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Tory licensing pledge
Page 10
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A PLEDGE that the next Tory government will reform the public transport licensing system was given by Shadow transport minister, Norman Fowler, at the Conservative annual Local Government Conference last week.
"We are not prepared to see unnecessary restrictions standing in the way of new transport services naturally developing," he said.
"We deplore the total apathy of Labour in this area. We want a system which meets the needs of the Britain of today — not a system based on the Britain of the 1920s.
"We want a flexible system which meets local needs and which allows new services to develop — services like minibus services, shared cars, shared vans. Such services have made a contribution in other countries and they can make a contribution here."
Mr Fowler recalled that in 1973 the last Tory Government brought forward a modest reform of the licensing system. It would have enabled minibus services and car sharing. Back in power, Labour scrapped those reforms.
The result of Labour rule had been the biggest fares explosion Britain had ever seen. In London bus fares had more than doubled in the last two years.