Working in the Dark
Page 23
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HAS the Road Haulage Association changed its attitude towards denationalization• since it published its policy statement and plan shortly after the General Election last year? Operators who expected this question to be answered after the national council held its special meeting, last week, to consider the implications of the Transport Bill, will be disappointed. The. Association continues to work under a dark cloak.
What the council hoped to achieve is a matter for speculation, and whether its object was attained is even more uncertain. The meeting appears to have been called to enable the ad hoc committee which is negotiating with the Minister of Transport to learn members' views on the Bill and to receive a report on the progress of conciliation. The vital question of how far the R.H.A. is willing to compromise on the Bill remains unanswered.
In many respects the Bill follows closely the plan prepared by the Association, but there are certain • divergencies which are sufficiently wide to cause some leading members of the R.H.A. to condemn the Government's proposals out of hand. A few of the 60 or so resolutions submitted by the area otganizations to the national council took this extreme line, but fortunately they are not representative of the feeling of the majority of members. Rather do they reflect the ephemeral influence of magnetic personalities.
Conflict on the Bill Nevertheless, there is widespread dissatisfaction • with the proposed levy and with the delay in lifting the 25-mile limit. The Association's original ,scheme for denationalization recommended the immediate freeing of all hauliers from the restrictive radius and set out a.plan by which the Road Haulage Executive's assets would be returned to free enterprise in four stages. In the first of these, hauliers Whose businesses were compulsorily acquired would have been awarded priority in selecting the transport units which they wished to purchase. Neither of these suggestions is acknowledged in the Bill.
Hauliers would like to know how far the R.H.A. is willing to press these points. The ad hoc committee is still negotiating with the Minister and will presumably continue to do so' for some time. It has obviously already decided broadly its attitude. towards the Bill in general and the unsatisfactory features in particular, and will be unable to deviate far from its established policy. The resolutions submitted by the areas may, therefore, count for little unless they coincide with the views already expressed to the Minister.
The Association remains dedicated to a policy of complete denationalization and the opinions of extremists who demand the complete realization of the R.H.A.'s wishes or nothing at all, may be discounted. The negotiating committee may be relied upon, under the wise chairmanship of Mr. Bernard Winterbottorn, to use tact and to reach a fair compromise. Some indication of the progress made would, however,' be welcome.
Encouraging Results The committee must have been greatly encouraged by the results of the first 2,000 replies to the questionnaire addressed to 19,000 hauliers and ex-hauliers, who were asked whether they would be willing to buy the R.H.E.'s assets. The replies showed that 76 per cent. were prepared to purchase transport units of an average size of 51 vehicles.
Although at the time of the analysis only about 11 per cent. of those who had been asked to express their intentions had done so, they offered to buy 20 per cent. of the R.H.E.'s total fleet. If the vehicles which the British Transport Commission is to retain as having been formerly owned by railway-controlled companies, are deducted from the total, it will probably be found that 11 per cent. of existing operators and ex-hauliers have already laid claim to a quarter of the Executive's assets.
If only 40 per cent. of those who received the questionnaire reply to it in the strain of the first 2,000, the whole of the State-owned road haulage undertaking will find ready buyers. What more encouraging evidence of the wish of the industry for the return of road haulage to free enterprise could be supplied?