'Nonsense' attack o
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THE REVISED proposals for drivers' hours at present being considered by the EEC Commission were described as nonsense and a disaster for Britain by Mr Norman Fowler MP, Shadow Transport Minister, in Leicester on Tuesday.
Mr Fowler said the Government seemed to have given up trying to get any improvement.
He was speaking at the annual dinner of the East Midland area of the Coach and Independent Bus Sector, Confederation of British Road Passenger Transport. So as far as passenger transport was concerned, said Mr Fowler, the direct effect of these proposals would be higher costs, fewer bus services and higher fares. The restriction in drivers' hours would cause massive disruption to the road passenger transport industry. Schedules would have to be changed and some services would be made impossible.
One example was the popular long-day excursion trip. The cost of providing two drivers f or such services would be prohibitive and they would have to be cancelled.
A cut in bus services would also be necessary under the EEC requirements for weekly and daily rest periods, many weekend services would disappear and rural services would have to be curtailed.
High costs and higher prices in the shops would be the result of imposing the proposals on freight haulage. The Freight Transport Association had estimated the extra cost to the road haulage industry as 050 million.