Fresh evidence
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The transport industry could be more efficient, according to a Prices Commission report. A step towards efficiency would be the use of tachographs, the report says. That very neatly puts the Minister, the trade unions and the trade associations who have constantly opposed the instrument into a corner.
Paradoxically, it also provides them with an escape route which until now had seemed impossible without the help of the EEC court at Luxembourg. Now there is no need for Mr Rodgers to wait for the court to tell us to obey the law. He can plead that an independent body has produced evidence favourable to the instrument.
If, as the commission states, it would aid efficiency then fitmect should benefit everyone — the economy, the operators and the drivers. We have always said it would.
Improved efficiency leads to better productivity, lower costs, higher profits and a way round the five per cent pay limit. Who then can lose? No-one, even those who oppose it or sit on the fence, need lose face or continue their uncomfortable posture. They can claim -fresh evidence"' and get on with the job.