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23rd December 1999
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

The industry has been transformed since the sixties, when there was no Severn Bridge in existence and hauliers were protesting against the idea of_ compulsory tachographs. •

It comes as something of a shock to realise that so many things that the transport industry takes for granted as fixed points in the landscape simply didn't exist 35 years ago. For example, today there are two Severn Bridges. Back in 1965 there was no bridge at all, and drivers heading to and from South Wales had the choice of either pursuing a circuitous route, or using the Aust Ferry As CM's 2 September 1966 issue pointed out. you risked endless traffic jams in Chepstow if you chose the former course, or a wait of up to five hours if you todlrerrferry-trip—semething-tck emplate next time you're tempted to complain about bridge tolls.

CM 30 September 1966 carried advanced details of someth g else we probably all take for granted nowadays— the M62, described by CM as "England's mountain motorway".

The first Severn Bridge opened in 1966,

and Scania-Vabis announced (CM 26 August 1966) that it would start selling trucks in the UK. on I January 1967. Two dealers had already been appointed, and the Swedish manufacturer's first model—the LB76H Super 32-ton tractor unit—would cost f4,500. CM 18 November 1966 reported on another interloper. Ailsa Trucks was to start selling Volvos in Britain, and the first to appear would be an F86 32-ton tractor.

Not that UK manufacturers were too concerned. While seven foreign manufacturers were going to exhibit at that year's Commercial Motor Show, according to

D CM16 September 1966, they were swamped by no less than 26 UK companies.

Britain was still the world's biggest exporter of commercial vehicles, and some of those trucks were being used on very long-distance work. In its 16 December 1966 issue CM announced a scheduled London-to-Teheran overland freight service operated by Asia Motors. The company was to use a rigid AEC Mammoth Major double-drive six-wheeler with a 1,1ooft3body pulling a 1,400ft3 drawbar trailer. One wonders how Ministry of Transport officials would have coped if asked to weigh that.

CM 6 January 1967 reported that the ministry was starting to testweigh lorries at four sites around the country so that they could get an idea of typical axle loadings and running weights. The aim was proper enforcement of the plating regulations, due to be introduced on r October 1968.

Increasingly during 1967, and later, CM examined the development of containerisation of cargo for import and export through the ports. Traditional cargo handling was declining, with progressively less volume going through the Port of London, and more travelling in big steel boxes through ports such as fast-expanding Felixstowe—in the teeth of great resistance from dockers. Something else which faced considerable resistance—this time from lorry drivers—was the 1968 Transport Bill. It was the hot topic of that year so far as CM was concerned, and on 12 April 1968 it reported a massive rally in London's Hyde Park in opposition.

Sixty vehicles plus marchers headed to Whitehall where a 600,000-signature petition was handed in to to Downing Street. The bill included the replacement of the old A, B and Clicences with the new 0-licence, but what concerned the protesters was the suggestion that the use of tachographs—"the spy in the cab"—might become compulsory.

In the event they only became a reality as a consequence of European legislation sometime after Britain joined the Common Market. Before that there were two other hurdles to leap: the introduction of HGV driving tests in 1969; and the testing of vehicles at ministry test stations from October '968.

Ten years later, 0-licences became standard and restricted, and transport managers had to provide proof of professional competence.

While keeping track of all this legislation, CM found plenty of time to address technical developments. On 20 September 1968 it reported that Leyland aimed to introduce a 35ohp to 400hp gas turbine truck in 1970. By the autumn of 7968 Leyland was part of British Leyland as a result of its merger with British Motor Holdings (CM 17 May1968).

British Leyland subsequently became a byword for go-slows and strikes, and the road transport industry was severely affected by the worsening industrial relations climate in the late sixties and early seventies. On 13 August 1971 CM reported on the Transport and General Workers Union demanding a weekly payment of f2.5o for every driver with one of those shiny new HGV licences.

One of the difficulties that employers increasingly faced, however, was the danger that a wage increase might breach the govern

ment's counter-inflation policy.

On 2 March 1973 CM tienhar fear nor favour

explained that under price and profit control rules to be operated from r April, companies would only be allowed to pass on 50% of any increase in costs they suffered to their customers. This type of restraint was in place almost throughout the seventies and CM was soon su esting ways to circumvent it.

For example, there was nothing to stop firms sweetening the package they offered by introducing pension schemes or permanent health insurance, it said (CM 25 March 1977).

In 1972 the UK joined the Common Market, and CM published articles on how the organisation worked, and the implications for UK haulage. It also helped hauliers get to grips with an unwelcome innovation—VAT.

Yet despite the strikes—workers at the Gardner engine plant downed tools for four months in 1973, and CM was hit by printers' stoppages—the oil crisis, and general gloom, UK truck makers continued to bring out new products. CM 31 August £973 carried details of the new Leyland Marathon, capable of operating at 32 to 44 tonnes (by this time CM had gone over to metric weights), while on 6 September 1974 it reported on ERF's introduction of the B Series, with a cab clad with sheet-moulded compound plastic panels.

