Abnormal loads LAs will denial consider all costs
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A DENIAL that there had been restriction of the issue of licences for moving abnormal loads was made last week by Mr. Neil Carmichael, Parliamentary Secretary, MoT.
In 1965 there had been 1,771 authorizations, in 1966 1,727 and in 1967 1,773, he said. In some cases an authorization provided for the movement of more than one load.
The claim that there had been restrictions came from Mr. Hector Monro (Tory, Dumfries).
Sir Ronald Russell (Tory, Wembley South) wondered if there had been any consultations with industry with a view to seeing if some abnormal loads could be assembled at their destination instead of at the place of origin.
Mr. Carmichael replied that before an authorization was issued great care was taken to examine with industry the possibility of reducing the size of the load in order to minimize the number of heavy vehicles on the roads.
Mr. G. M. Lawson (Labour, Motherwell) said these loads were already under complete Government control, and that merely to charge extra money, as proposed in the Transport Bill, could only have a negative effect. The railways could not carry them at present.
Mr. Carmichael agreed that in some cases what Mr. Lawson said was perfectly true. But in the last few weeks he had dealt with a number of instances where an application for a licence had been made and where it had been discovered that the loads could be put on the railways. LICENSING AUTHORITIES will be able to take into account any costs to the consignor which will have a significant effect on the transport operation, when examining the criteria of cost, said Mr. Neil Carmichael, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport.
He was replying to a Commons question from Mr. David Webster (Tory, Weston-super-Mare), who then asked to what extent a penalty clause would be taken into account in the case of a railway strike and failure of the consignor to deliver his goods to the consignee in time.
Mr. Carmichael promised to look into this matter of the penalty clause.
• THE Freightliner grid is now carrying traffic at the rate of about 2m tons a year, or 4,000 containers a week.—Parliamentary reply.