There Is a Famine in Transport
Page 22
Page 23
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Railways are Congested, Road Transport is Far Below its Normal Strength and Inadequate for its Work, and a Belligerent Attitude is Developing Throughout the Industry
By S.T.R.
T' HERE is a famine in transport in the country. Not merely a shortage of facilities for transport, but an acfual dearth. It is so serious that supplies and materials of all kinds are being held up at the places of their origin. There is at present no prospect of any amelioration of the situation. Nothing is being done to improve matters.
This lamentable position is ' the direct result of ignorance. The Ministry of Transport literally did not know that road transport was as essential to the maintenance of the economic life of the country as any other form of transport. The Ministers and officials did not recognize that the railways were incapable of dealing with any considerable increase in the bulk of the traffic which they were carrying when the war broke out. They are still unable to appreciate these facts._
Moreover, they are so set in their belief that the railways can do the • work that they continue to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to those who would show them otherwise and tell them how badly the country is situated because of the want of transport. They are apparently.of opinion that the presentation of these facts is coloured by the desire of the road transport industry to extend its considerably limited operations. Nothing will convince them otherwise. At least that is the position at the moment.
• Increased Road Transport Vital • It must shortly happen that events will prove too strong for them and they will have to accept what is no more nor less than the truth : that a considerable and immediate increase in the facilities afforded to road transport must be granted.
The pity is that any such concessions, however unexpectedly generous they may be, will take time to become effective, and there is no time to lose. It is likely that, in order to remedy matters, something more drastic and far-reaching may be necessary, something which will, unfortunately, cause disturbance and dislocation in other directions.
There are hundreds of thousands of tons of commodities of all kinds, all of them vital to the effective prosecution of the war, in one or other of the many phases of that effort, awaiting, conveyance. The railways cannot take them because they are alteady loaded beyond their capacity. A major proportion of the work they are doing is inefficiently performed, so that delays in transit are the rule rather than the exception. Road transport is unable to help because it has been deprived of many of its vehicles and much of its. personnel, besides being . necessarily curbed in its activities by the way in which its fuel is rationed.
Here, are some typical instances. Large quantities of sugar lie at Bury St. Edmunds awaiting transit to London. The railways cannot take the traffic. Local hauliers are carrying some, but there is a large and growing surplus untouched and without prospect of being handled. Sugar is a vital foodstuff.
• Transport Dearth Everywhere • The very factory where this situation has arisen was created because it was found during the past war how essential it was to have a homegrown source of supply. Transport is required for 100 tons of pulp per day from Ely to the southern comities. This is required for cattle food, another vital need. Coal to the tune of 100 tons per day is required for an important munitions factory in the London area. It cannot be delivered because transport is not available for it. Quantities of rubber and aluminium are in London awaiting transit to other munition factories in the Midlands and the North. Facilities for this transport cannot be found.
The port of Bristol is woefully short of traffic. Appeals are being circulated to hauliers throughout the country, begging them, if they have any vehicles which they can spare for the job, to transfer them. and their drivers to the Bristol Traffic Pool. Ample work at attractive rates is offered. That appeal will probably be in vain because there are practically no spare vehicles anywhere.
These are instances only: they exemplify what is going on all over the country. Every area secretary of A.R.O., every divisional secretary of the C.M.U.A., every haulier of consequence throughout the land is continuously being called to the telephone and asked if he can assist to convey traffic. The answer in nearly all cases is to regret inability to help.
Christmas is coming. It seems likely that the Christmas mail will exceed that of normal times. This must be so because so many families are divided: some of the members are evacuated, some in the Forces: inter-communication between the members and the interchange of parcels will be the natural desire.
It is usual at this time of the year for local secretaries of haulage associations to be endeavouring to arrange for contracts of hire between the Post Office and their members, so that this emergency traffic may be handled satisfactorily. In London, Mr. S. H. Jardine is so employed at the moment. He is acting in good faith, but has, to my knowledge, been warned by some of his members that it is very unlikely that vehicles of a suitable type will be available.
In the provinces, as I have quite frankly been informed from some quarters, nothing is being done. It is stated that transport is at such a premium that vehicles will not be availaple whatever the rates and conditions may be. The Post Office at the present time is short of transport because of the difficulties of sending mail by rail.
• Vehicles and Drivers Wanted • There is an acute shortage ofvehicles and of drivers. The dearth of vehicles results, mainly, and, in the first place, from impressment: that of drivers because so many have been called up for military service.
A contributory cause was the refusal of the M.O.T. to make any firm offer of supplies of fuel to thousands of operators who, in the absence of such encouragement, were reluctant to expend money on maintaining their vehicles. They 'continued to use these vehicles merely until, successively, they became unsuitable.for use.
Where that state of affairs did not exist an equivalent condition was brought about because spares could not be obtained for repairs and maintenance as and when they were needed. The effect of the foregoing causes has been cumulative and has brought about a slow paralyis of the road transport industry.
When an authority impresses, acquires or requisitions vehicles, it takes only the good ones, leaving the operator to manage as best he can with what is left. Often these are decrepit machines that have been discarded as being unfit for service, or, at least, are about to be so treated. Even before the ban an the purchase of new vehicles they were hard to obtain, and as soon as acquired were requisitioned and the operator left as badly off as ever.
One inevitable result of being com pelled to use old vehicles is the increase in the demand for • spares and aggravation of the situation already brought about by their shortage.
As with vehicles, so with drivers : the young and active men have been taken for the Army, the older men left behind. That in itself is a misfortune, especially in certain classes of traffic which demanded the exercise of brawn and muscle as well as brains and the ability to drive.
