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Political Commentary

2nd December 1955
Page 63
Page 63, 2nd December 1955 — Political Commentary
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Room for Expansion

0 VER a year has passed since the events took place that are numbered and arranged in the latest "Summary of Annual Reports of the Licensing Authorities for Goods Vehicles." Although a few of the tables date from the end of 1954, the others, and the reports themselves, cover the 12 months which ended in the previous September. Most of the information, therefore, is too late to be of much use except for historical purposes. It is a pity the reports are not published as soon as possible after the end of each year, Evidently the Ministry of Transport has the information much earlier than it chooses to divulge it. On July 28, the Minister gave the House of Commons details about the number of goods vehitles licensed at the end of June. The public have had to wait until November before they have similar details showing the position at the end of 1954. As it happens, the figures have not changed significantly. The licensed vehicle position two years ago, a year ago and five months ago, is summarized in the following table, in which vehicles under A licences and special A licences have been added together:— The figures for vehicles on contract A and on B licences were in June, 1955, approximately what they were in December, 1948. The number on A licences is greater than ever before, and the increase in C-licence vehicles has continued at the same rate for the past four years.

Quarterly Returns From now on, it would be helpful to have the comparative figures once a quarter as soon as they are available. Evidence from some areas suggests that rapid increases are taking place in -the categories of vehicle operated for hire or reward. .According to the Road Haulage Association, nearly 200 aPplications by British Road Services for. extra vehicles were pending recently. Many of the applications stand a good.chance. Vehicles sold in transport units have been shifted to another part of the country and B.R.S. can show that the customers are without the facilities they.had previously.

Hauliers may be readyto .Obiect, but their case is weakened when, as often happens today, they are themselves seeking additional tonnage on the ground that local services are inadequate. B.R.S. are handicapped in exactly the same way -when it -is their turn to .object to the applications of independent operators: British Railways also may object, but they find thegoing harder these days. because the onus of 'proof has been shifted to them Their new policy, as expounded by Sir Reginald Wilson, a member of the British Transport Commission, may improve their efficiency, but lessen their chances as objectors. It was .elementary good buSiness, he is ---y-,-ted as savin,t, to look after the best traffics and the best and steadiest customers. "Wemust determine which traffics we will go out for and let the rest disappear if necessary." The victims of Sir Reginald 's vanishing trick, no doubt also good men of business, should be in future among the most fervent supporters of applications by free enterprise.

Some increase is long overdue in the -number of vehicles operated by hauliers. Since the war, the traffic to be carried must have increased substantially. probably the most appropriate guide is the index of industrial. production, which rose from 100 to 129 between 1948 and 1954, during which period the number of vehicles engaged on road haulage went up by less thaiil 5 per cent. If the rate of increase is now accelerating,,this should be a good thing in the long run, even if some of the reasons for it are unexpected and a little dubious.

Havoc in the Industry Mr. T. D. Come deplores some of the recent developments. In an address to the Institute of Transport at Bristol, he expressed the view that the Transport Act, 1953, had created havoc in the road haulage industry. His main criticism was-of paragraph 4 of Part I of the First Schedule, which states that a Licensing Authority may refuse an application for a special A licence where it appears to him that the vehicles could not conveniently• serve from a new base the areas covered when last used by the Commission.

In comparatively few cases can the Licensing Authority say categorically that the new base, even if it is 100 miles or more away, is not suitable for vehicles

wishing to serve the old area. At any rate, as the Minister of Transport has told the House of Commons, only 106 special A licences have been refused because of paragraph 4 of Part I of the First Schedule, In many other instances purchasers of transport 'units have performed a vanishing trick just as effective as Sir Reginald Wilson's. Customers have been left high and dry. To close the gap, other hauliers, including B.R.S.., have asked for extra vehicles, and the Licensing Authority has usually found it necessary to grant them.

Balance Disturbed As a result, Mr. Corpe complains, the careful balance between road and rail., and road and road, established by the Licensing Authorities in accordance with the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, has been completely disrupted. He might consider whether the balance, nice though it may have been., was worth preserving. The Licensing Authorities have admirably carried out the task imposed upon them, but they have had to work within the limits set by the task. Perhaps those limits were appropriate in 1933, but are no longer suited to the rapidly growing requirements of trade and industry.

In general, the 1953 Act was intended to relax the licensing restrictions, to make it easier for hauliers to start up in busines and to expand an existing undertaking. Operators have not found as much advantage as

might have been expected in the provisions designed to help them, and expansion has come instead through unexpected channels, such as the notorious paragraph 4. As long as the results are achieved, perhaps the methods do not matter overmuch.


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