OPINIONS and Q UERIES Mb APPRECIATION OF CO-OPERATIVE GROUPING SCHEME A S
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a haulier of 25 years' standing, but now a C-licence operator, I read with pleasure of the successful efforts at grouping in some quarters and of your own efforts to brine about the national unity of transport organizations. If this could be achieved it would be a great step in solving the post-war problems of haulage contra)ctors, and would ensure the fife of small concerns which, in the past, have been kept in the background, thus, in my opinion, causing rate cutting.
As one of the founders of the clearing-house scheme on Merseyside, I had plenty of experience of the suspicion created when the small man thought he was not getting his fair share. This arose from the procedure of electing to the committee representatives of wellknown concerns who, the gossipers said, saw to it that their companies had the pick of whatever was going.
This was, of course, entirely wrong. If a merchant had, say, 100 tons of goods for transport he wanted to know who was going to move them, the condition of the vehicles, the stability of the operator, what insurance he held, etc., so as to safeguard his own interests. In this case the best policy to prevent chaos was to • let one haulier handle the consignment. ,
Suspicion has ruined many efforts at grouping, and until we get mutual trust and understanding national unity in mad transport will not be achieved. The Luton scheme has given a. lead in this direction, and if the idea could be spread I am sure that it would.have the blessing of all the progressive Concerns in the business.
In the meantime, carry on the good work.
J. F. JONES, A.M.I.Mech.E.,
Transport Manager, North Eastern Ainvays, Ltd. London, Hooton and Southport.
WHY PRODUCE HAULIERS ARE DISGRUNTLED AS the S.D.M. for the 11 "disgruntled hauliers," I cannot let Mr. Smart's letter in your issue of November 27 go by unanswered.
I have for some time realized the seriousness of the " rubber situation, and most of the 11 are at least not less patriotic than the average of their fellows. If Mr. Smart would sojourn with us in the Biggleswade area he would find that the hauliers are disgruntled for two main reasons. The first is that the saving of fuel and rubber is small for the upset caused, and, secondly, the official method of running transport is far more 'wasteful than the hauliers' way.
The Bedfordshire vegetable industry developed with road transport, and although the railways have put on special trains they do not solve the problem of the growers whose fields are many miles from railhead. To cart in their produce the haulier has to hold vehicles back for 2 p.m. collection, just to get one load to rail. As he, like other folk, cannot live on half a day's pay, he cannotdo it at a reasonable rate. Thus there are many fields not being picked, and many growers are using tractors, tyred and fuelled for land work, for taking produce th rail. Although officialdom and Mr. Smart say the railways can do' it, the facts are not so rosy. The Farmers' Union and dozens of growers know differently, and the quantity of food wasted is by no means small. The effect on the farmer is serious from a national point of view: 'He, like us, is short of manpower, and where, before, the stuff was picked up direct A26 • with one handling, the grower now has to stop agricultural work to do haulage.
It may interest Mr. Smart to know that the East Midland Commissioner has let up on vegetable haulage from the " Lines Fens," but the Eastern Area is not ruled by the same star. The rail-truck position is so bad that roadtransport has to be called on to carry less perishable things than vegetables, and when one considers the mileage being run to and from railhead, the goods that have to be brought from London by road which would come on market lorries, the official case is very thin. Add to that the losses and the humbug that the growers have to put up with, the help to the war effort is nil.
I regret, Mr. Editor, that this letter, is long, but there is the case for the Nation, not for 11 disgruntled hauliers.
Sandy, Beds. . . H. ATKINS.
MEAT HAULIER REPLIES TO MR. QUICK SMITH NAAY we ask for a small space in your valuable paper 11'1 to reply to a letter in your issue dated October 23 by Mr. G. W. Quick Smith, Secretary, Wholesale Meat and Provisions Transport (Defence) Association, which, in turn, referied to a letter we wrote congratulating you on a leader in your issue, dated August 7, and stating that from 1925 onwards we had been engaged in wholesale meat cartage with tivp A-licensed vehicles, and that on the appointment of the Meat Pool we were dismissed, vehicles from London replacing ours?
Mr. Quick Smith states that, following an investigation that he caused to he made, it appears a fact that our weekly account for the cartage of meat was, at most, 21.
We enclose herewith a statement compiled from our ledgers, taken over a period of 10 years, for the cartage of meat. Our accounts were rendered monthly :— January, 1929, £58 3s. ; June, 1929, £40 8s. 5d. ; January, 1934, £24 17s. 3d. ; June, 1934, £32 18s. 8d.; January, 1939, £22 11s. 4d. ; June, 1939, £32 13s. 5d.
This would not appear to be—it is—a statement of fact. We can only assume that the investigations of the Bedfordshire County Transport Manager did not take him very far. We are well known in the locality, having existed as a firth of general carriers for over 130 years.
We leave you to decide whether we are still entitled to sign ourselves, "Another Aggrieved Haulier."
Tnrvey, Beds. CHARLES F. BAILEY, For F. .L. Bailey. • WILL RAILWAY SUBSIDY AFFECT FUTURE TRANSPORT POLICY?
THE letter from Mr. J. Peroda, in your number for November 6, expressed very well and concisely what a lot of people must have thought, especially recently, regarding the extraordinary sayings and actions of the railways.
An argument which they will advance after the war, and one of which haulage contractors and others operating mechanically propelled mad vehicles should beware, is that they *the raiN ay companies), having been paid such a sum as £45,000,000 by the Government, and a further £7,000,000 for " keeping the wheels turning," should, consequently, be given first consideration. They will say that the mere fact of having received such vast sums goes to prove that they and their methods are far beyond criticism.
