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Come Clean" on Illegal Working

26th August 1949, Page 50
26th August 1949
Page 50
Page 50, 26th August 1949 — Come Clean" on Illegal Working
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

TilE answer to the anti-social operator is undoubtedly I enforcement, but this would mean the creation of an army of snoopers almost as numerous as there are holders of A, B and C licences. Certainly.the country would not stand for that at the present time.

Much modern legislation is passed into law with little or no consideration as to how the law is to be enforced. As-good citizens, we ought to fall over ourselves to keep to the strict letter of such laws as our masters think are good for us; but, unfortunately, we are not all good citizens, and restrictive laws have a tendency to make many of us impatient and work more than the permitted number of hours, thinking up ways and means of. getting round them.

It has been said, and with truth, that unless a law carries the tacit approval of the solid mass of the electorate, andespecially if it be unenforceable or unenforced, it is a bad law, however desirable its intention may be. •The U.S.A. found this out in connection with prohibition, and eventually had to repeal it in interests of law and order.

Laws of this type, when it is shown that a carriage and four can be driven with impunity through their provisions, engender a general contempt for other laws, and so we arrive at the stage where there is a wave of law-breaking sufficiently large to affect statistics.

It has been said that officialdom has not yet commenced to enforce the 1933 Act. How it will get on with the 1947 Act, also on its plate, remains to be seen. Can anyone who knows the industry doubt that the 25-mile radius will largely be a dead letter from the word "go," just as the conditions of many a licence are a dead letter? This may be one of the reasons for the recent tightening-up on A Contract licences by the authorities.

There are several reasons why the average small operator does not object to applications by newcomers or for additional facilities. First, very few take "A. and a." Many have never heard of it. It is doubtful as to Whether a third of the members of the R.H.A. takes it, arid the proportion amongst the "lesser breeds without the law" must be substantially less. If you do not know who has applied for anything, you cannot know that there is anything to which to object.

Another reason for abstaining from objection is the cost and inconvenience of it. When licensing recommenced in 1946 a number of leaders in the industry lodged objections on a substantial scale against new the corners: not through greediness or a desire to hog all -the -traffic, but, as -they saw• it, in the interests of all established operators. One.such operator told me that each issue of " A and D." cost his firm some £60 in preparation and legal fees. Few small operators could stand that pace. Few small operators, especially ownerdrivers, can afford to lose a day's work in order to attend the traffic court, apart from upsetting customers, and unless they attend their objections carry no weight.

A further reason is that there may be nothing in the application, as pub. lished,.which appears directly to affect the 'potential objector. He may not appretiate that if the newcomer be :sticeesifid and perhaps takes some of • A's traffic, A, in turn, in hunting round . to make good the deficiency, may take traffic from the potential objector. On balance it is unlikely that any increase in the number of objections from hauliers can be looked for.

So far as policing by the

industry itself is concerned, it is distasteful to the average inhabitant of these islands to act as a common informer.. Still less do we desire to establish a practice where anonymous reports are acted upon by the Executive. On the other hand, where my bread and butter are threatened by the illegal activities of a competitor, I feel that I have a duty to myself and my dependants to bring the offender to book. Certainly I would have no compunction in bringing his activities to the notice of those in authority, nor would I need the cloak of anonymity so long as 1 was sure of my facts and so long as my. own hands were clean.

It is said that in some areas, if a haulier complains of the activities of a competitor, the enforcement officer visits the complainant first, to see whether he has been getting up to anything he should not. By this means, it is said, complaints have been virtually eliminated. At . all events, no wiser counsel could be given than to look at the beam in one's own eye before complaining of the mote in the eye of a neighbour.

I do not think that there is any need for bands of vigilantes or ,hooded men or anything like that. Let each operator who is affected by the illegal activities of a competitor come into the open with concrete evidence which is capable of being checked—if he needs it his trade association will assist him in submitting it— and do not let us have any, hole-and-corner business.

G. W. hawn,t, Secretary.

(For Eastern Area, Road Haulage Association). Cambridge.

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Locations: Cambridge

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