Doubts on Denationalization
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DENATIONALIZATION was uppermost in the minds of all the delegates to the annual conference of the Road Haulage Association, at Torquay, last week. The thought was expressed in a. special .resolution proposed by Mr. Frank F. Fowler, national chairman of the Association, and passed unanimously. It declared the confidence of the conference that the Conservatives arid Liberals, if elected to .P.ovier, would immediately abolish the 25-mile limit and quickly work towards the cornplete denationalization of goods road transport.
The resolution did not, however, dispose of WI the fears of members. Some of them showed great anxiety d..) ver the future • of Pickfords under denationalization. This organization was described as a menace to free hauliers and it was suggested that, if independent. hauliers were to be freed from their present bonds, Piekfords Removals Service should he split up into area units, to be licensed separately. Moreover, it should be deprived of vehicles which had been added to it in the process of building up the State. road, transport undertaking.
Swollen• Nationalized Fleets A speaker foresaw that PickfOrds might, under a Conservative Government. try to preserve the gains that it had made under the Socialist Administration and he feared that, unless keen vigilance were exercised, that object might succeed. Another delegate thought. that• acute price-cutting might ensue when former owners recovered their businesses, but had to start from scratch without their old customers. The sensible stiggestion: was made that in the process of denationalization, no undertaking should be left with a greater tonnage than it possessed. when the Transport Act was passed in 1947, Mr. Fowler tried to set everyone's mind at rest by assuring the conference that all the points raised had been considered in the Association's plan for denationalization. if this scheme had been made public, the fears expressed would probably never have found utterance.
Railways the Big Competitors Members were treading on dangerous ground. when they passed ..a resolution deploring the growth of fleets .run by Government departments and . nationalized industries. Without the moderating influence of the chairman it is probable that some delegates might have launched an attack against the growth of C-licence.transport in general. It is a short step from the suggestion that the increase of certain ancillary user's' fleets is unreasonable, to open conflict between the professional haulier and the private carrier. Nothingmust be done to encourage such a breach.The railways are still the principal competitors of road transport and all owners of commercial vehicles must stand together to preserve their collective rights.
• The business of the conference was conducted at • high pressure. Some delegates thought that the . pace was too great. Over two dozen resolutions were disposed. of in six hours and this expedition • was made possible only by pressure from the chair. It might be deSirable at the next conference to extend the business sessions to allow more leisurely discussion of individual problems.