Year of Destiny ?
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IT is customary at this time to look back over the past .year, presumably with nostalgia. So far as road transport is concerned, a more useful exercise will be to look ahead to 1965. The year which started today may prove to be a major milestone, to be remembered together with 1930, 1933, 1947 and 1953.
. Do those years suggest anything? They should. Each marked the birth of a major Act which substantially reshaped the figure of road transport. It is likely that the next major change in the industry's structure will be conceived this year, if not enacted.
The road carrier has by far the greater stake in this. Two matters mould the pattern of his environment—Government policy on inland transport as a whole, and licensing. So far as the latter is concerned, the Geddes Committee is expected to report in the spring, together with its recommendations for changes in carriers' licensing law. There is, incidentally, some danger of this report being treated as a complete panacea for all the ills befalling road haulage. Such is a rather unfair handicap to place upon the Committee. They may be able to suggest remedies no more.
As for Government policy, that must still be. regarded as undefined. The Socialists are committed to an inquiry into transport needs; it looks as if they intend to have it ready by autumn.
These two reports—together with others which have been made, such as Rochdale and I-fall—could form the basis of a new Transport Bill to be presented late this year and enacted by, say, summer.of 1966. Its form could be affected considerably by the possibility of an election this year. With a greater majority, the Labout. Party might decide to get a lot tougher than their reign so far suggests.