"Rate War" Probable: R.H.E.
Page 37
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Manager Complains of Staff
THE likelihood of a "rate war"
between the Road Haulage Executive and free-enterprise hauliers was forecast last Friday by Mr. R. B. Brittain, chairman of the public relations committee of the Road Haulage Association. "We are ready," he said, and added that trade and industry would back free hauliers. He was speaking at the annual dinner of the Devon and Cornwall Area of the R.H.A., at Torquay.
Pointing out that the British Transport Commission's intention to revoke nearly half the original permits granted to free operators had caused open rebellion, Mr. Brittain declared. "The B.T.C. has a major war on its hands."
Hauliers would compensate themselves —instead of asking the Commission for compensation—by taking the short-distance traffic from State transport.
Mr. Brittain, who said that many R.H.E. drivers were dissatisfied with their lot, quoted from a notice to the staff of the Nottingham Parcels (60) Group, signed by Mr. S. G. Rushton, group manager. This stated that "this group is not making the profits that it should," and attributed part of the responsibility to "certain drivers" who are not pulling their weight." Punishment by suspension for up to two weeks was threatened.
The document then declared that " a great deal of time is being spent by drivers in coffee houses," and. complained that vehicles had been seen parked outside public houses. The fourth paragraph said that the Executive had instructed that the majority of holidays next year must be taken in August. Then followed the complaint that " pilferages are definitely on the increase."
The notice closed on a plaintive note.
I was very disappointed at the lack of support given to the group's football team, which played so well and gained an overwhelming victory over the North Derbyshire Group by 12 goals to nil. As group. manager, I showed my personal interest by attending and giving support . . ." wrote Mr. Rushton.
Mr. Geoffrey Wilson, M.P., secretary of the Conservative Party Parliamentary Transport Committee, who resigned from railway service after the first year of nationalization, rejected the Government's interpretation of " integration " as a process of unification. He thought it was wrong to bolster up one form of transport at the expense of another. Transport should be allowed to find its own economic level.
Mr. J. R. F. Bradford, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Area, maintained that " the railways are not our real enemies." The enemies of free hauliers were those who had voluntarily gone over to the State undertaking.
Other speakers were Mr. Fabian Windeatt, area legal adviser; Aid, T. F. Adams, J.P.'., Mayor of Torquay; Mr. R. H. Farmer, national vice-chairman, Mr. Percy Nobes, area vice-chairman, and Mr. Frank F. Fowler, national chai rman.