Mr. Ingram Attacks Normal User
Page 30
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ASTRONG attack upon the restriction of hauliers by means of normal-user conditions was made on Wednesday by Mr. R. N. Ingram, national chairman of the Road Haulage Association.
He was addressing North Staffs Chamber of Commerce at Stoke-on-Trent, and said: " British Railways are seeking, by means of their objections to the renewal of A licences in the traffic courts, to tie operators as rigidly as possible to their statements of normal user, and to ensure that they have little latitude to provide facilities outside its scope.
"If it can be shown that there has been any substantial departure from the terms of the normal user previously granted, the renewal of the licence is in grave jeopardy.
"No attempt has yet been made, even by the Transport Tribunal, to define the word normal' in this context, there being, therefore, little uniformity throughout the country, and at the moment the governing factor is the discretion of the individual Licensing Authority."
It was of the utmost importance to the trade and industry of this country, he continued, that flexibility, which was the greatest advantage road had over rail transport, was not destroyed by' what was merely "a piece of legal opportunism."
" It is well that our customers should be aware of the threat to the service they expect to receive," said Mr. Ingram. "It is to be hoped they will use their influence when and where they can, and will denounce this policy as fundamentally inimical to all interests, except those of the British Transport Commission."
The Association had made representation to the Government at intervals for more than 12 months past and would continue to take every opportunity of fighting "this attempt to put the transport operator in a strait-jacket."
CHEAP FARES OFF PEAK
SIGNIFICANT aspect of the fares increases to be put into effect by the British Transport Commission, following the sanction of the Transport Tribunal, is the use of the price mechanism to diminish peak-hour traffic. Daily and five-day rail tickets for off-peak travel will be substantially cheaper than ordinary rates.
London Transport are to raise some bus fares on November 1. Tickets of denominations between 8d.-2s. Id. will rise by amounts from Id. Early-morning single fares will increase by 3d., and children's fares will be half adult rate.
LAST OF NATIONALIZATION?
" THE public has shown that it
L approves the existing public boards in the public-utility industries, but does not want them extended further. We should say that we accept that decision and would in future propose no further nationalization." — Mr. Douglas Jay, M.P., writing in Forward, the Labour weekly journal.
A28