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Choosing books about road freight
Page 84
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SEARCHING for relevant books in road passenger transport is, as I indicated last week, a tough task, but the going becomes even harder when looking for those dealing specifically with road freight. Authors who write in an informed manner about road haulage are few and far between; indeed, writers for a variety of reasons seem most diffident about putting pen to paper when the subject is this industry.
Of course, there are a great many books which, from their titles, look particularly relevant. A quick review of their content, however, shows that in many cases they have not been written for the benefit of those following examination courses in road transport, or even for those who wish to gain a greater insight into special haulage problems.
The textbook on road haulage is best represented by A. Havard, The Road Carrier (Temple Press 21s), C. Dickinson, Road Haulage Operation (Pitman 18s), and A. Dunbar, Goods Vehicle Operation, (2nd. ed. Iliffe). Published this year and a most useful addition for those who wish to dig deeper on operation, staff conditions, legal requirements, is a challenging book entitled The Lorry Driver by P. Hollowell (Routledge and Kegan Paul 42s).
In road goods transport law I have always found the most concise work is T.D. Corpe, Road Haulage Licensing (Stevens), a work pleasantly short with few intricate verbose explanations. Otto Kahn-Freund's The Law of Inland Transport (3rd ed. Stevens, 38s 6d) is the classic work and a mine of information. It is really a massive reference book but is well indexed and divided into three sections—the first covering the organization and statutory position of the transport industry while the other two parts examine common law aspects of both goods and passenger. Road transport receives a most comprehensive treatment but this is a work in which specific aspects should be consulted.
A curious aspect of recommended reading lists is that Govern
ment reports and cognate publications are all too often left out of consideration. Such publications are usually dismissed as being dry and turgid documents, only normally read by the most dedicated research worker. This may well have been true in the past but in the last decade, Stationery Office transport publications are much brighter, relevant passages are easier to find, statistics are more often sensibly summarized while maps and diagrams are commonly inserted. This is not to suggest that Government reports are in the category of light bedtime reading, but they are often easier to work through that a host of transport books written by individual authors.
With so much material being produced by the Stationery Office, those preparing for examinations should look at the most important reports at first hand. It is most noticeable in this connection that transport examiners are increasingly quoting these reports in the setting of questions!
But what Stationery Office reports are really cogent to an understanding of road haulage? From a severely pruned list I would recommend the Geddes Committee on Carriers' Licensing (1965, 8s), the Prices and Incomes Board Report No. I (Interim) Road Haulage Rates (June 1965 2s 9d. Cmnd. 2695), and the White Paper Transport of Freight (Cmnd. 3470 November 1967, 2s 9d). The most succinct account of road haulage problems at ports is found in Chapter 20 of the Rochdale Committee on the Major Ports of Great Britain (1962 15s), Annual reports should not be omitted, especially significant being the reports of the Licensing Authorities (divided into regional sections), the Transport Holding Company with special reference to British Road Services, and the Ministry of Transport's Highway Statistics. The last gives a comprehensive annual picture of road haulage, from which, with an elementary knowledge of statistics, a great deal can be learned.