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Licensing business as usual
HARDLY a single protest has been made against the dismantling of the old licensing system which will begin almost as soon as the Transport Bill becomes law, possibly before the end of the year. It might almost be supposed that hauliers were converted overnight to the Geddes doctrine of complete freedom.
That this is not so must be clear from the unabated relish with which the struggle in the traffic courts is continuing and bids fair to continue up to very last moment. The Transport Tribunal also is as busy as ever with the hearing of appeals.
There are good business reasons for this. The first operator's licence granted to a haulier after the Bill is passed will normally be based upon the scope of his present activities and the same will apply to his rivals. Under a late amendment the Licensing Authority will no longer ask for particulars of the likely demand for the applicant's services but he can still ask about the applicant's previous activities in the field of road transport.
Once the licence is granted the operator will not be restricted to the carriage of certain traffics. But the Licensing Authority will have power to specify the number and types of the vehicles so that in practice there will not be unlimited freedom to expand.
Five-year minimum
Another amendment to the original Bill appears to lay down five years as the minimum period of currency of an operator's licence. This makes it all the more important that the prospective applicant should do everything possible in advance to improve his own business and hamper that of his competitors. Herein also may lie the explanation for the continued use of the present licensing machinery by the railways.
The need to jockey for position with the consequent hope of a flying start would not prevent a haulier from attacking the plan for quality licensing if he were so inclined. On closer examination he may have come to the conclusion that the threat which it appeared to pose was not after all very serious. Whether he is right in thinking this remains to be seen.
For as long as most people care to remember there has been a clear distinction between the haulier carrying for hire or reward and the trader carrying on ownaccount. It has not only remained a constant feature of legislation but has come to seem almost an immutable natural law like the existence of two sexes. The Transport Bill closes abruptly this long chapter in the history of road transport.
The revolution
The revolution, if it he such, has been ignored. It might have been supposed as a natural consequence that there would be a much closer rapprochement if not a merger between the organizations representing Clicence holders (principally the Traders Road Transport Association) and the Road Haulage Association representing Aand B-licence holders.
Instead of this it is the users of transport including traders on own-account who have decided to come together. The TRTA is merging with the National Traders Traffic Association and the Traders Co-Ordinating Committee on Transport.
Merger's importance
Until the announcement was made not many people knew of the existence of these two other bodies. Their merger with the TRTA may seem of no great significance. At present they duplicate many services provided to traders and manufacturers who nevertheless have to belong to two or even all three in order to satisfy all their requirements. The same situation existed in the road transport industry generally before and during the war and was ultimately resolved by the comprehensive merger to which both the RHA and the TRTA owe their being.
The real importance of the new merger lies in the new basis of membership. There will be three categories of member full, user and associate. At the outset and probably for all time full members will constitute by far the largest class. They will be operators on own-account----a deliberate choice on their part—and users of transport which is their natural condition as businessmen.
User membership would obviously apply to any companies not operating vehicles and to the trade association members of the present TCC. Associate membership would obviously be a mixed category which might include nationalized industries and local authorities.
Admittedly the new body will sit uneasily between hauliers on the one side and the mass of trade and industry on the other. The Confederation of British Industry in its recent attack on the more objectionable sections of the Bill has hinted that the concept of transport user is unduly narrow. At least this is a likely reading of the criticism of a lack of awareness in Ministers and other promoters of the Bill "that transport is only a part of the distributive processes of industry".
The inference The inference is that the director in charge of the whole complex of marketing and distribution is the man who ultimately calls the tune. Ha is the person for whom freedom of choice in transport is essential. "It is in the much wider context", the CBI
statement continues, "of its effect on the efficiency and competitiveness of British industry that the Bill must be examined."
While agreeing with this hauliers have also examined the Bill from their own point of view. A new class of operator is likely to emerge. He will be a trader or manufacturer. possibly already running vehicles under a C-licence, who will find it convenient to enter the field of hire or reward when the barriers are down.
His resemblance to the present B-licence holder will be superficial. The requirement to prove need has often deterred the trader even from seeking to ply for hire or reward and when he has taken the bother to obtain a B-licence the terms under which he can use it have been strictly defined.
After this check has been removed he is bound to look into the possibilities of earning money from his vehicles if only by obtaining return-load traffic. Probably in most cases he will decide that the financial gain will be offset by the fact that his vehicles will no longer be available to him at all times. There will be a good many cases in which he comes to the opposite decision.
Does he then regard himself as a trader on own-account or an operator for hire or reward? In a legal sense the terms will cease to have meaning. His operator's licence will entitle him to engage with equal freedom in both types of activity.
It will not help him to make up his mind whether his true spiritual home lies in the RHA or in the new users association. Surprisingly often he may come to the conclusion that it is in his best interests to join both.
Although the RHA and the TRTA have asked that transport trade associations and trade unions should not have the right to object to applications for operators' licences. the provision remains part of the Bill. It is inevitable that the associations will use the power however reluctantly at first. They will also strengthen their machinery for coping with objections from the unions and also from the police and local authorities.
Because they are nfore in the public eye and perhaps more vulnerable, hauliers are likely to be the chief target and new uses may soon be found for the strong licensing machinery which already exists in RHA areas. The TRTA seems more likely to concentrate on the problems of the transport manager and has in fact announced the intention to set up facilities to help in proceedings before Licensing Authorities or in the courts where transport managers and their licences are involved.
It is conceivable therefore that the trader on own-account--and even some hauliers who at present hold B-licences—would find it desirable to belong to the new users' association to get help on the problem of the transport manager's licence (and also perhaps to make some useful business contacts) and to join the RHA for help with his operator's licence.
From this point of view, of course, it might seem that the really logical step would have been a merger between the C-licence and the road haulage organizations. But that is another story.