COSTS SPIRAL STILL THREATENS RATES
Page 27
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From a Special Correspondent
DESP1TE increases in haulage rates on September 1 last year and again in November following the addition Of 6d. a gallon to the fuel tax (making a total of 3s. 3d. a gallon), the spiral of rising costs continues with promise of more lo follow.
A claim for a "substantial pay increase" is to be considered by the Road Haulage Wages Council a week today, From past experience of these negotiations there is therefore every likelihood of hauliers having to meet a substantial addition to their already major item of operating cost, namely wages.
Finance facilities, by whatever means, are harder to come by and more expensive to obtain following the rise in Bank Rate from 4 per cent to 7 per cent on November 23. There has been no higher Bank Rate for over 25 years and few, if any, hauliers can escape its adverse effects—directly and indirectly.
From March 29, employers will have to meet an increase in National Insurance contributions of 3s. 3d. a week (from 9s. 8d. to 12s. lid. a week for male adult workers). This increase will, of course, be in addition to whatever higher amount is agreed to as a result of the current wage claim. Overhead costs, too, though small individually, are no exception to the spiral tendency and increases here add to the growing total.
With all these increases in hauliers costs either occurring or pending it is understood that the national rates and carriers liability committee of the Road Haulage Association is concerned with the worsening situation. It is understood it will be meeting a day or two after the Budget to assess its affects on rates along with any other increases in costs.
Repeal of the recent 6d. imposition on the fuel tax in the coming Budget would he needed to partially offset rising costs and so limit their effect On rates. Any laorsening of hauliers' operating costs through measures in the coming Budget could make a substantial increase in haulage rates inevitable.
(An article in the series Advice on Transport Problems, "The Effect of Added Costs ", appears on page 69, and Janus writes on the subject on page 63 of this issue.)
More L.D.O.Y. Dates
NAORE dates are now known for tffe al eliminating rounds of the 1965 Lorry Driver of the Year competition. These are: Weymouth, April 3; Birmingham, May 16; Newcastle, May 23; Coventry, May 30; Kent (Maidstone), May 30; Liverpool, May 16; Ruislip, May 30; Northampton; June 27; and Stoke, July 11.
Dates previously announced are; Edinburgh, June 6; London, June :3; Leeds, June 20; Southend, June 27; and Fleetwood, July 4.