Examiner's Eye View
Page 27
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TUST because the Ministry of Transport has ended its series of two day " blitz " spot checks is no reason for assuming that adequate maintenance standards are no longer an important goal. Maintenance is still, and will certainly remain, one of the major issues of the immediate future. The Socialists, and in particular that most reticent Minister of Transport, Mr. Tom Fraser, are not saying much about road transport; there is no evidence, however, that they intend to leave it out of the political arena.
The reason for this thought is obvious. The Government is committed to awaiting the Geddes Report; so it is not too surprising that. meantime, they are saying little. But it could be that events will, to some extent, sway them.
It is therefore prudent to assume that the present lull " is at best only transitory. Operators should seize the advantage thus offered to them. If the Labour Government is content merely to keep a watching brief then only fools would not move mountains in an endeavour to present as favourable an image as can be achieved.
Maintenance comes sharply into focus in this context. Road transport has come in for a lot of " stick " recently—not, it must be admitted, without some justification. Surely the present is the moment for every operator to look really critically at himself and his approach to maintenance.
You may never have had a G.V.9 slapped on you; but that may only be because you have never had a vehicle stopped. Can you honestly say, though, that the prospect of being stopped does not worry you? If it does worry you—and The Commercial Motor thinks it should– then why not, today, view yourself through the examiner's eye.
How does it look?