It is practically hopeless to appeal for permission to purchase new vehicles. Cases of blatantly obvious national need are practically ignored, notwithstanding the fact that in many cases .the vehicles are available, waiting to be taken away from the premises of the manufacturer or agent where they are standing idle. Here is a typical case, relating to a haulier engaged on work of national importance. (Are there any who are not, as things are to-day?) He lost one vehicle to the Army, one to the L.C.C., one was badly smashed, and left with three very. old vehicles, which in the end had to be scrapped because it was no longer safe to run them. Three new vehicles were ordered last February, but the first One did not get through until after the ban on the purchase of new vehicles came into force. The first of the three has been standing in the agent's showrooms for two months without turn ing a wheel. This is, as I have stated, a typical case. There are hundreds similar.
• Remedying the Situation • The immediate remedy is the release of new vehicles as quickly as possible to rectify the shortage, coupled with a ruling that, for the time being at least, acquisition and requisition must be suspended. There must be immediate issue of priority orders for spares to enable vehicles in the hands of operators to be repaired and put upon the road. There must be encouragement given to operators who have vehicles in the need of repair, so that when they have spent the money on those repairs they shall be given such reasonable supplies of fuel as will enable them to take the traffic which offers.
If, as is likely, this process be too slow to meet the needs of the case, then let there be a reversal of the process of impressment, acquisition and requisition. Let some of the thousands of R.A.S.C. vehicles, standing idle all over the country, be put in the hands of operators, so that they can help to clear the stagnant pools of traffic.
At the same time, let some of the drivers in the R.A.S.C. be released for civilian service.
The foregoing, however, are only palliatives, salves to heal the obvious sores on the body of road transport. Something more drastic and radical is needed to effect a cure, something which will endure not merely for the period of the emergency, but for all timd, something which will effectively prevent a recurrence of the disease.
• Fighting Questionnaire Examined •
It is in the belief that some such move is necessary that we—and I use the plural deliberately—are examining the belligerent questionnaire which Mr. Jardine has caused to be circulated to the members of Metropolitan Area of A.R.O. It was published in The Commercial Motor last week. When we examine it let us do so with appreciation of the spirit in which it was issued, -a spirit of angry yet just resentment, a feeling that the time for pursuing a policy of appeasement is passed, and that an energetic offensive must now be followed.
The questions are 11 in number. They are designed specifically to be answered by a plain " yes " or " no."
I give both questions and answers, with occasional comment.
1. Q. Are you satisfied with the treat. ment that the road transport industry is receiving from the Government to-day? A. No.
2. Q. Are you satisfied that we are receiving fair treatment regarding petrol, in view of the railway dislocation which .exists to-day, and the many extra calls which are being made upon an already reduced number of vehicles available? A, No.
The whole method of fuel allocation needs complete revision in view of the altered circumstances. The need for transport has risen high over any considerations of rates of exchange or difficulties of shipping. The Road Haulage Consultative Committee is no doubt dealing with this subject, but there is no time to await the leisured proceedings of committee after committee. Something must be done_ now and the dilatory machinery of Government procedure short-circuited.
3. Q. Are you satisfied with the way in which Regional Transport Commis sioners are endeavouring to control the industry, instead of our own leaders. A. No.
There cannot be any disagreement about this answer. I am afraid, how
ever; that the rank and file of the industry do not appreciate how serious is this threat of control, notwithstanding that
it is manifesting itself in so many ways and is steadily growing, It would be
impossible to over-emphasize the seriousness of the threat or to refer to it too frequently. Bear in mind that the control by the Regional Transport Commissioners is absolute, so far as rt is exercisable. The Minister himself has said that he cannot interfere with them.
4. Q. Are you satisfied with the way vehicles are being impressed by the Regional Transport Commissioners when dealers are advertiting in the Technical Press, every week, tiumbers of used vehicles for sale? A. No.
I think that I would have taken the larger aspect here and asked if requisitioning of vehicles be justifiable at all to-day, having in mind the lack o4. available transport for urgent national needs. Greater use of Army-owned vehicles and the cutting of red tape which so prescribes and limits their use, is the appropriate course.
5. Q. Are you satisfied with the unsatisfactory reply given by the Minister of Transport regarding the position of A or B licences after the war? A. No.
6. Q. Are you prepared to support a demand that the new Consultative Committee set up by the Minister of Transport press for a full Government statement on the position of the industry after the war? A. Yes.
These two questions go together. If the questionnaire had contained no more than these two it would have justified its existence. Here is a subject on which the whole industry can and must unite and press for some definite and inviolable pledge giving security and tenure to all bona fide A ' and B • licencees now and after the war is over.
• 7. Q. Are you satisfied with the difficulties that are enforced upon you in replacing vehicles destroyed, by used vehicles instead of new? A. No.
Here again complete revision is necessary in respect of the Government's attitude in the method of dealing with permits to acquire new vehicles. Hauliers should press for immediate investigation and reform.
8. Q. Are you satisfied with the present inflated price of used vehicles? A. No.
• Avoid Government Control •
9. Q. Do you demand that steps be taken by the Government to stop this obvious inflation? A. This is one question that requires mature consideration before a definite reply be made. The Ministry of Transport already has the matter under review, but there are many difficulties, and operators have found in the past that to ask for further legislation is tantamount "to placing a rod in pickle for their own backs.
10. Q. Are you prepared to refuse to agree to any increase in wages until the
whole question of petrol, vehicles, licences, etc., has received • the consideration due to members of the road transport industry? A. —.
The logical outcome of an affirmative here is strike action, which cannot be commended in war-time even if legal.
11. Q. Finally, are you not convinced that the time has arrived when throughout the country we should raise our voices against the unfair treatment of a vast industry such as ours? A. Yes, and yes and yes and yes.