Heading for chaos?
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HAVE PATIENCE, said the man from the Ministry at the TRTA conference last week. He was referring to the delay in issuing details of new weight ratings for tyres on plated vehicles. But this is far from being the only point that calls for patience from operators in the confused situation covering regulations on braking, plating and testing.
Annual tests and Ministry plating are due to start in a year's time, yet operators have to wait at least until near the end of this year before there is information on the weight for which existing vehicles will be plated; we still do not know the date when all vehicles will need to meet the full braking efficiencies—it was reckoned to be in 1972, now it looks like being 1973 and operators' associations are pressing for 1975; we do not know exactly what will be looked for in the annual tests; we do not have the final terms of the plating and testing regulations, which will be seen only in draft in the "late summer"; we do not know when, if ever, vehicles less than 30 cwt. unladen will be plated.
And we are told that patience is needed. It is no use advising patience when the time for decisions to be made is either imminent or already past. How can operators be expected to run their fleets efficiently when there are still "i's" to be dotted and "t's" to be crossed in the interpretation of regulations of vital importance?
The TRTA conference was told that the MoT "proposes" to issue a "plain man's guide to plating and testing". About time, too. But even the Ministry does not give the impression of being completely "with it" on the new regulations. It does not seem to have been able to anticipate the problems, for new queries arise almost daily when extra implications of regulations and proposals are suddenly realized.
We are going to see something like chaos in road transport if the new regulations are immediately enforced to the letter. It is about time that the MoT realized fully the problems operators are going to have.
If the lack of decision results from a well-intentioned attempt to retain flexibility rather than imposing arbitrary diktat, then the Ministry should give operators longer to make the changes. Meeting the regulations is going to cost the industry enough—£30 m. is a conservative figure—and an estimate of 10 per cent reduction in the country's total vehicle payload capacity when plating becomes fully effective could be on the low side, too.