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What Should a C-licensee Pay ?

25th April 1958, Page 62
25th April 1958
Page 62
Page 65
Page 62, 25th April 1958 — What Should a C-licensee Pay ?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

AS more than 1m. C licences have now been issued it is not surprising that many of the queries received from readers concern ancillary operation, particularly regarding the wages payable to their drivers. Because they are a legal obligation, the rates and conditions payable under successive Wages Orders are familiar to Aand B-licence operators. As the position regarding most ancillary drivers' wages is less precise, and often a transport department is of secondary importance to a trader or manufacturer, some misunderstanding on this matter is inevitable.

In seeking information on this point, a C-licence operator states that the relationship with his drivers has always been particularly happy. A few years ago the drivers joined the Transport and General Workers' Union and, although the company had no objection, they had no signed agreement of any kind with the Union. In fact, some of the payments made were in excess of those which must be paid by Aand B-licence operators.

The Union, however, have now suggested to the company that they are under an obligation to reduce their standard 47-1-hour week to 44 hours, with overtime rates payable after 44 hours, and the reader asks whether there is, in fact, any such statutory obligation. .

.No Legal Obligations

Briefly, there are no rates of wages which C-licence operators, as such, arc under a legal obligation to pay. There are, however, two qualifications to that statement. First, and consistent with the C-licence operator's position as ancillary to the trade or industry he serves, there may be terms and conditions laid down within individual, trades or industries which include lorry drivers. There are now many such agreements, details of which are obtainable from the respective trade associations.

In this context, useful information is to be found in the new edition of the Directory of Employers' Associations, Trade Unions, Joint Organizations, Etc., published last week by H.M. Stationery Office, price 8s. It contains the names and addresses of the secretaries of all such organizations and of any joint employers and workers councils concerned with wages and conditions.

Where no such internal agreement applies, a driver of a C-licence vehicle may complain to the Minister of Labour if he considers his wage " unfair." The Minister may then refer the complaint to the .Industrial Court, and if they find the complaint justified, the Court will fix the remuneration to be paid to him in future. In this context wages are considered fair if they are in accordance with, or equivalent to, a tradeunion agreement or Industrial Court Order. Failing that, they must be not less favourable than the current wages payable to drivers of Aand B-licence vehicles.

In practice, and failing any agreement particular to their own trade, many C-licence operators do offer these rates and 1328 conditions, and thereby avoid dispute as to what is, or is not, less favourable than those contained in the current Wages Regulation Order. This is commonly referred to as R.H.(62) and is obtainable from the Stationery Office at is, 3d. (Although amendments to R.H.(62) are now under review, it is not likely that they will become effective for some weeks, even if they are subsequently confirmed.)

A NOTHER reader finds a report of a recent case puzzling ri and would appreciate clarification. The case concerned a former taxi proprietor who was seen to be taking 12 passengers home from a dance in an estate car. In a statement he said that he used the vehicle on C licence and was hired to pick up a party after the dance and charged each person 2s. 6d.

As a result he was fined on three charges for using a vehicle for which a higher rate of duty was chargeable, and using it as an express carriage without a public service vehicle licence and without a road service licence. In pleading not guilty, he claimed that many taxi proprietors used estate cars for this type of work.

As regards the first charge, it unfortunately has to be accepted that where a vehicle—for example, a dual-purpose vehicle— could be rated for Excise duty under different categories, the authorities insist on the highest amount being paid in accordance with the Vehicles (Excise) Act, 1949, and the Finance Act, 1952. In this particular instance, the Excise duty payable should have been £20 in accordance with the rate applicable to hackney carriages. In fact, only f17 10s. had been paid, which is the annual rate applicable to goods vehicles with an unladen weight of 1-11 tons.

Because 12 passengers were being carried, the vehicle should have complied with regulations appropriate to passenger licences, which would not have been the case if the vehicle had had fewer than eight seats. Before motor vehicles can be run as stage, express or contract carriages, the operator must obtain a public service vehicle licence. Moreover, except where a vehicle has fewer than eight seats, that licence is not granted unless a certificate of fitness• is in force. Because of their construction, many vehicles commonly termed dual-purpose, capable of carrying eight or more passengers, would not be able to obtain a certificate of fitness and could not be licensed as public service vehicles.

Since this case was taken, however, the Public Service Vehicles (Conditions of Fitness) Regu lations, 1958, and Public Service Vehicles and Trolley Vehicles (Carrying Capacity) (Amendment) Regulation, 1958, have come into force. Whilst applying to all types of public service vehicle, one of the main purposes of these regulations has been to ease conditions for vehicles with a seating capacity of not more than 12 passengers. Nevertheless, the obligation to obtain both a certificate of fitness and public service vehicle licence before commencing operation remains.

Finally, by charging each passenger 2s. 6d_, the taxi proprietor was no longer operating a contract carriage, but was engaged in express work, which cannot be undertaken without a road service licence. .

