Dangers of Relaxing Licensing
Page 30
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NOTHER warning of the dangers 1-3. which might accrue should the licensing regulations for public service vehicles be relaxed was given by Mr. R. P. Beddow, chairman of Maidstone and District Motor Services Ltd., in his address to the company's annual general meeting last week. Such a measure could well preface a " free for all ", a deterioration in safety standards, a lack of responsibility on the part of vehicle owners, and certainly an adverse effect on the rural (and probably other) services now run by established operators, he Said. The well-tried and proven -administration by the Traffic Commissioners had the advantage of enabling the transport needs of an area to be viewed as a whole, and .so related as to provide the most economical means of operation. Any legislation which permitted indiscriminate operation of services by all and sundry in rural areas would be a most retrograde step, he felt, and one which would doubtless prove in the long run to be to ;he disadvantage of the public.
Mr. Beddow had already reviewed the progress made so far with surveys of rural transport. Such surveys had been carried out by the Ministry of Transport in 1963, and the subject also fully studied previously by the Jack Committee, which recognized the non-paying nature of many services and recommended financial assistance of one kind or another. Here, if anywhere, one would have thought that the industry' S ease for the remission of fuel tax would have been considered as a means of alleviating the difficulties, he said. Now there were to be more investigations in selected areas by the Ministry with a view to considering alternative ways of improving rural travel, and one wondered hOw many more such inquiries would be held before some practical assistance was produced in this important matter.
Mr. Beddow reported that during he year 42 77-scat double-deckers (including 35 Daimler Fleetlines) had been introduced, together with 16 .single-deckers, six of which were to the new 36-ft. by
8-ft. dimensions.