Mr. Stirk's Advice to Hauliers
Page 44
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Over 300 Persons at R.H.A. East Midland Function OVER 300 members and guests of the Road Haulage Association attended the third annual dinner of the East Midland Regional Area, at Leicester, last Saturday, under the chairmanship of Mr. G. H. P. Dalgleish (chairman of the East Midland Regional Area Committee). The speakers included Mr. A. M. Lyons, K.C., M.P., and the Lord Mayor of Leicester.
One of the outstanding features of the function was the obviously friendly relationship between members of the Association and the Licensing Authority.
Mr. F. Platts (vice-chairman of the area) said that, from his own knowledge, Mr. J. H. Stirk, the East Midland licensing authority, had administered the rather difficult and complex Road and Rail Traffic Act in an equitable and broad-minded manner.
Everybody naturally looked forward to the reply by Mr. Stirk, who commenced by saying that, during the nine months of his office, he and his department had dealt with about 16,000 licences, which involved the review of about 18,000 applications. About 1,000 vehicles had to be suspended for some cause or another, some only for a ,day or two.
Statistics showed that every week the condition of vehicles was being improved and, in this manner, the safety of the roads was being assisted by the operation of the Act. Mr. Stirk advised applicants for additional tonnage to be properly represented by a qualified advocate, because the manner in which a case is presented often has a distinct bearing upon the issue, especially if the opposition be strong.
The speaker went on to say that he still received numerous complaints concerning long hours and poor wages, and intimated that, although loth to do it, he would be compelled to use the powers confe;red upon him by Parliament in order to ensure the observance of the Act. As a reminder to operators to comply with the law in every respect, Mr. Stirk gave the slogan of " H.M.S. Road Wagons," the H standing for Hours, M for Maintenance, S for Speed, R for Records and W for Wages.
A humorous interlude by 'the hon. secretary of the area produced a good laugh, especially when he suggested a transposition of the letters of the Licensing Authority's slogan. He suggested a re-arrangement of the letters, thus—H.M.W.R.S., i.e., " Hauliers May Well Remember Salter."
Mr. J. S. Nicholl brought to light an interesting item, namely, the extraordinary mileages run without blameworthy accidents by the vehicles of some well-conducted concerns. He instanced one company which, four years ago, had to make a compensation payment for every 356,000 miles run by the vehicles concerned. Since then a gradual improvement has been made and, last year, the mileage between such accidents was 570,000.