Fighting Talk
Page 61
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CHARACTERISTIC of the road transport operator— or so it seems from what has happened recently—is his endless capacity for being surprised at the obvious. The British Transport Commission have made no secret of their determination to use to the utmost the freedom that the Transport Act, 195.3, gave them to charge practically what they like and in this way to pick and choose their traffic. Until recently they have not
• threatened the haulier directly—although they . have • spoken harshly of the C-licence holder and of the privatecar owner—but he should have had no difficulty in recognizing their intention to capture business from him.
The plans that the Commission are now putting into effect are the logical extension of the policy they have set out several times in the past. Each railway region in turn is announcing special new facilities: sometimes a series of regular freight trains like the Condor service between London and Glasgow; at other times a vigorous sales campaign, which seems to be the main feature in the Kent and Sussex division . of the Southern Region, where the opportunities of spectacular and fast long-distance runs must be limited.
Wherever there is a new service, or a refurbished version of the old, the railways do not hesitate to let the public know. Advertisingspace is taken, not merely in the newspapers likely to be read in the places concerned,. but often throughout the region.
After so many repetitions, the accompanying barrage of publicity should by now be taken for granted by hauliers, in spite of which those who believe themselves threatened invariably and immediately show signs of anger that can easily be mistaken for apprehension. This must be just the reaction for which the railways had hoped, and may have encouraged them to the point where a slighting reference to the haulier and to the miserable
• fate awaiting him seems now always to be included in the opening announcement of a new railway service.
Spent in Vain
For all their brave words and fighting attitude, the railways are in an uncomfortable position. They have talked the Government into lending them a great deal of money, and with its help have certainly made a number of improvements. But there are limits to what can be done with a railway system. If the public do not respond to the Commission's blandishments, the money will be spent in vain, in the sense that it may have made the service better, but not so much as to be decisive. Each new railway venture has to be boosted to the utmost, and the task is facilitated if the railways can entangle the haulier in a controversy where he is at a disadvantage in that, for a change, he appears to be defending the old order against the new.
The railways, who at best are offering an improved version of an old model, would like to create the impression that they have something completely fresh. It is for this reason that they , are using what to the haulier may seem an excessive number of salesmen, and that they are spending so much money on publicity. It is for the same reason that the railways are trying to turn the tables on the haulier by claiming that he, and not they, is outmoded. As the point was put recently by Mr. T. H. Summerson, chairman of the north-eastern area board of British Railways: "It always seems so contrary to commonsense, so much the reverse of high productivity, such a waste of
manpower. to have those strings of lorries grinding their noisy, evil-smelling way through Darlington or over Shap, when the same job could be done well away from public roads, pavements and houses by one-fiftieth of their number of locomotives."
This kind of almost contemptuous reference to the haulier is so prevalent in the more recent pronouncements from railway officials that it must be deliberately.provocative. The object is to goad the haulier into saying that the railways are cutting rates in order to put the road haulage industry out of business. More often than not he obliges, denouncing the wickedness of his competitors as though the news were entirely unexpected. Shrewd businessman though he is, he can be caught time and time again by what should be to him an old and stale trick.
Long As They Dared
The railways are employing the well-tried Ivory Tower tactic of claiming that, until the B.T.C. were established, the public had no idea of how good a transport service could be. For as long as they dared, the Commission acted on the assumption that their creation followed. directly on the reign of Chaos and Old Night. Unfortunately for them, circumstances and the lamentations of the customers conspired towards the conclusion that, in fact, they were ushering in the era they claimed to supersede.
In the' early days of the Commission there was virtually nobody in a position to contradict them. They had liquidated the opposition in the most effective manner possible, by taking it over. They are now learning to use the renewed opposition to their own advantage. The barkers from the regions pick a quarrel, knowing that this is the best method of collecting a crowd.
The haulier is admittedly in a difficult position. With the intensification of competition, road haulage rates have fallen and are continuing to fall. For a long time, some of the hauliers with steadier nerves, as well as the Commission, refused to join in a suicidal rate-cutting war. With the defection of the railways, there now seems to be not even a standard from which the plausibility of a rate can be judged. In spite of lower charges, most hauliers have managed to remain solvent, whereas the Commission, or at least the railway section, have gone deeper and deeper into debt. The haulier cannot help suspecting, as was suggested recently by Mr. A. E. Drain, chairman of the Metropolitan. and South Eastern Area of the Road Haulage Association, that the railways are using Government loans "to subsidize completely uneconomic services designed to drive hauliers out of business."
The point is worth making, although the plight of the railways might encourage the trader to use their services, in the same way that the public are attracted to a sale of bankrupt stock. The main consideration that the haulier should bear in mind is his oft-repeated belief in the superiority of his own services. Already there is evidence that some of the new facilities offered by the railways have found no takers at any price. The main reason is that, after testing all forms of transport, the trader has come to realize that road transport is preferable for most kinds of traffic. Even a sensational reduction in rates will not persuade him to change his mind. The haulier, therefore, should master his anger at what to him seems irresponsible conduct on the part of the railways, and should remain confident in his own ability.