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The milkman
Page 50
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and the Transport Act by Roger Howell
• The road haulage industry can take comfort in the fact that the Transport Act is a shared burden. Members of the,National Dairymen's Association attended a conference in London last Friday and listened to papers by Ministry of Transport experts, a dairy industry transport chief, and by Mr. H. R. Featherstone, director of the Traders Road Transport Association.
Mr J. Lane, assistant secretary in charge of the Road Transport (Goods) Division, MoT, limited his address to a summary of quality and quantity licensing, and stressed that whereas carriers' licensing had relied on enforcement, the objective of the new system was to prevent unsafe vehicles ever reaching the road.
Whereas with C licences all applications could be made from an operator's headquarters, under the new system firms had to apply to the LA in whose area depots were situated. Quality licensing had to be a locally controlled affair if it was to be fully effective.
Mr Lane emphasized that quantity licensing was not a licensing system for individual journeys.
Commenting on quantity licensing, Mr. Featherstone said that he had spent 18 months trying to make sure it did not reach the Statute Book. As well as the general philosophy being faulty, he did not believe that an LA could make the same assessment of the requirements of a trade or industry as the people directly concerned with that trade or industry. Furthermore he still did not understand the principles behind selective objection by the railways.
Adding his comment, Mr. B. T. Squier, group transport executive, Unigate Ltd., said that the dairy industry was worried. Safety of operation was all-important, but massive machinery had been erected to further simple aims. Furthermore quantity licensing would have an adverse effect on the milk industry's tanker services. Few people appreciated the degree of operational flexibility required to ensure continuity.
Mr. Lane assured delegateS that before final regulations were made regarding licensing there would be further consultation with trade associations. One point that should have cheered the dairymen was the revelation that traction batteries were not taken into account when ascertaining the unladen weight of electric vehicles for plating and testing purposes.
Speaking on transport managers' licences, Mr. Featherstone, who is a member of the Transport Managers' Licence Committee, said that the overall approach had to be flexible if the concept was not to degenerate into a piece of red tape. The legal position of a transport manager would be onerous, and it was essential to distinguish between the licence holder and the persons stipulated on the operator's licence. Certainly with so much at stake the transport manager would be in a better position to "ginger up" his board regarding maintenance.
Operators had to know what norms the LAs would use in deciding TML requirements, as it would be stupid to make arrangements now, only to find at a later date that a different system, a different disposition of staff, was necessary to comply.
More thought would have to be given to the position of the small man with one or two vehicles. Logically there was no case for exempting any operator from a requirement which related to safety of vehicle operation, but the administrative burden would be immense if every small retailer had to pass an examination. However, to Mr. Featherstone, exemption from examination was not synonymous with exemption from the licence.
Questions covered the detail rather than the principle of the legislation. Mr. Squier queried the position arising if neighbouring depots were in different traffic areas. Would more than one licence holder be necessary? Mr. Renshaw of the Ministry replied that certainly only one LA would be involved. Individual cases would be dealt with on merit, and commonsense rules applied.
Many delegates seemed to think that the Act expected too much of one man —"What happens if a spring breaks on such and such a vehicle?" The Ministry men could only emphasize that the manager was not expected to inspect every vehicle or check every logsheet; he was expected to provide adequate supervision.
Since the 1930 Act the dairy industry had built up a complex but highly efficient road transport system based on the 11-hour day, said Mr. Squier, but would now face serious problems in complying with the new legislation. In particular the six-day week restriction would affect rural milk collections. The recruitment of suitable driving staff, particularly for tankers, was difficult and it was customary to cover sickness, holidays and absenteeism by permitting remaining staff to work a seven-day week. About 25 per cent of the churn-carrying vehicles were in concentrations not exceeding five, and it was not economical to carry spare men even if they were available.
The number of heavy tankers linking country creameries and the conurbations had increased in recent years, partly due to the demise of branch railway lines and partly because the railway service was insufficiently flexible to meet the ebb and flow pattern common in the trade. Under the new regulations additional drivers would have to be recruited and based at staging points.
Regarding the actual household delivery of milk Mr. Squier did not see undue difficulties as few milk roundsmen spent anything like four hours daily at the wheel of their vehicles, and would hence be exempt from many of the new regulations.
The Minister had powers under. the Act to give exemption or to permit LAs to give dispensation to operators from the hours restrictions. It was hoped that the position of the dairy industry, giving a 365 day per year service, would be fully appreciated.
One delegate considered that average roundsmen did in fact drive for more than four hours per day, as integration of rounds and also collecting days had to be taken into account. Mr. Lane confirmed that if a driver exceeded four hours driving time on only one day he would need to meet the full requirements of the Act for the whole week, including the 24-hour rest provision.