LEYLAND SALES CHIEF ENVISAGES NEW CURBS ON TRUCK OPERATION
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Leading haulier highlights the problem of excess transport capacity
THE possibility of legislation which would determine even the times of day during which trucks could be driven was envisaged by Mr Peter Redfern, sales director of British Leyland's truck and bus division, when he spoke at the loTA annual conference in Oxford last weekend. Mr Redfern was discussing the possible effects of Common Market legislation and the pressure from environmental lobbies, in the course of a paper "The production of the modern vehicle".
He believed there would be radical changes in road transport operation in the future, all having their effect on the way vehicles were produced; but the diesel engine had "a long and healthy future" in spite of the new legislative pressures.
He instanced in particular the pressure put on legislators in recent years to deal with problems of noise, air pollution, vibration and traffic congestion — much of this legislation "rightly reflecting public opinion".
The manufacturer, when he had recognized the way transport was developing and would develop, had to balance in his own judgment the economic and social constraints on the operation of his product. said Mr Redfern. It was important to try to establish the relationship between economic demands and vehicle types, while considering the legislative constraints on vehicle development. Any solution was a compromise, aimed at satisfying the market at the right price.
Restriction favoured With 80 per cent of traffic moving by road, vehicle manufacturers, traffic administrators and highway engineers had an enormous responsibility to the nation. He believed that, given a totally free situation, average payloads would have risen much faster than the 5 per cent per year which had in fact been recorded, as operators would have moved to longer vehicles. Legislation had prevented this.
Commented Mr Redfern: "Government has restricted gross vehicle weights, axle weights, lengths and widths of vehicles and if one takes the broad view we are fortunate that this has been the case. We all have to live in this country, and unrestricted development, with no account taken of other factors, would certainly have made little contribution to the quality of life today."
In outlining the relationship between transport and the national economy, the speaker quoted figures which showed that for each £1 of gross domestic product generated, 4.2 tonnes of goods had to be moved 1 kilometre. "When you consider that our gross domestic product is around £32,000m annually, then the total goods movement of 136,000m tonne-km moving each year by road, rail and coastal shipping means that people like ourselves are going to be employed for a very long time in a growing and extremely interesting business."
Better hill-climbing Recalling that the Road Research Laboratory's trials had shown that a power-to-weight ratio of over 5, bhp /ton significantly reduced congestion and air pollution, Mr Redfern said he was convinced that the UK would in due course go beyond the 6bhp /ton limit being introduced in Ootober this year. He mentioned Germany's 8bhphon and some US proposals tor 11 bhp /ton.
All these developments had strong influence on manufacturers' long-term production programmes. The •gas turbine being developed by BLMC was one example of essential forward-thinking.
The very varied requirements of road transport made fully automated production processes extremely difficult to achieve, said Mr Redfern, but he instanced improvements in production achieved through rationalization. The 300-strong semi-skilled work force at the Leyland National plant in Cumberland could produce 2000 buses a year. An investment of aftn had enabled the unit cost of a bus to be cut by about £1000. (Later, a delegate claimed that the price of conventional Leyland bus chassis was, by contrast, rising at 1 per cent per month).
Differences over spares First on his feet at question time was Mr Jack Parker, now retired, to ask why vehicle reliability and spares availability no longer measured up to those which he had experienced many years ago. What had gone wrong that a vehicle could fail after only one week in service?
Mr Redfern replied that spares had been a problem but a situation of 96 per cent first-pick parts availability was possible, and delivery by Securicor could be made within 24 hours.
Questions and comments from other delegates suggested that the experience of operators in the audience did not support this assessment of the spares situation.
Mr Ken Flight, of Flights Tours, said that because of the parts situation he no longer operated Leylands. He was concerned both with Britain's image and the foothold gained in the UK by Continental manufacturers.
Another delegate said his company had had to take a retrograde step by changing back from Leyland 500 engines to the 401 because of persistent failures.
Mr George Pickup, of Sheffield Corporation Transport, asked the speaker to account for the fact that a long-term price was being asked for a short-term vehicle. Mr Redfern replied that traffic conditions were not the same 15 years ago and the bus of that time was not suitable for the future. "We have now designed a vehicle to cope with the changes and have built a city bus which goes back to the standards of 15 years ago."
Questioned about gas turbines, Mr Redfern said he did not see much future for them in vehicles of 20 tons or less. Nor did he see a future for the complete cocooning of engines to quieten them; the answer was to design noise out.
The toughest year Mr L. P. Walsh, chairman and managing director of Amey Transport Ltd, presenting the second paper, identified 1971 as the year when road haulage was at its lowest ebb. There was still an excess of capacity over demand in road haulage, he said, and he warned that with a virtually free market for road transport the remedy for the present troubles would be linked with the economy for a long time to come.
Those who demanded the services of road transport should consider, in a dispassionate manner, the cost of providing them. '