Sir Dan lists 'bland assertions'
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A LONG list of what is described as the "unsubstantiated and bland assertions which confront us at every turn" was given last week by Sir Daniel Pettit, chairman of the National Freight Corporation. Speaking to the Oil Industry's Club, Sir Dan said that the sort of assertions he had chosen were woefully short of hard fact and quantified research.
Among those which were commonly put forward, he said, were: modern economy can prosper while neglecting its road transport industry; rail freight can take over from road in large areas of freight movement; rail is more economical than road in the use of energy for freight movement; and smaller road vehicles are effective substitutes for large.
The list was apparently endless, he said, and it could be extended to include the "harsh and challenging criticism by those who occupy the middle ground, of all those sectional groups, unions, management. politicians, whose conceited obsessions .about themselves are forcing extreme attitudes which can only encourage an inevitable lurch into catastrophy."