Can Vehicles Be Borrowed?
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If an Employee Wants the Use of His Chiefs Pick-up for a Domestic Task, a B Licence May Be Required
WHEN an employer lends a vehicle to an employee to perform some domestic task, and requires only a sum to cover running costs, is any breach of the law being perpetrated? This is the substance of an inquiry from a C-licensee, who explains: "We own a 30-cwt. pick-up used to carry spares between various depots, and are often requested by members of our staff for the loan of the vehicle whenever they wish to carry personal belongings or collect materials.
"We make no charge and are not rewarded in any way when we oblige them, except that we ask them to cover the cost of petrol and oil consumed. But are we violating the 1933 Act?"
The brief answer is that the law would be broken if a binding contract could be said to exist between the two parties. The legality of any arrangement is, of course, for the courts alone to decide, and I must qualify my comments with this statement. The size of the financial element is irrelevant to the existence of a contract. If the owner of the vehicle can legally enforce the person allowed the use of it to pay the sum agreed, no matter how large or small it is, a contract is said to exist.
This, naturally, depends upon the circumstances of any case. The information given me is insufficient to determine whether there was any intention to create a binding contract, but I infer that there probably was not. But if there were such an intention, a B licence would be necessary to cover the use of the vehicle.
1-1 A READER is preparing a paper on the cost of production and manufacture over the past decade and requires relevant data concerning increased operating costs of goods vehicles over the same period.
Taking the petrol-engined 5-tonner averaging 500 miles per week as an example, selected items of cost for the three years 1948, 1953 and 1958 are as follows. Wages were estimated at £5 12s., £6 12s. and £8 I8s. 7d. respectively, whilst interest charges per week rose from 68. 6d. to 1 Is. 7d. and finally to 13s. 10d. The total for the five items of standing cost Were: 1948, £7 6s. 6d.; 1953, £8 12s, 10d.; and 1958, £11 7s. 3d.
Variations in fuel costs per mile for this vehicle were as follows: 1948, 1.92d.; 1953, 3.85d.; and 1958, 4.64d. For the same years, running costs per mile were 5.26d., 8.63d. and 9.94d., making the total operating cost per mile 8.78d., 12.81d. and 15.39d. respectively.
Similarly, for an eight-wheeled rigid oiler averaging 800 miles per week, the total standing costs per week for 1948 amounted to £11 15s., rising to £13 14s. Id. in 1953 and finally £18 Os. 2d. in 1958. Total operating costs per mile were correspondingly 12.02d., 18.25d. and 2I.79d. Taking the 1948 n:1(1
figure as 100 per -cent., total costs would have risen to 151.83 per cent, in 1953 and 181.28 per cent. in 1958.
Three of the main items, of course, in the operating expenses of a commercial vehicle are the initial cost, driver's wages and price of fuel. Taking the 5-ton petrol lorry as an example, in 1949 this would have cost about 1575. This item increased to £850 in 1951, following the introduction of purchase tax the previous year. Five years later the price was £1,050 and in 1958, £1,125.
Following last month's Budget, the price is now some £990, actording to the specification. Similarly with wages in accordance with the then R.H.(34), Grade I areas, the basic pay for a driver of a vehicle with a capacity between 5-8 tons was £5 6s. By the end of 1954, following the second increase in that year, the amount had risen to £6 15s. (R.H. [50]). The current statutory rate is £8 10s., and a recommendation for a 5s. increase is awaiting approval.
The price of commercial petrol in 1949 was about is. 91d. per gallon when delivered in bulk. The fuel tax of 9d. per gallon was raised on April 18, 1950, to ls. 6d. In 1951, the tax was further raised to Is. 10d. and finally to 2s. 6d. on March 11, 1952, at which amount it has since remained with the exception of the Suez interim increase, making the price per gallon approximately 3s. 9d.
