Passenger men slam Euro-hours
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ONLY a week after Minister for Transport, John Gilbert, heard representations about the EEC's proposals for modifying drivers' hours from the goods transport industry (CM, last week), he was told that the proposals were "totally unrealistic" as far as the passenger transport industry was concerned.
Dr Gilbert met representatives of the unions and the European Conference of British Bus and Coach Operators last Friday. The operators' representatives presented a document showing the problems which implementation of the EEC 543/69 Regulation would bring. The document, prepared after a special study by ECBO, said that British conditions could not be related to those of the original six EEC members.
Its main conclusions were : (a) it was "totally unrealistic" to apply to British hours regulations which could not even be enforced in other countries; (b) European and British experience in 1970 showed that the hours proposals are "quite unworkable "; (c) on top of the already high costs of inflation, the EEC proposals would add 15 per cent to operating costs, amounting to £55m a year. This would be "completely unjustifiable" in terms of higher fares and reduced services; (d) service reductions would be inevitable because of the impact the proposals would have on drivers' earnings potential creating a driver shortage; (e) the spirit and possibly the letter of Section 78 of the Treaty of Rome (which says that proposals relating to conditions or rates must take into account the economic condition of carriers) is breached by the Regulation.
The Minister now has to consider the feelings of the goods and passenger operating industries before deciding how to present his case for deferment of the hours and tachograph regulations — due for implementation on January 1, 1976 — to the EEC member countries.