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Preserve Freedom in Fixing Rates

24th October 1952
Page 49
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Page 49, 24th October 1952 — Preserve Freedom in Fixing Rates
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

says Ralph Cropper M.Sc. (Econ.), B.A., A.M.Inst.T.

T1-11S year's Wiry Show, which closes to-night at Olympia, London, will be remembered for the introduction of a low-priced pedestrian-controlled battery-electric and for improvements in that class of vehicle to make it proof against unauthorized use. By incorporating a standard car axle and wheels in a 1-ton four-wheeled pedestriancontrolled unit (described last week), Austin Crompton Parkinson Electric Vehicles, Ltd., has marketed the vehicle, complete with body in primer, battery, charger and lighting accessories for £299 10s.

Recently, some children were injured when tampering with the controls of a pedestrian-operated vehicle and the manufacturer was recommended to provide a removable key to prevent unauthorized use when the driver was away. This precaution is already taken in most of the battery-electric trucks and is a safeguard when the vehicle is on level ground, but does not prevent the brakes from being released on a gradient.

In addition to the removable key, the Electruk now has a device which locks the brakes on when the tiller is released. Such an arrangement has to be simple and easy to operate, so that it does not cause delay when moving away from a call, otherwise the roundsman might neglect to use it.

The crevice comprises a spring-loaded pawl, which locks the handle in a vertical position with the brakes applied, and rotation of -a grip is sufficient to release the controls. The grip is shaped and placed to prevent interference by children and there are additional precautionary measures to stop the pawl being lifted, a positive lock securing the grip against rotation. Patents are pending for this safety device.

The prototype Morrison Electricar al 4 pedestrian controlled vehicle, with Austin car rear axle and Austin wheels and tyres, caused considerable comment as it was driven on to the stand at Olympia. Although it is fitted with larger-diameter tyres than the conventional pedestrian-operated vehicle, the frame design enables the body to be mounted low, so that the overall height of 6 ft. 3 ins, is about average and the deck height of 2 ft. 2 ins, is normal.

With two . full-width axles, giving a 3-ft. 8-in, track, it should be among the most stable of its type, but manoeuvrability is not impaired, because the wheel turning circle is under 9 ft.

Precautions against unauthorized operation include a removable key, but no provision is made for locking the brakes when the driver is away from the van. When the tiller is released, it returns to the vertical position and applies the brakes hydraulically at all four wheels.

A novel detail is the body mounting, which is hinged to the frame at the rear and rests on a car-type transverse semielliptic spring at the front. Removable pins working in the spring eyes are provided for the body attachment.

A reduction in the price of Graiseley electric pedestrian-controlled units was announced by Diamond Motors (Wolverhampton), Ltd., Wolverhampton, at the opening of the Dairy Show. The 1-ton 90-gallon milk float, for example, has been reduced by £15 and the unit, complete with body, charger. and 108-amp.-hr. battery, now costs £344.

The Midland Vandot 10-cwt. van has been improved in appearance by fitting a new, wider body and with open sides to the cab and controls arranged to provide a clear floor, the driver can enter from either side. All Midland models now have the control pedal arranged to the right of the brake pedal, which is the standard position adopted by all electric-vehicle manufacturers.

Another development in batteryelectrics is the rubber-mounted motor, employed in the Helecs Endeavour, and duplex-type frame, which provides a

variation in wheelbase. In the Endeavour chassis the wheelbase arid chassis length can be varied by 2 it. 6 ins., thus providing a range of Platform lengths. Another feature or this ' chassis is the use of Metalastik'rubberbonded spring and shackle bushes, making for reduced maintenance. IN setting out his plans for the post-denationalization era for hauliers, Micawber (" The Commercial Motor," September 26) included a sentence of singular importance. After speaking of the need to retain flexibility in haulage operations, while aiming to bring in all the benefits of co-ordination, he asserted: "We must achieve economic rates such as come only if standard rates are avoided and the freedom to quote for the job be retained."

It is unusual to find this viewpoint so bluntly, yet so aptly, expressed. Freedom to quote for the job and the avoidance of standard rates are the hallmarks of competition. This sentence can betaken to illustrate a true spirit of free enterprise in road transport.

