• Operators attcnding the impressive 25th anniversary dinner of the
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Institute of Traffic Administration at the House of Commons on March 20 wondered whether MoT Joint Parliamentary Secretary Mr Bob Brown was referring to the Bristow committee's report when he mentioned dock labour in his toast to the Institute. Said Mr Brown: "The Government has been anxious to ensure that technical progress is not held up by out-of-date organizational patterns. The traditional definition of a port, for instance, is bound to be drastically changed when containers are loaded and unloaded at clearance depots often far inland."
On transport managers' licensing, he thought it unlikely that any concrete proposals would be introduced until after the transitional period of operators' licensing ends in December this year. Heavier vehicles, too, are some way off. Mr Brown said it would be some months before the studies of the effects of heavier vehicles could be completed, and any decisions must be based on a full appreciation of all the pros and cons.
The Joint Secretary revealed that the Ministry had decided to investigate the overnight parking of lorries as a special problem, and was in touch with the industry and with local authorities. The MoT felt that the parking of trunk vehicles could be solved by a national grid of strategically sited lorry parks on the outskirts of towns, with better security and better amenities for drivers. But the problem of the lorry parked outside a driver's home was not so easy to solve, he felt.
The national chairman. Mr Harry Grace, welcomed the guests and spoke especially of training. The Institute was, he said, appreciative of what the RT1TB was trying to do. And he referred warmly to Brig Nightingale and the Royal Corps of Transport, whose impressive training facilities at its Portsmouth school might, he felt, prove to be of benefit to the Institute.
Sponsor of the anniversary dinner, Mr Kenneth Lewis, MP, thought that the attempts to solve the rural transport problem had not really worked out. Some new initiative was needed—perhaps a new form of minibus or "super taxi" at realistic but not exorbitant fares, to link villages to central towns.
Wages Council Order laid
• Mrs Barbara Castle has made the Order (SI 1970 No. 393, HMSO, price 9d) varying the field of operation of the Road Haulage Wages Council to include employees of all firms operating transport for hire and reward (CM March 13). The Order became effective on March 20.