support for Government Haulage Scheme
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UNDER the Government haulage scheme, chartered vehicles will not necessarily always have priority in the allocation of traffic on Government account, according to remarks made by Mr. Robert Hanson, of Huddersfield. North-eastcrn Divisional Road Haulage Officer for the Ministry of War Transport, when he spoke on the scheme at a meeting of the Heavy Woollen District Transport Association, last week, Mr. Harry Pickard, president of the Association, was in the chair.
-Explaining that the scheme provides for the appointment in each area, of an area manager for the Ministry side of the organizationand a local management committee and manager for the 'operation of the Hauliers' National Traffic Pool in the area, Mr. Hanson said it would behove those two managers to consult with each other on the work to be done, and to -see that both chartered vehicles and pool vehicles were used to the country's best advantage.
A question, he said, in the minds of operators was what traffic the " hard core " of chartered vehicles would take from operators. Obviously, traffic would be taken from somebody in the industry, for the work was already being done by someone. It should be remembered, "however, that the only work for which o" bard core " vehicles was intended was traffic in respect of which the Government itself paid 'the carriage, as in the case of munitions, which the Government bought ex-works at the factory.
a20 Furthermore, except in such cases as the immediate removal of goods from ports, divisional or area officers were not bound to .accept such traffic in all circumstances for transport by " hard core " vehicles. Ministry of Supply and Ministry of Food traffics would figure prominently in "hard core" operation, but it was not anticipated that either of those Ministries would wish to place all its traffic with the " hard core " fleet, for the result would siniply be chaotic. , Mr. Hanson said that it was vitally important that the industry should give adequate support to the pool, for if it failed to do so there would be no option but to increase the size of the " hard core" of chartered vehicles above the present total of 2,500: Mr. T. Jackson (honorary secretary of the Association) asked what machinery would be set up to provide for fair distribution of pool traffic to pool members.
Mr. Hanson replied that it was for the area committees and their managers to allocate pool traffic among operators who had applied to be put on the pool register.
Asked by Mr. Pickard if it be advisable to put the same vehicles into both the pool and the " defence lines," Mr. Hanson replied in the affirmative.
Dealing with a point as to the allocation of return bads as between "hard core " vehicles and pool vehicles, Mr. Hanson said that if 10 ofthe former ari,i1 two of the latter went to a place where there were ianly 10 return loads, it would be commonsense to distribute the loads between the 12 vehicles, because the pool rates were uneconomic to the operator if he made the return journey with an empty vehicle.
Replying to a question concerning the position of clearing "houses under the scheme, Mr. Hanson said that in the case of hauliers who had been working regularly for a certain clearing house, the latter could pass pool traffic to them, subject to declaring the names of the operators and a fixed rate of commission. No haulage contractor, however, was allowed to take traffic from the-pool and pass it on to another haulier, and no haulier was allowed to have big blocks of pool traffic which had to be moved in two or three days.
The meeting unanimously adopted the resolution proposed by Mr. E. meson and seconded by Mr. V.13ox, to the effect that the members of the Heavy Woollen District Transport Association, representing appro?timately 250 vehicles; would give -their full support to the Government scheme.