Old enough to vote?
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Why not drive a bus
EIGHTEEN-year-olds will be able to drive buses in future, but only on journeys of under 50km Labour opposition to the move was defeated by nine votes to seven during Committee discussion of the Transport Bill. The change was brought about by a new clause introduced by lain Mills (Tory, Meriden) who said the age limit of 21 conflicted with that of many of our EEC partners.
Mr Mills remarked that the change would reduce youth anemployment, and he Pointed out that National Bus 2-ompany said recently that it was short of 2000 drivers in the North and South-east.
It would help career structures if 18-year-olds who want to drive buses don't have to wait another three years. And it seemed logical to argue that 18-year-olds would be in a better position to accept unsocial hours than married people.
There was some disagreement between Terence Higgins (Tory, Worthing) and Opposition transport spokesman Albert Booth over the Confederation of British Road Passenger Transport's view.
Mr Higgins said CPT felt it was more a question of an individual's maturity than his age, and that the distinction between 18 and 21 did not define whether a person was responsible. But Mr Booth said Mr Higgins was misrepresenting CPT's views, which was that the age limit should be reduced to 19 or 20. In fact, CPT told CM that both MPs were half right. It would prefer 19 or 20 to be the minimum, but a mature attitude is more important. David Marshall (Labour, Glasgow Shettleston) said that many operators might see superficial advantages in a lower limit so that they could recruit staff, but could be caught out by practical problems.
He would not have a flexible labour force if he had journeys of over and under 50km, especially if both ran out of a large garage. There would also be problems with wage rates. Did an 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old driver covering a 49.5km journey merit the same wage as a 21year-old covering 50.5km?