RHA attacks EEC's 'freedom' moves Hauliers condemn 0-licence system as
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failure by CM reporter 40ST responsible road haul!rs in Britain consider that the ystem of licensing introduced y the 1968 Transport Act is in many important respects a lilure." Those same operators o not support moves by the ,EC Commission to "liberalise" .s thinking towards future gislation. These views were Drcibly expressed this week in letter to The Times by Mr ieorge Newman, directoreneral of the Road Haulage Lssociation.
Mr Newman's letter follows n article in that paper coneming a supposed shift in the mphasis of the EEC's common ransport policy from "near Dtal regulation to almost corndete freedom." Mr Newman mphatically denies that this 3 SO and says that the Freight 'ransport Association—menioned in the article—is wrong o think this. He brands the 'TA as an organisation repreenting transport users "many whom, perhaps unwisely, ,perate road goods vehicles 'on • wn-account'."
Mr Newman says that auliers would welcome a licening system which: ensured that those entering the industry had proved their good repute and fitness to operate safely, legally, with adequate financial resources and with a proper degree of professional competence; enabled the demand and capacity of transport to be balanced; and regulated driving hairs and so on without "unjustified limitations" like the 450km (281-mile) driving day.
The RHA's director-general says that, for road hauliers in the original Six, proposals cur rently being studied by the Commission for the balance of transport supply and demand would prove too "liberal." British hauliers, on the other hand, would welcome the degree of control the proposals foreshadowed. UK hauliers were suffering severely from " an inadequate operators' licensing system, illegal operation, mounting costs, fierce rate-cutting and an undeservedly harsh climate of public opinion which is largely engen dered by flaws in our present system which responsible transport operators must deplore."
The strength of Mr Newman's words seems to indicate a significant split between the RHA and FTA. The RHA view that hauliers need the protection of a strong, enforceable licensing system and some form of market control conflicts with the FTA's often stated aim of a transport industry unfettered with unnecessary restraints.