Arising front this case, it is imperative that operators in similar circumstances should realize the additional legal obligations incurred once the veiiicle they operate has eight seats or more.

BOTH in " ' The Commercial Motor! Tables of Operating Costs" and in this series of articles, reference has been made to vehicles operating weekly mileages which obviously could not be completed within the statutory 44 hours. Because no adjustment is made in the cost of wages, as compared with a lower mileage which would normally be completed within a standard week, a reader questions this apparent discrepancy.

In estimating vehicle operating costs on which to base a general rates schedule (as distinct from a. specific job or contract) it is convenient to accept the amount of wages payable for 44 hours, regardless of the weekly mileage involved. Whilst this may not be correct in specific instances, particularly when applying to the higher weekly mileages, a reasonable alternative is not available, except by adding undue complexity to this one out of 10 items of operating cost and thereby destroying the underlying policy of simplicity. Because the proportion of terminal times varies so largely under differing Conditions, it would be almost impossible to arrive at any acceptable average_ of drivers' hours relative to varying weekly mileages.

At first sight, the 44-hour week, which is accepted as a compromise, may seem unduly short and not in the haulier's interest, but there is a compensating factor. In the final division of standing costs before formulating rates, a 44-hour week is assumed. Therefore, if that figure is exceeded, whilst admittedly a higher amount will be payable in respect of wages and, moreover, at overtime rates, the whole of the remaining four, items of standing costs—licences, rent and rates, insurance and interest—should have been met by revenue received in payment for the first 44 hours of operation. Consequently, both for convenience and simplicity, it is arbitrarily assumed that beyond 44 hours the increase in wages will be offset by the absence of other standing costs.

CLARIFICATION of the 'position regarding drawbar trailers 1.--,and statutory attendants is requested in another inquiry and the operator particularly wishes' to know when a vehicle attd•drawbar trailer ca.)1 be .used without an:attendant.' 'Under Section 17 of the Road Traffic Act, 1930. whenever a vehicle draws a trailer an attendant must be carried. The same sectionof the Act, however, specifies a large number of exceptions when .an attendant need not be carried, including two which, have a more general application—semi-trailers and trailers. weighing not more than 1 ton and having overrun brakes.

_Exceptions with more limited application include land loco-, motive or land tractors drawing a land implement; land tractors drawing an agricultural trailer; motorcars drawing a trailer ' which has not more than two wheels; motorcars drawing four-wheeled trailers with two close-coupled wheels, on each side; motor tractors clrawing,a, machine or implement fOr road repair, maintenance or cleansing; and motor vehicles drawing broken-down vehicles, whether or not in consequence of a breakdown, which cannot be steered by their own steering: A FTER commenting on the value of the "Tables of Operating Costs" as a means for checking the actual costs of his own vehicles, a London operator raises two queries as to their general' application. He asks whether or not account is taken of the use of spare semi-trailers. A short answer is no, as obviously the number of spare semi trailers must vary with each operator, if, in fact, spares are included in the fleet. .

It should, however, be borne in mind that the total mileage covered by whatever number of trailers is operated will be the same as the total mileage of the tractor unit, assuming negligible use of the tractor unit without drawing a trailer.

Alternatively, if four tractors and 10 semi-trailers are used, the total mileage operated by the four tractor units would be the same as the total for the 10 semi-trailers. Therefore, • whilst the outlay must inevitably be greater when additional semitrailers are operated, running costs should not be affected.

The second query raises what he considers to be an anomaly in the "Tables "—the heavy balance in favour of the 8-ton articulated vehicle as opposed to the 7-8-ton rigid oiler, particularly as regards licensing and interest costs. As the " Tables " are made as. comprehensive as possible, vehicles of all 'types are included," some of which may be more popular than others.

In this particular instance, a 7-8-ton four-wheeled rigid vehicle specified in the `! Tables " refers to what is commonly known as a " heavy " of possibly up to 5 tons unladen, which has been designed with an eye to trailer work, for which reason the cost of operating a four-wheeled trailer is shown alongside corresponding costs for the vehicle. In some circumstances it would not be economic tø operate this type of vehicle solo, although for the purpose of coupling the total cost of the vehicle and the four-wheeled trailer, it is necessary to show them separately in the "Tables."

By comparison, the unladen weight of an 8-ton articulated • vehicle may be less, being in the middleweight 'class of com mercial vehicle. Similarly, the initial cost of the heavy rigid four-wheeler could well be double that of a popular-priced articulated outfit', both having been designed for entirely different purposes.

It must be admitted, however, that more recently this particular line of demarcation in commercial-vehicle costing has tended to become more confused by the growing popularity of the mass-produced medium-weight oil-engined 7-tonner (and their allied 8-ton and 10-ton tractor units), which have greater capabilities than the lighter 5-7-ton petrol-engined articulated vehicles which were so popular in the immediate post-war years. S.B.


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