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II EDITOR'S COMMENT
Page 7
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EURO SURVEY
• It seems like everybody is talking about Europe, 1992 and that wonderful Single European Market. Hardly a week goes by without some bigwig from the uri ot CBI sounding off about the benefits that are lying around to be snapped up. All the major trade associations have been getting in on the act too, urging hauliers to prepare for harmonisation . . . it's enough to make anyone's head spin.
But what exactly do British hauliers want, and expect, from 1992? Is it really an opportunity — or a threat?
It would be easy for Commercial Motor to follow the DTi line, rewrite press releases, listen to all the big companies and present a false picture of Europe. But we want to be sure that our coverage of the SEM is relevant — and that it will aid and advise operators in the run-up to 1992.
That's where you come in. Rather than telling you what we think you ought to know about Europe, we want you to tell us what you don't know. You'll already have seen our survey card on the previous page. Business opportunities, legislation, products . . . the card has sections for your views on each. Tick the areas you want to know more about, tear off the card, slip it in a letter box — we've even paid the cost of postage for you — and help us to help you.
AS FUNNY AS TOOTHACHE
II When we think of farce in Britain we tend to think of the West End; of Brian Rix; of dropped trousers and smutty jokes. Now, it seems, British farce has spread beyond Shaftesbury Avenue to 36 Old Queen Street in London where the London Boroughs Transport Committee met last Friday to discuss Blue Circle's successful appeal against condition 11 of the London Lorry Ban (see Page 6).
As farces go, this was a rather dull affair. There was, as far as CM knows, no dropping of trousers or smutty jokes. But the assembled representatives madeup for this by making a complete farce of the LBTC's appeal procedure.
In rejecting Blue Circle's successful appeal to its own independent Appeals Advisory Committee, the Lwrc has opened itself to considerable ridicule. What, in heaven's name, is the point of an independent appeals body if, every time an appeal is upheld, it is rejected?
It is not the role of local boroughs to enforce the fitting of air brake silencers or hush kits — that job is (or used to be) left to the Department of Transport and its Construction and Use regulations.
The current farce revolves around this misunderstanding of the role of the Ban, and unlike most farces, there is no happy end in sight. The drama now rests on the imminent findings of the Judicial Review of the ban. Let's hope that Lord Justice Watkins and Justice Hutchinson are aware that their findings could turn this farce into a tragedy.