The all-in licence
Page 56
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In his letter regarding all-in licences (CM March 241 surely Mr Jack Wood is getting confused with tests set by the transport industrial training boards, and the hgv tests set by the DoE?
It is seldom that I agree with a Labour proposition, but I think that Mr L. Pavitt, (Labour MP Willesden West) has a valid point. The whole concept of these hgv and psv licences is utter nonsense, anyway. Either a person is fit to drive on the roads, or he isn't. Mr Wood is implying that the driver of a giant double-deck, 38ft long express bus is either incapable or not qualified to drive the village dustcart which weighs, say, 3 tons 5cwt, and requires a Class 3 hgv licence. Or conversely that the driver of the largest articulated truck on the roads is not qualified or incapable of driving a minibus because he does not possess a psv licence. Come off it, Mr Wood!
The booklet D.L.G. 68, issued by the Department of the Environment, on the heavy goods vehicle driving test, quite clearly shows the manoeuvres to be made and questions likely to be asked, and includes the answers and with very few exceptions, such as coupling up, etc, they do not differ from those to be anticipated by the applicant for a psv licence and he would probably be questioned on coupling, if he was driving an articulated-type bus, used by many airports.
To quote Mr Wood, "the test for entry into the industry" is a very different thing from the test for a hgv driving licence. If carried to a logical conclusion the applicant would need to take a degree course. The ability to "sheet up" competently is not going to be of much use to the tanker driver whereas a thorough knowledge of the flash points and potential hazards of each of the several hundred chemical products now carried by road, would be. Similarly, the ability to pack a furniture pantechnicon, a work of art in itself, will hardly benefit the tipper driver, nor a knowledge of the sand and ballast trade be useful to the driver of the cattle truck.
Yet Mr Wood implies that the industry is entitled to potential entrants being conversant or at least knowledgeable with all aspects of road transport. Perhaps it is, but I submit that this is more likely to come from experience in whatever branch of the industry that the applicant joins, rather than mere possession of a hgv licence, or assimilated in a two or three-week course at an RTITB school.
Up to a few years ago at any rate, several of the companies now part of the NBC, used to insist that their potential drivers had considerable experience in road haulage driving before even considering hiring them or submitting them for the psv test. That there are different techniques to be used in driving is not disputed. The regular bus or coach driver put straight on to a tipper, without any prior training, is more likely to break axle and prop-shafts in off-the-road work, than the experienced tipper driver, and similarly the latter is more likely to put people into hospital with bruised bones or broken legs when put straight on to driving a bus than the experienced busman. City dwellers no doubt see this every day! Ultimate competence for either, comes with experience but this doesn't alter the fact that both tipper driver and bus driver are quite capable of handling large vehicles on public roads with some degree of safety to other road users, and this is what the hgv and psv licences are about.
Members of the general motoring public all too readily get their impression of the "image" of the hgv licensed driver and his worth from
the testimony offered by the shattered wrecl of trucks littering the motorways in recer multi-pile-ups. Manufacturers and operatoi are already exploiting the anomalies of tlhgv system and making a mockery of it, whe they can quite legally employ a Class 3 fic licence-holder to drive a four-wheeled c two-axle rigid of maximum capacity towing four-wheeled or two-axled trailer with combined overall length of some 59ft an about 26 tons gross, thus effectivel by-passing the Class 2 and Class 1 driver.
The futility of the tests is further shown t the fact that the Class 3 driver of this rig, me have originally passed his hgv test on the tons 5cwt ultra short-wheelbase Karric village dustcart mentioned earlier as a example, and I have not doubted that N Wood will agree that a truck-trailer outfit c this dimension is likely to present greatt driving and handling problems than conventional articulated truck.
In belittling Mr Pavitt's suggestion it rath looks to me, by the tone of his letter, that II Wood, perhaps with tongue-in-cheek, guilty of attempting to perpetuate the age-o jealousies between psv and hgv drivers!
What perhaps would be an advantageoi appendage to a hgv driver's licence, is signed statement from the police to the effe that the applicant for the test does not ha any police record, such as conviction f stealing or dangerous driving recorded agair him or her, which has been a requisite some countries for applicants for commerc vehicle driving licence for many years.
Also the regulations for drivers of vehicl carrying children have been lax for years, ai should be tightened up with more in-dep selection of drivers, with the issue of satisfactory report from a psychiatrist, befo such employment is offered.
This too is not a new idea and has bei legally required in other countries for a loi time, whereas in this country virtually ai Tom, Dick or Harry, is entrusted with loads children from non-psv minibus to 'decker, al the damage that a "bent" driver could do tc busload of very young and impressionat children is incalculable. I do know that the have been such cases here, invariat resulting in instant dismissal of the culprit, b seldom a court case. Mrs Thatcher, plea note!
S. A. Tro Sedburgh, Yor