T HE Road Haulage Association have told the Road Haulage Disposal Board "in no uncertain terms" that
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they were wasting time and taking grave chances in refusing so many tenders by hauliers. The Board replied that they were not selling at bargain prices and were going to call the Association's bluff.
This was revealed by Mr. R. B. Brittain, a member of the national council of the R.H.A., when he spoke atFelixstowe last week. Now that the Board had relisted the unsold units in Lists 1 and 2, hauliers would be interested to see whether higher tenders than those originally submitted would be attracted, he said.
"Nothing but rubbish" was how Mr. Fred Baker, chairman of the West Midlands Area of the Association, described the vehicles offered for sale in Lists 1 and 2, when he spoke at Dudley. Good vehicles were being placed with poor ones in units so that people who wanted the better vehicles had to buy the bad as well, be said.
After denationalization, rates wiauld he keener, but it was impossible to cut charges drastically and maintain a high standard of service, Speaking at the annual dinner of the Sunderland Sub-area, Mr. T. H. Camp bell Wardlaw, legal adviser to the Northern Area, counselled hauliers not to undercut each other. ,Reduced rates would benefit customers, but would be harmful to transport operators.
Mr. H. L. Walker, chairman of the area, requested members to take mote interest in the Association's affairs. He was horrified, he stated, that Sunderland Sub-area held only one meeting each year.
Mr. G. Garnsworthy said that quarterly meetings had been tried, but only one member attended the last one.