But Micawber places the sentence in a strange setting. Other parts of the same article are in ill accord with it. Freedom to quote must envisage a situation of competition where it may well be that customers start to play off one haulier against another and may, indeed, lead to "a frenzy of rate-cutting," and both of these situations had already been deplored by Micawber. This same competition, when pressed to extremes in stress of economic circumstances, may even lead to "the conditions of the jungle," of which Micawber expressed great fear.

Demands for Stability

These contradictions need further investigation. The plea for the avoidance of standard rates is directly con. trary to the general trend in transport and opposed to the views of many organizations connected with transport. The Road Haulage Association and other associations of transport operators have long been urging the desirability of stabilizing rates. Much effort has been expended by numerous committees in compiling rates schedules, and this has been supplemented by ample exhortation to members to adhere to the Association's prices.

An example is found in the RH/D/20 schedules, which deal with the time-hiring of vehicles. Numerous commodities have come in for investigation with a view to standardizing their transport charges, and schedules have been issued for sugar-beet, sand and ballast, wines, bricks and other commodities.

The views of traders on standardized rates have been mixed. Railway practice has accustomed trade and industry to stable charges. Because the railways were naturally monopolies or near-monopolies, opinion in the 19th century was virtually unanimous in holding that the only way to prevent exploitation was to compel them to fix and publish their rates.

Even under the greatly changed conditions of the mid-20th century, the principle of the fixity of transport rates is not without its advantages to traders. The Transport Act, 1947, made provision for the adoption of charges schemes and it was clearly expected that fixed schedules would then become applicable to both road and rail transport.

The system of embodying transport rates in precise schedules of charges brings advantages to traders in several ways. Transport rates become a precisely ascer tamable factor of cost, which the trader can set down with assuredness when planning forward production and submitting quotations for his products. .Secondly, he can easily find out the transport costs of his competitors and can satisfy himself that they are not enjoying special concessions. Thirdly, C-licensees can discriminate easily between the traffic for which they employ their own vehicles and the low-rated goods which they send by public carriage. These advantages are of greater benefit to large traders and industrialists than to smaller ones. .Large businesses are dependent on great and constant volumes of work, which fit in more with the idea of fixed rates for non-varying transport operations. Smaller businesses are usually much more versatile, with varying transport needs for which a system of special quotations is more appropriate. Other traders are too small to operate C-licensed vehicles and to make use of the -third advantage already mentioned. So marty questions -of service arise with transport operations that many traders are less attracted to the advantages of standardized charges, but prefer to consider the rate in relation to the suitability of the service given, Most traders have probably more to gain from free quotation of rates than from standardized charges. -Few have shown eagerness to agree schedules of rates.

When confronted with proposals from the R.H.A., for example, traders are normally reluctant to meet to discuss the matter, let alone to proceed to a signed agreement. Farmers, brick manufacturers, cement makers, potato merchants, furniture manufacturers and many others, have been approached, but with little success. The inference is clear. Notwithstanding some advantages which agreed rates schedules can give them, users regard these with disfavour and prefer the competitive system as providing a better and cheaper service.

What Free Enterprise Means Free enterprise implies that the manager of each concern is at liberty to conduct his business in his own way, even to the extent of adjusting his charges to customers as he thinks fit in the light of the business conditions of the moment and the traffic involved. Indeed, the principle of free enterprise really goes farther. It implies an obligation on each manager to act in this way. He ought to fix his charges upon his own determination, without any (or little) consultation with other operators.

Nevertheless, hauliers, in the same way as businessmen in other industries, will always find means for conferring on prices, for much mutual assistance can be gained by doing so_ The danger is that such consultations may encourage a belief amongst the public that price rings are being formed, although, with so many independent concerns in the haulage industry, it is not great. Hauliers will insist upon retaining their freedom to quote for the job. Their business acumen must be relied upon to guide them to quote the economic rates for which Micawber pleads.

Tags

Organisations: Road Haulage Association
People: Ralph Cropper
Locations: Austin, Wolverhampton, London

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