all in standards if :est stations sold?
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
GOVERNMENT's plans for selling the 91 heavy goods vehicle ing stations are ill-conceived, according to the Freight Transport ociation which says they should instead be transferred to a te-owned company.
I its submission to the Dement of Transport, the FTA s it has not departed from its al view that the sale of the ions is wrong.
says it supports the Govern-it's overall policy of withwing from sectors which can run satisfactorily by private 3rprise, but this, it insists, .5 not apply to the test sta
In many ways, it is the worst didate for Government withwal because it is an area are the Government has a ne responsibility and duty in ns of ensuring public safety." ccording to ETA, it would be ter to transfer the station to a iernment corporation, with ustrial and entrepreneurial nagement and vehicle irators represented on the ird.
A a later stage, the coration could float shares on open market, and so meet ultimate objective of financvehicle tests from outside exchequer.
TA says that the record of testing since its inception 12 rs ago speaks for itself. There been a 50 per cent cut in the nber of serious defects in br and there has been a correinding reduction in accident tistics.
fears that this record would jeopardised by sale to the prie sector, as the test-station owners will make profits through skimping test procedures.
And it goes on to say that the present impartiality of the stations will be put at riik if operators closely associated with the transport industry buy the stations. "The risk, according to circumstances, could be too high or too low a standard of testing. At all events, they could hardly be regarded as impartial."
The Association writes off the hopes of competition helping the service as being "largely illusory". The spread of test stations, it says, means that few operators will have a realistic alternative.
Similarly, it says that the planned cut in the number of civil servants in the stations will not happen. While the sale of the stations will remove staff from the Government's payroll, there will have to be a sharp increase in the number of monitoring staff.
The ETA concludes by cautioning the Government against launching into a disposal programme which would lead to the fragmentation of the present network.
The Road Haulage Association, which says it has had few complaints from its members about the present form of teststation ownership, told CM that a detailed response is still being prepared.