There are so many people and sections concerned in the delivery and handling of goods that when these do not arrive on time or to the correct destination it is an easy matter to offer complicated and official explanations, and thus leave the unfortunate consignee none the wiser. What a great deal could have been accomplished had the road-transport industry been allotted such gigantic figures.
In respect of steam wagons, the Government seems to be determined upon quantity rather than quality.
I have always found it less trouble, when motoring, to pass one 6-ton steamer than three 2-ton petrol wagons, or let us say one steam vehicle taking all at one time a load that would require several 1.C. units to hand. The larger the number of vehicles employed the greater the surface wear on the roads. To constitute a reliable basis for transport the foundations of roads must be capable of carrying heavy weights. J.H. Brighton.
TOWN PLANNING AND TRANS
PORT ARE INTERDEPENDENT nN many, if not most, occasions planning is discussed without any reference to the most fundamental of all the causes that make planning desirable—road transport.
Prof. Abercrombie, the retained adviser of the L.C.C., actually said in his Scottish Conference to the Town Planning Association :— "I have intentionally put aside the factor of locomotion as I regard it as secondary."
If so, what hope is there for London traffic—and, indeed, London's survival? MERVYN O'GORMAN. London, S.W.3.
SUGGESTED LIMITATIONS ON C-LICENCE TRANSPORT I HAVE always been a most interested reader of the articles in your valuable journal by "S.T.R." and have almost always found him tO write sound sense.
It is with utmost amazement, therefore, that I now see him making statements, such as those on page 300 of your issue dated 'November 27, as follows:— " While on the subject of collaboration between road and rail, I should like to warn Charley and Bill of another menace to the continued prosperity of the haulage indUstry, one which was beginning to grow before the war and is likely to. loom large upon the horizon when the war is over. I refer to the C licensee. His activities must be curtailed. For that purpose it is inevitable and logical that road and rail should combine forces.
"The prevalence of large fleets of vehicles belonging to ancillary users is a menace to their prosperity and a drag upon the progress of the national transport organization. I say that C licensees must be limited, if not altogether abolished. Only a uhited front .by road hauliers and railway companies will enable that battle to be won." I wonder if he can bring any evidence whatever to support such statements.
I assume he is referring not to the butcher, baker and candlestick maker, but particularly tO what might be called the industrial C-licence transport.
This is a branch of road transport which is not at any time in competition with professional hauliers.
Moreover, any large industrial firm knows perfectly well that many of the goods can be satisfactorily dealt with only by their own vehicles—the reasons are obvious and are well known and need not be detailed here, as they have so often been stated before.
It seems obvious that C-licence holders, who, be it noted, form a very large proportion of the vehicle users of the country, will have to take serious notice of the propaganda which is being put out, will have to realize who their enemies are and take steps to see that, the activities of those enemies are curtailed.
I am indeed disappointed that " S.T.R." should so far depart from his usual soundness.
H. R. CAULFIELD-G1LES.
The Traders' Traffic Conference.
VOUR contributor S.T.R. is usually interesting, par.'. ticularly when he lets his imagination run riot. I am sure " Charley " and " Bill " would subscribe to that ; but, seriously, is it the editorial view of "The Commercial Motor" that ancillary users are a menace and should be limited' still more, if not altogether abolished? C. E. JORDAN.
(Member, National Ancillary Sectional Board Birmingham, 32. C.M.U.A.)
[We think that Messrs. Caulfield-Giles and C. E. Jordan are both in error in attributing to " The Commercial Motor" this view on the value of the ancillary user, also in crediting—or, perhaps, we should say debiting—this to S.T.R. If they read the article carefully they will find that these opinions are expressed by " George. ' It is no use anyone hiding his head in the sand and blinding himself to the fact that many hauliers do hold such views, extreme though they may be, but it is much better to ventilate them than to let them simmer and, perhaps, boil over later. Many such thoughts have been inspired by the Government policy of allowing vehicles owned by C licensees to be used for hire or reward. If we held such views, we should state them frankly. As it is, we have, on many occasions, referred to the need for ancillary users to get together, have their own representative body, and fight their avn battles; otherwise they may, in post-war days, be subjected to some such limitations as those referred to in the article.—ED.]
COMPARISONS OF ACCIDENT PRONENESS REQUIRED
I AM connected with the operating of a fleet of some 80 I vehicles of varying kinds in and about a large industrial works. Certain statistics are being taken out in olnnection With the working of the fleet and I am personally concerned with the accident side and am endeavouring to ascertain how our fleet compares in accident proneness with others of similar size.
I have taken out certain figures for the past two years and grouped them under the following headings :—
(1) Driver of vehicle at fault. (2) Driver of vehicle free from responsibility. (3) Cases where responsibility is doubtful. (4) Due to faulty servicing. (5) Due to black-out conditions.
• The following table gives the number of accidents under each of the above headings.
I wonder if it is at all possible that you may have some information about the road transport of other industrial concerns, based on the grounds that I have given, as I am most interested to ascertain, if possible, whether our record is worse or on a par with other road fleets.
May I add my appreciation of your help in the past?
Middlesbrough. CURIOUS.
[We have no definite figures of this nature, but, possibly, other operators may have analysed such accidents, and we would be greatly obliged if those who have done so would give their experiences in this connection. We will., if so desired, omit the name and address of any informant. —ED.]