Continuing improvement in vehicle standards
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But LAs worried about maintenance records, overloading, garage standards, light vans and hgv licensing problems
• The improvement in commercial vehicle standards reported by the LAs last year was continued in the period • October 1970 to September 1971, for which the Annual Reports of the Licensing Authorities were published this week. But this improvement in vehicles covered by 0 licensing does not extend to the lighter machines, and several Authorities express their concern at the roadworthiness of goods vehicles under 30cwt unladen. The Northern LA, for example, reports that of 347 such vehicles inspected, 38 per cent received GV9s.
There is also wide concern at the continuing extent of vehicle overloading, and several of the LAs report that enforcement is hampered by inadequate weighbridge facilities.
In the Northern area, Mr J. A. T. Hanlon reports that two 0 licences revoked on the grounds of the holders being adjudged bankrupt were among the disciplinary actions he took during the year. On overloading, he says that 20 per cent of vehicles had been found to be overweight but that check-weighing had been made more difficult because motorways and bypasses had removed traffic from the vicinity of the weighbridges.
The testing stations in his area reported a 39 per cent failure rate for first tests and 13 per cent for the second and he comments that a high percentage of the vehicles maintained by commercial garages showed a much lower standard than those maintained by operators themselves.
In the Yorkshire area Maj.-Gen Sir John Potter reports a trend among large Operators to transfer vehicles to their employees who thus become owner-drivers requiring individual 0 licences.
On enforcement, the LA reports that most of the 41 cases brought under section 69 followed from failure to fulfil statements of intention concerning maintenance.
Maj.-Gen. Potter reports that one of the hgv licences he granted, on exemption from the test, was on the production of signed statements from the applicant's colleagues and by his own demeanour, since he was "a victim of his former employer's unexplained and apparently unreasonable refusal to sign a certificate of employment".
Mr C. R. Hodgson, the Northern Western LA, reports refusing 382 hgv applications, in most cases because of tack of evidence of driving experience.
He reports a continuing improvement in vehicle standards, though he suspects that some operators do not maintain the same standards once a pre-licence check has been completed.
An unusual feature of the report by Mr John Else, the W. Midland LA, is a retrospective survey of carriers' licensing, with
some interesting conclusions about the road/ rail balance under different conditions of licensing. He concludes that the opinion of the early fathers of carriers licensing, namely "in the main, transport will divide itself between road and rail as the demand of those who require it, and the facilities offered by those who provide it, determine" is as valid today, and will remain so unless artificial restraints are applied.
Like other LAs, Mr Else reports extensive checks not only on vehicle condition and weight but also on the holding of valid licences. On hours and records, he remarks: "There is every reason to believe that the spirit and intent of some aspects of the legislation is being flouted. Regrettably the law which rightly requires proof, and not suspicion before conviction, has not provided adequate machinery to this end." Nevertheless 1395 summonses were issued.
Mr C. M. Sheridan, E. Midland LA, is one of several Authorities who report that new-entrant applications for 0 licences are being received at a rate of 100 month. Refunds for 0-licence fees are running at a high rate, he reveals, and he believes that the high "turnover" of own-account licence-holders is continuing. The failure rate of 35 per cent among hgv test applicants is close to the national average, and Mr Sheridan reports a 37 per cent failure in psv driving tests.
Like almost all the LAs, Mr H. E. Robson M the Eastern area reports long delays, largely due to the postal strike, in completing the 0-licensing of vehicle-operating farmers early last year. On enforcement, he reports an improvement in vehicle condition, though too many smoking vehicles were being found in spot checks, and he, too, comments on the lack of weighbridges. The use of vehicles without 0 licence, sometimes in anticipation of decisions on applications, led to special checks which brought 184 summonses and fines totalling £1400.
ligv licence applications sent too early, or incomplete, are a widespread reason for initial rejection, and Mr Robson reports that the number of application forms wrongly completed remains high.
Detailing the way in which careful control over the assessment of maintenance facilities for each applicant for an 0 licence was contributing to vehicle standards, Mr Ronald Jackson, the South Wales LA, reports that apart frOm roadside checks, his staff inspected the maintenance facilities of 1450 operators during the year. In his area 225 summonses were issued in respect of drivers' records offences and 181 on overloading charges.
Mr J. R. C. Samuel-Gibbon, the Western LA, is troubled that many new applicants have no vehicles when they apply, and therefore have entered into no maintenance agreement with a garage, making assessment difficult and calling for a limited-term grant and an early review of performance.
Routine inspections of drivers' records at operators' premises had shown that the majority were well kept. The year saw the start of investigations in connection with 0-licence variations and renewals and, while most operators appeared to be trying to fulfil their obligations, the standard of maintenance documentation could be improved.
A similar start on inspection of existing licence-holders' facilities, many of whom had never had an inspection, is reported by Maj.-Gen. A. F. J. Elmslie, the South Eastern LA. His declared target is an inspection of all operators before renewal. Commenting on inadequate maintenance documents, he draws particular attention to the absence of drivers' written reports on vehicle defects. Maj.-Gen. Elmslie is another Authority concerned at the mechanical condition of vehicles weighing 1 to 11 tons unladen; a situation which the DoE is, he says, studying.
A gradual but substantial reduction in enforcement staff is reported by Mr D. I. R. Muir, the Metropolitan LA, and although his staff has been involved in some very large convictions of operators and drivers, the total number of prosecutions has fallen.
Only the Essex and Southend police, he reports, have exercised their rights to object to 0 licences during the period. During the year 308 short-term licences were granted to 'foreign operators, 34 from Finland, 42 from Belgium, 72 from Switzerland and 86 from the Irish Republic.
Ireland — but this time Northern Ireland — figures also in the report of Mr A. B. Birnie, the Scottish LA, whose special checks on Ulster vehicles entering through Stranraer showed very few to be breaking the law.
The 1970-71 LAs' reports include some detailed statistics on licensing and enforcement and show, for example, that of 207,442 vehicles inspected 9,292 received immediate prohibitions and 30,738 delayed ones.
Copies of the LAs' reports are available free from the Road Freight Division, Room S18/22, Department of the Environment, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 3EB, but a stamped (7p first class, 54p second class) self-addressed envelope at least 14 irt x 9 in must be enclosed.