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iurohours cost at 350m 'too much'

2nd March 1979, Page 19
2nd March 1979
Page 19
Page 19, 2nd March 1979 — iurohours cost at 350m 'too much'
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

JEST estimate of the cost of introducing European driving urs and restrictions was £350 million, with a 15 per cent loss in oductivity, claimed leading anti-European Neil Marten (Tory, inbury) in the Commons last week.

This was something which Government should accept this country, and the Transrt Secretary William rdgers should not allow ese regulations and direces to operate here, said Mr Mr Rodgers replied that he is not aware of those esgates, though they sounded guely familiar. He believed ..re had been a good deal of aggeration — he blamed no e for that — at a time when were negotiating the intro duction of these regulations.

It was possible to argue that we wished they did not exist. In all the circumstances he thought that the staged introduction had been widely welcomed as the best outcome of a difficult problem.

He told Nigel Spearing (Labour, Newham South) that there was no connection between drivers' hours and weights of vehicles.

He agreed that there was pressure from the Community to move to larger and heavier lorry weights, and recalled that he had made it plain to the Council of Ministers and the Commons that that was unacceptable to the Government.

He was asked by Max Madden (Labour, Sowerby) to compare the additional cost to the industry of the recent settlement with that from the general introduction of the tachograph and limits on drivers' hours.

Comparisons of costs were highly complicated, replied Mr Rodgers. Everyone had recognised that the introduction of limitations on drivers' hours had some penalty, but his view was that it was much smaller than was once supposed.