They Also Serve
Page 61
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Thousands at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; They also serve who only stand and wait.
V1/47 HEN the hundred years' spell was broken, the awakened princess and her court continued their lives as though there had been no interruption. would not be so easy in these matter-of-fact times. he approaching prince would have to find his way trough millions of bottles of milk and several tons of ewsprint. All the next day, the civil servants would be usy sending out applications for a century's rates and ixes, in order to pay the arrears of old-age pensions ae to every man, woman and child. Within a fortnight, ablic service vehicle operators would be preparing a !st case to claim compensation from the prince for taliciously terminating a special occasion that had kept tern in tours and excursions for four generations.
The restriction of the haulier to 25 miles has not Med as long as the slumber in the fairy tale, but it will Id as abruptly on the last day of 1954. Unfortunately. le haulier who remains quiescent within the limit loosed upon him has no assurance that circumstances ill be the same in 1955 as they were in 1950. His istomers are not waiting patiently for his disenchantent. Many of them are behaving as if the limit had ready been abolished, or had never existed.
Sentiment as well as reason guided the Minister of ransport to the ultimate compromise whereby a definite ty was fixed for the abolition of the 25-mile restriction. he Act was intended to be the hauliers' charter of eedom. and when it came to the point he could not tb them off with a promise, to be redeemed at some ispeeified date. Nor could he be expected to abolish Le limit at once, and thus deprive himself of the most mpting bait of all for the prospective buyer of a ansport unit. As it turned out, he judged correctly at there were many people, not otherwise greatly terested, who would be pleased to pay for a special -licence, even with the knowledge that in a few months' -ne all other A-licence holders would be free.
Derationing Transport The Minister may not have foreseen another result at has followed the naming of the day of freedom. s it draws near, the tendency to disregard the limit .ows. For the most part, the transgressors operate ith no licences, or at best on a C-hiring margin of 3ubtful validity, but there are some hauliers also whose mition is not unlike that of the supplier of a rationed immodity. The date of derationing usually follows viftly upon its announcement, the argument being that :ople will ignore or forget a restriction that is due to me off. In any case, the butcher who scrupulously eighs his exact pound of flesh up to the very day of ;rationing risks losing his customers the day after. At one time, the Conservatives used to talk of the progressive elimination " of the 25-mile limit. Most tuners disliked the idea of freedom in stages, but it mid be adapted to solve some of their present diffitides. Many operators would be satisfied if they were lowed occasionally to send their vehicles on journeys ' 40 or 60 miles. They have no interest in buying a lit, but they are concerned about who will carry their istomers' medium-traffic over the next few months. The temptation to ignore the 25-mile limit for the occasional journey is strong; one might almost say unfair. Some hauliers have so far resisted, others have given way, and the fall from rectitude is almost irretrievable. Once a haulier has " obliged " a customer, he can give no convincing reason for not doing so again; and what he does for one customer he must do for others. More temptations may follow. If he breaks the law to go 40 miles, why not 80, 100 or even 200 miles? The rake's progress is a one-way street, with no chance to stop.
The judicious grant of a permit would in some cases help the haulier to resist temptation by giving him a privilege he would not wish to lose. British Road Services are more likely than a licensing authority to find out about a haulier's illegal work. A permit could be withdrawn at the first transgression, whereas licensing authorities are reluctant to revoke a licence except after repeated provocation.
Fishing in Troubled Waters A slight easing of the present restrictions might help to drive out of business the interlopers now fishing to great advantage in the troubled waters. Mr. G. W. Quick Smith said recently that the main objection of the present operators to the 25-mile limit had been "their inability to do the occasional long-distance job for a customer whom they served mainly in the shortdistance field." It is on these occasional jobs that the law-breaker thrives. The customer, for various reasons, is unwilling to use B.R.S., and turns instead to the apparently respectable gentleman who promises to take his goods anywhere. The interloper can also canvass for other traffic, including that now carried by B.R.S. His activities cause harm to both sides of the legitimate industry.
Anxiety to sell all the transport units can be pushed too far. Many operators are complaining that, although they made their wishes known to the Disposal Board, nothing appropriate has so far appeared in any of the lists. It may be that the Commission cannot always satisfy the demand, or there may be other reasons why the operators have to be disappointed. Their natural suspicion is that the vehicles they want are being kept back until the last possible moment, and will form part of a large company beyond the means of the average haulier. If he wishes to keep his customers and his reputation for honesty, he may feel compelled to bid for a unit he does not want, merely to obtain a special A-licence. It was never envisaged that pressure on prospective purchasers should be applied to this extent.
When the hauliers first heard that the lifting of the 25-mile limit would be almost the last thing to happen under the Transport Act, many of them declared with some bitterness that they had been betrayed. After a time they came to accept the situation, but they are again becoming uneasy. Immediate abolition is not feasible, nor ought they to expect it. Nevertheless, the predominantly short-distance operators who are in danger of losing customers to less scrupulous interlopers for whom all distances are alike deserve some protection. This can most easily be given by the grant of a permit in fairly modest terms, and applicable only to the traffic of existing customers.