A on the Bill
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International journeys Quantity licences will not be needed for international journeys by heavy lorries. Mr. John Morris, Parliamentary Secretary, MoT, made this clear when asked about vehicles travelling to Europe through the Channel Tunnel.
Drivers' hours The Ministry of Transport is hoping for rapid progress in implementing its proposals for drivers' hours.—Mr. John Morris.
Hauliers' compensation Operators who fail to get quantity licences when their existing carrier licences expire will not be entitled to compensation. When quantity licensing is introduced it might be necessary to call in some existing licences before their normal dates of expiry. LAs could take possible financial hardship to the operator into account when deciding whether to issue a quantity licence.—Mr. John Morris.
SET for mechanics Mr. Neil Carmichael, Parliamentary Secretary, MoT, promised to refer to the Chancellor a request that SET should be abolished on garage mechanics now that heavy goods vehicle testing is to start. This suggestion was made by Mr. Cyril Bence (Labour, Dunbartonshire East), who spoke of the heavy demands which would be placed on service mechanics to keep vehicles up to standard.
Mr. Carmichael noted that a substantive edition of the testers' manual would be issued when the goods vehicle regulations had been made and laid before Parliament.
Benevolent funds • Benevolent funds run by transport firms will continue if the concerns are taken over by the THC, this assurance was given by Mr. John Morris, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport.
Since 1962 the THC had been able to maintain funds of this kind on a right and proper basis, and this would apply in future.
Extra charges Estimated annual revenue from the proposed road haulage charges will be about £30m.— Mr. Swingler.
Driver redundancy Fears that up to 5,000 long-distance lorry drivers will be thrown on the industrial scrapheap as a result of the Transport Bill were voiced by Mr. John Farr (Tory, liarborough). Mr. Stephen Swingler, Minister of State for Transport, replied: "We do not believe that these proposals will lead to any significant unemployment among longdistance lorry drivers".