A NOTHER reader is having difficulty with the police. His
company operate about 500 10-cwt vans and it has been their policy to fit an off-side exterior mirror and one interior mirror in the belief that this conforms with current regulations.
Recently a number of their vans has been stopped by the police in various parts of the country and their drivers warned that this arrangement of mirrors does not conform to the law in spite of the fact that the rear windows are not obstructed. Fortunately, however, they have so far been successful in having these warnings withdrawn, but are concerned as to future policy. The company say that, apart from any legal obligations which may be involved, they have a practical objection to fitting a near-side exterior mirror, except when the interior view is obstructed, because they consider a mirror in that position to be a distraction and have had several accidents because of such fitments. Moreover, the manufacturers of the van are not fitting near-side mirrors as standard equipment as they, too, are
apparently under, the impressibn that this is not required by law.
The reader therefore inquires about the law regarding the fitting of mirrors on goods vehicles and whether there is any ambiguity in its interpretation.
The requirement to fit mirrors on motor vehicles is determined in paragraph 4 of the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations, 1957, No, 359. Because there appears to be some doubt as to the precise interpretation of this particular regulation, the following extract from paragraph 4, sub-section A, is given:—
As from January 1, 1938, the following vehicles, namely, every passenger vehicle adapted to carry more than seven passengers exclusive of the driver, and every goods vehicle, including every dual-purpose vehicle, shall be equipped with at least two mirrors: one of these shall be fitted externally on the off side of the vehicle, and the other either internally or on the near side externally; and the mirrors shall be so constructed and fitted to the motor vehicle as to assist the driver, if he so desires, to become aware of traffic to the rear and on both sides rearwards.
There is clearly no requirement given here as to the precise position in which the internal mirror shall be fitted. The absence of such direction appears to be emphasized by the phrase "or on the near side externally," in which the positioning is precisely determined. Whilst the import of the final phrases are that the mirrors should be so positioned as to be of assistance to the driver, this can hardly be construed to imply that the second mirror should therefore be fitted on the near side. It could be, in fact, that with some arrangements of cab and body a mirror fitted in this latter position might be useless and so fail to 'comply with the requirement that both mirrors should be of assistance to the driver.
TN contrast to the many inquiries I receive from would-be 'entrants to the transport industry, I have received a request for advice from a company formed as the result of an amalgamation. They propose to expand the fleet of the parent concern by incorporating those of the smaller subsidiaries. This is a common problem with so many' regroupings which have taken place in recent years. Solutions must be as varied as the traffics involved, but there are some general principles. Assuming that the organization intend to run their own vehicles rather than hire them, it might be an advantage to segregate transport activity into two functions—engineering and traffic.
It would be the engineering department's responsibility to select, provide and maintain the vehicles, and the traffic department's to effect the delivery of the company's goods, striking the required balance between economy and service in keeping with the competitive climate of the trade concerned.
It might be beneficial to promote a relationship between the two sections so that the traffic department behaved as if they
were renting vehicles from a contract-hire concern. Correspondingly, the traffic department could charge the "customer" sections of the company making use of their services in the same way as a haulier would do.
The degree of centralization which could be achieved would depend upon the' relationship between depots and subsidiary companies with headquarters, and the nature of the traffic and the areas served. Co-ordinaton of maintenance would result in maximum employment of workshop facilities, provided that excessive dead mileages were not involved in bringing vehicles into a central garage for repair.
On the traffic side, attempts at centralization may not prove so successful. Expected savings may not be realized because of complications which could arise when large numbers of orders for collections and deliveries are channelled through one office. There could also be adverse repercussions in sales' relationships because of loss of personal control.
Efficiency is engendered by encouraging co-operation at all levels, and this is a basic principle recognized by many large ancillary operators who have reorganized their fleets. Two of the chief advantages of amalgamation are the opportunity to buy in bulk at reduced prices, and the promotion of efficiency by budgetary control and comparative costing of groups or depots. S.B.