More Austrian permits needed
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BECAUSE of an unprecedented use of the German road-rail transit system, especially by British hauliers, following recent CM articles, the DoE is this weekend negotiating in Vienna for an increase in the Austrian permit quota.
Today (Friday) the Head of Road Goods Division, Mr R. J. E. Dawson, is meeting his Austrian counterparts with a view to matching the increased traffic with a bigger allocation of Austrian destination permits.
Meanwhile, the DoE is examining ways of preventing a resurgence of false Austrian and Jugoslavian transit and destination permits from October, when—under an EEC directive published last December—road-rail transit of Germany and other EEC countries will become permit-free. (At present, issue of Austrian and Jugoslav haulage permits is linked to possession of thirdcountry road-rail or road per mits. This will apply to Britain if we stay in the EEC.
From October, too, a new Milan-Cologne-Rotterdam rail service for unaccompanied semi-trailers will enable UK operators to send goods to Italy without permits. German railways are the UK agents.
Ports stopper
Last week in the House of Lords the Government introduced a new clause into the International Road Haulage Permits Bill to prevent a vehicle without the valid permits from leaving the country.
The amendment allows an examiner to place an immediate prohibition on a vehicle which does not have valid international haulage permits for the countries it is to visit. Infringement of the prohibition will carry maximum fines up to £400 and can be taken into account by an LA considering curtailment or revocation of an 0 licence.