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Keeping the Change r HE haulier who looks ahead even for
Page 57
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a few months can see the fulfilment of Most of his political hopes, whether he wanted chiefly to buy back an :quired business or to get free of the 25-mile limit. [is long-term aim should be to hold on to what he has on, irrespective of the result of any future general .ection. To persuade the Labour Party to abandon the olicy of , renationalization sounds a formidable enterrise, but it is not impossible.
Politics in its extreme forms has no regard to reason. he diehards in the Party may continue to demand State wnership whatever facts and arguments were brought gainst them, and it is true, of course, that nobody can rove with mathematical certainty whether one system ; better than another. But the Party as a whole will ot continue indefinitely to sponsor a proposal that has ecome unpopular. They depend upon votes, which are heir native element, and they cannot afford to have even ■ ne rotten plank in their platform.
Court Popularity
The policy of the haulier must therefore be to court )opularity. He must give trade and industry a lemonstrabiy better—and if possible cheaper—Service han British Road Services are giving at present: He nust see that his employees are at least as well off and .5 well treated as under nationalization. In addition, he nust bring these favourable facts home to the general mblic.
Among hauliers there is a general confidence that the trst two requirements will be met. The undisguised .elief with which customers have greeted the purchase nt their haulier of a transport unit is heartening from he point of view of free enterprise. The workers in 3.R.S. show no great enthusiasm for remaining tationalized. Their opinions are probably fairly equally livided. and the development of schemes for their benefit ;hould go a long way towards securing their loyalty. rhe difficult task for the hauliers is to capture the goodwill of the public as a whole, and part of the lifficulty lies in the fact that a brief or sporadic effort is Tactically useless. Only along and sustained campaign an hope to produce any effect.
Appreciative Letter A good starting point for such a campaign is at the resent time, when the process of denationalization has got under way. The trader who is willing to transfer dl or part of his traffic to the buyer of a transport unit as an unusually good opportunity to compare the ;ervice offered by B.R.S. and by free enterprise. It would be worth while getting his opinion on record, if only in the form of an appreciative letter to the haulier. The public imagination is ready to be stirred by the large-scale transformation now taking place, and the operator should seize the opportunity to make news. Dne of the first things he should do when he receives his letter of acceptance, or failing that when he takes Jelivery of his vehicles, is to pass the information on to his local paper, to The Commercial Motor, and to his trade association. He has everything to gain by, publicity, and, as far as one can see, nothing much to lose.
Even when he has fulfilled the promises of his well • wishers, he must not forget the advantages of display. In this respect, he has many lessons to learn from B.R.S, They devoted a good deal of care Co choosing attractive and durable colour schemes for their vehicles, which for the most part looked clean and well-cared-for, whatever their mechanical condition. The haulier should not grudge time spent in looking after the outward appearance of his vehicles and his premises. Such items as this should form part of a deliberate scheme to win public .. approval for the industry.
Culminating Point
The first phase of the campaign can be built up to a culminating point on January 1, 1955, when the 25-mile limit is abolished. In the meantime, it is not too early to lay plans for next year. These might well include the taking of advertising space in the Press, if the object is to convince the public that a change back to national ownership of road haulage would be unwise and against the general interest.
The use of advertisements to put a case of this kind is not unknown, and in the U.S.A. it is a commonplace. Members of the American Trucking Associations have been taking fairly large spaces as part of their defence against what they regard as unfair attacks by the railway interests. By such methods as this, the road aspect of the road-rail controversy is being brought home to millions of Americans, whose votes ultimately influence the policy and actions of their Senators, representatives, State governors and other political leaders.
The prospect of a joint national advertising campaign by hauliers may seem remote. They would have to he persuaded to contribute towards a substantial fund. Very likely the names of their companies would not appear on the announcements, and they might consider, that not sufficient use was being made of their favourite local newspapers. Many of them, however, have realized the advantages of united action, and the rest could be persuaded provided the process of education began now.
Tempting Target
The threat of another Transport Act is only one aspect of the unsettled future for the haulier. He made a tempting target for the politicians after the war because the industry seemed so lacking in unity and importance. The vigour of his protests must have surprised the Socialists, but he came into action too late to make them change their minds. His campaign did not ward off nationalization, but it brought him a good deal of sympathy from the public, and support from trade and industry which has been of great value to him in recent months.
Further publicity over the next year or more should augment the sympathy and support already won. Another Labour Government will have to take note of this. If the strength of opinion on the side of the hauliers is sufficiently great, the Socialists might be relieved to abandon the idea of restricting the haulier once again, particularly as any further suggestion for interfering with the transport industry, whether it comes from the right or the left, is bound to arouse increasing public resentment and resistance.