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146 
lonmouthshire Tippers Ltd.
Page 57
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Vot feasible to sub-divide or specialist traffics'
r David Spain
-IE NAME of one of the directors of onmouthshire Tippers Ltd. is, to the ajority of operators, as familiar a part of e transport scheme as fifth-wheel mplings, roping and sheeting, and trunking id shunting. The director is Mr. Noel R.
'ynn, solicitor, chairman of the Road aulage Association, and director of obert Wynn and Sons Ltd., of Newport, lonmouthshire; he has been closely mnected with the group since it began out six years ago. The group has 49 Lembers, operating a total of approximately 00 vehicles.
When I interviewed Mr. Wynn at his lewport office he emphasized that the pinions he gave were his own and did not ecessarily represent those of the RHA or f Monmouthshire Tippers.
He said that the group had evolved lowly, having been the main subject for iscussion at meetings of the Newport sib-area of the RHA. The group had ieveloped because there was general lepression among tipper operators at that ime, following the chaos that arose from he building of the Spencer Steel Works.
About six operators had formed the mcleus of the group, but others soon .ealized that by co-operation a larger rolume of work could be undertaken. He noted the haulage of cargoes from NIewport Docks as an example.
Mr. Wynn said a good deal of the impetus towards a co-operative movement sad come from the RHA Study Group Report on Co-operation, issued about four years ago.
When I asked if the group had received much practical assistance from local and HQ levels of the RHA what else could he say other than a definite and pronounced "yes"?
No co-operative arrangements exist between Monmouthshire Tippers and its neighbouring groups—Mid-Glamorgan Tippers Ltd. and Tipper Movements (West Midlands) Ltd.
Mr. Wynn later said that some such organ zation for co-ordinating the work of tipper groups was necessary, and because of this an RHA group co-ordinating committee had been set up to discuss arrangements. Co-operation between groups would come under the wing of a special functional group of the RHA which could only be advisory. He could not envisage a national clearing house and did not think it feasible that the functional group could be sub-divided into specialist traffics.
Since talking to Mr. Wynn, the RHA has announced the appointment of a group co-ordination officer, Mr. K. B. Spencer, who was the transport manager of Rhodes Transport Ltd., Chesterfield, and vicechairman of the RHA's East Midland area. His appointment took effect on February 1.
Mr. Wynn expressed some concern over future building development in the area—not at the group's ability to cope with it, but at the fact that Newport is not a development area. The developments that had taken place over the years would inevitably cease in the future, he said, and this was worrying. The only contemplated work in the immediate future was likely to be the dual-carriageway from Raglan to the Coldra intersection on M4.
He said the group kept in touch with future developments mainly through the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Transport, supplemented by the national and local Press.
Although no bulk vehicle operators belonged to the group at present, if one did choose to apply his application would receive the same consideration as other tipper operators, said Mr. Wynn.
A driver training scheme was considered about 18 months ago and a meeting of all the members was called to discuss it. Because of the lack of interest it was abandoned. Perhaps the reason for this failure to co-operate stems from the individualism which is still very much prized among the members. There is, I gathered, very little direct co-operation among members.
Discussing the licensing situation in the area, Mr. Wynn noted that the trend of converting B licences to A licences and Contract A to either open A or B had fallen off. There was still a proportion of Contract A-licensed work in certain quarries and with the owner-driver haulage of solid fuels. There were no customers of the group having their work undertaken by Contract A licence vehicles.
The local quarry owners, it seems, do not have a common rates schedule, and although meetings have been arranged to try to reach a rates agreement all attempts have been abortive. He said that some quarry owners negotiate rates with hauliers while others have imposed rates.
"So far as Monmouthshire Tippers is concerned, it issues a rates schedule to the quarry owners and if they do not like it they can leave it," he said. "Quarry owners only use us when they are hard put for transport."
Sub-contracting
Sub-contracting of non-members by the group is taking place nearly all the time. Although this occupies only a small part of the work done by the group, he said, sub-contracting was necessary if the present work load was to be met.
Mr. Wynn explained that all the traffic handled by the group was distributed fairly and evenly to those members who had vehicle availability and were nearest to the source. This was true whether it came directly from a customer or indirectly from a member.
Wynn's Tippers were only put on the "good" work when every one else in the group was satisfied, he said, "because we do not want a finger pointed at our head."
A working party has compared cost information from the accounts submitted by members to a group accountant. Here it seems then, is one of the advantages of group working taking effect.
Whether or not members would be prepared to divulge their rates for all their traffic and customers, Mr. Wynn was unable to say. Robert Wynn and Sons Ltd., it appears would not be prepared to do so.
He disagreed with the contention that members who were nearest to large customers had an advantage over those who were not. In the Monmouthshire group's area the customers were evenly distributed, giving both some advantages and disadvantages to every member.
Even so, members would not refuse to work on distance factors alone. Work availability was what determined acceptance or refusal. He thought good examples were the hauliers who were sending their vehicles 20 miles to undertake a four-mile haul of ore from Newport Docks.
The group's membership policy is that it be restricted to less than 50. Mr. Wynn told me this was originally due to certain provisions of the Companies Act, but they no longer applied. This policy could, therefore, be altered but as yet the group's management board has not made any decision. As and when members relinquish their membership, applications are accepted from aspiring members in strict rotation. The only compulsory qualification is that the applicant must be a member of the RHA.