Step into 1984
Page 4
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If the Foster Committee Report's recommendations are implemented, George Orwell's 1984 will become a reality for the road transport industry. In effect the report means there will be an army of spies following the activities of every operator in the country and making reports to the licensing authorities. The licensing authorities will find themselves overburdened with work and inevitably many trivial complaints will be lodged. The proposed appointment of a Registrar to direct prosecutions is certainly revolutionary and puts transport operators in a unique position. We can think of no other industry which has its own prosecutor. .
Indeed, the report immediately creates the impression that the LAs have allowed the industry to become populated by irresponsible bankrupts with criminal records and that it now needs to be cleaned up. Those in the industry know this to be far wide of the truth.
There are a few unsavoury characters in all walks of life but no great reporting network or increased enforcement seems necessary for them.
The Foster Committee has taken a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Worse, it recommends a bureaucracy that will add to cost and inevitably put vehicles off the road. It is a report that the Minister would do well to send back for a rethink.