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IN Is it too easy to get into road haulage? The latest annual reports from the Licensing Authorities would seem to suggest that it is.
Continuing the trend of recent years, the number of applications for new operating licences is up on that of the previous year. The number of applications for renewal of licences is down, but not by as much. The conclusion to be drawn from this is that a great many operators are finding life too hard in the haulage industry but, despite that, even more people are trying to start up in haulage.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to start a haulage business, and no apparent reason why such a venture should not succeed — apart from the usual ones. They include: overcrowding in the market; suicidally-low rates; the disappearance of many of the general hauliers' traditional customers; the movement of many big fleets (once useful sources of useful "topping-up" business) into the hands of the large, efficient contract hire firms with their own built-in reserves of capacity; and many more. In short, there can be few good reasons, apart from emotional ones, for somebody today to want to become a haulier.
Still, the hopeful ones apply for, and in most cases get, their licences — 86% of new applicants got theirs; 96.4% of those who applied for renewals got them; 89.4% of those who applied for variations were granted them.
Over the years there have been many calls for the road to a CPC (and thence to running a transport business) to be made more difficult. It is still much more likely, however, that an application for a licence will be challenged on environmental grounds than it will be on the fitness of the potential operator to conduct a sound business in a reputable manner.
Of the 900-odd cases in which LAs took action against operators, only 49 were for ill-repute, 31 for poor financial standing and 14 for professional incompetence.
On the other hand, there were nearly 12,000 objections to the granting of licences for environmental reasons, and the bulk of the 800-odd licence refusals last year were on those grounds.
At a time when there are proposals to reduce the power which the LAs (and, as their alter egos, the Traffic Commissioners) have in the control of the transport industry, this must be disturbing. The road haulage industry stands a chance of ridding itself of both its mediocre image and its bad business practices if greater control is exercised over the entry qualifications.
There must be something wrong when somebody with a couple of thousand pounds for a truck, no business experience and a few spare weeks to gain a CPC can enter a profession with so much impact on the public almost at will. Even the lawyer who appears on his behalf and wins him the licence must have had at least five years' training. The LA who hears the case has already been a successful manager or administrator, and brings a lifetime's experience to the judgement.
What would be the effect if those people were allowed to say: "I don't think this applicant has the business sense or the responsible attitude to be a good haulier"?