In the 20 September 1974 issue it was announcing the debut of a range of Bedford TMs at 17-32 tonnes. In 1972, changes to the Construction & Use regulations permitted 32tonne operation on four rather than five axles.

As the truck side of the business was only too well aware, the car side of British Leyland was in serious difficulties. On 13 December 1974 CM announced that the Government was going to bail out the company financially. But Labour Industry Minister Tony Senn warned that it would require some form of state control in return for cash aid. The first few years of Common Market membership featured disputes over permit allocation and growing pressure on the UK to come into line with the rest of the community over weights and tachos.

In early 1977 CM ran stories on the use German road transport made of tachographs. In one feature it pointed out the ability it gave employers to analyse drivers performance so they could reward the better performers.

The advantages tachographs could bring were not lost on some UK hauliers and drivers, and by early 1976 some firms were fitting them voluntarily.

CM 18 February 1977 said Transport Minister William Rogers was reviewing the merits of an EEC plan for a 40-tonne on five aides limit throughout the Community, including the UK, and coming under pressure from environmentalists to oppose it. By 31 March 1978 CM was reporting that the Government would not accept 40 or 44-tonners on British roads for at least the next five years. The biggest contribution to the weights debate during this period was the Armitage Report. CM 13 December 1980 announced that after 1,834 written submissions and 34 hearings, Sir Arthur Armitage was recommending 44 tonnes on six axles, and 38 tonnes on five. The UK went for 38 tonnes and successfully fended off European pressure to move to higher weights until the start of 1999.

The 38-tonne limit occupied the minds of CM's technical staff in 1983. Should readers use three-axle tractors and tandem-axle trailers, or vice-versa? And many operators feared that bigger payloads wouldn't necessarily mean more money.

"This is a civil war which claims—as all civil wars do— Innocent victims where brother fights brother. Perfectly viable haulage businesses are going to the wall as long-established and well-serviced contracts terminate and are not renewed." CM editorial on the rates war, 8 November 1980.

By 1980 Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government was in power and privatisation was very much on the agenda. The 1980 Transport Bill contained provisions for the sale of shares in the National Freight -. Corporation, and on 24 October 1981 CM reported that the government had agreed to sell it to the man

agement for £53.5m if 4m was raised from the staff. Other areas affected by privatisation included local authority refuse collection, and bus and coach operation. On 12 March 1983 CM noted that collection of Bath's rubbish was in the hands of Pritchards, with a Ii.5m saving projected over five years.

Hammered by industrial turmoil at home and facing fierce competition from overseas, the early eighties were tough for Britain's truck makers. On ii October 1980 CM stated 1,600 jobs were to go at Foden after its takeover by Paccar of the US, with only 350 employees remaining.

Yet some manufacturers were willing to invest in new vehicles. n 28 June, CM carried details of a £32m investment in the new Leyland Assembly Plant, which would build the T45 Roadtrain. And in March 1981, Ford launched the Cargo.

However, CM 28 November 1981 revealed the other side of the coin: 4,100 jobs were to go at Leyland by the end of 1982. There would be 1,365 job losses at Bathgate alone, while 740 jobs were to go with the dosure of the Guy factory Leyland survived and on z8 September 1984 CM announced the launch of the Roadrunner.

Along with privatisation came stricter legislation governing what trade unions and their members could do in pursuance of an industrial dispute. CM 19 March 1983 gave details of Democracy arid the trade unions, a government Green Paper which included a proposal for secret ballots before strike action.

The miners' strike the following year saw South Wales hauliers hit particularly hard by the loss of work, and transport companies prepared to cross picket lines, risking violence. The battle was fought out in the courts too—CM 4 August 1984 reported that the South Wales Miners Union had been fined ko,000 in the High Court over picket action it had taken against two hauliers in defiance of an injunction.

There were other ways of denying lorries access to places. CM 2 February 1985 announced that the Greater London Council was to start recruiting officials to administer a London night and weekend lorry ban. The impact of the lorry on the environment and likely legislation had for sometime been on the minds of truck manufacturers and responsible hauliers, who were working to mitigate its effects.

CM 6 March 1982 reported that the Foden/ Rolls-Royce Quiet Heavy Vehicle, which could operate at 8odB(A), had spent two years on trial with an Oxfordshire company. Green issues grew and were to become even more to the forefront from the mid-eighties onwards.

DATES

1967 oilWi *AA Jay War.

1969 Irst man on the moon. 1972 kitain joins Common $farket.

1973 lietnam War ends. 1975 iindrei Sakharov wins ?label Peace Prize. 1977 Elvis Presley dies. 1978 First test tube baby 1979 Illargaret Thatcher

becomes UK Prime Minister.

1980 ilLS storms Iranian Imhassy in London. 1981 lionald Reagan becomes

IS President.

1982 4rgentina invades ialklands.

1983 MA bombs Harrods.

"My first sight of the reality of the miners' strike in South Wales was from above the M4 at junction 27, the turn-off for Ebbw Yale. I counted more than 130 tipper lorries in close formation in the centre lane of the motorway, all with tarpaulins over their leads. and many with ugly metal grilles across their windows. Police cars 111 and motorcycles escorted them." Jack Semple writing in CM25 August 1984.


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