Goods Operators
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WATCH YOUR STEP!
RATE-CUTTING is the root evil of all the troubles of
the haulage industry. It has implemented the restrictive legislation under which operators, haulage and ancillary, are now labouring, and is the cause of many unfair practices existing in the industry to-day. Neglect of vehicle maintenance, overworking and underpayment ot ' 'drivers, speeding, overloading—all these bugbears of road, transport can be traced to rate-cutting.
It is true that, as a result of the activities of the associations, rates tend to harden in certain directions, but a • much wider acceptance of a reasonable level of charges will have to be found before the requirements of the law concerning maintenance and other matters can be fully otiserVed. . The position is serious. For the first year or so of the functioning of the 1933 Act, the Licensing Authorities, generally, stayed their hands while operators became familiar with their legal obligations. Sufficient ,time is now deemed to have been given to operators to obtain a grasp of the law, and we have entered an era of stringent enforcement. It is true that there has been a general improvement in the observance of the statutes, but the . position is still considered to be far from satisfactory. The Licensing Authorities are deter.
mined that the law shall be respected.
• They are uneasy concerning the infringement of the hours regulations.
In some quarters it is felt that evasion of the law is being encouraged by the minor penalties inflicted by certain magistrates for hours and records offences.
The Metropolitan Licensing Authority says that " it is unfortunate from
the standpoint of employers themselves, because where warnings and prosecutions fail in their purpose of ensuring observance of the law, I shall have only
one course left, and that is to exercise my jurisdiction to suspend or revoke licences." This warning should serve to impress upon operators the importance of respecting the law.
During the year ended September 80, 1936, goods operators and drivers were charged with some 40,000 offences; and they were convicted on about 35,000 counts. Apart from neglect of vehicle condition, some of the maAt common offences are in connection with hours, records and
using unauthorized vehicles. • More Punishment Advocated.
The East Midland Licensing Authority suggests that the slackness concerning records may, in some part, be due to the fact that no provision is made in the 1933 Act for punishing those who make false entries, except in so far as it is an offence not to keep a current record. He suggests that the Minister of Transport should consider the desirability, of strengthening the Act accordingly In many respects, operators are largely in the hands of . their employees, and it is well worth while to spend a little ingenuity and forethought in devising steps to keep drivers out of the courts. In this connection, the system of awarding a bonus for freedom from offences has some merits.
The position with regard to vehicle maintenance has improved, but an even higher standard of fitness is required by the Licensing Authorities. During the year ended September :10, 1936, the official examiners made some 175,000 inspections of vehicles. As a result 21,010 prohibition notices were issued, 6,465 being expressed to take effect immediately. The percentage of prohibitions is too high for an industry of the size and importance of road transport. In many cask, C-licensees are flagrant offenders B22 in connection with vehicle fitness, A-licensees setting the highest standard. Maiirnum-load vehicles within the 21-ton unladen-weight limit are causing great concern to the Licensing Authorities. in numerous instances they are overladen and ovefdriven: these abuses, coupled with inadequate maintenance, have caused the proportion of defective vehicles to be rather higher among the lightweights than among the heavier machines.. Vehicles weighing under 24; tons unladen are said frequently to carry 6-7-ton loads. The accompanying table relating to defective vehicles in the Eastern Area speaks for itself and suggests wide spread abuse of the legitimate aclvan tages of low unladen weight.
Defects most commonly occur in steering gear, brakes, springs and bodywork. Particular attention is devoted by the authorities to brakes. It appears that hand brakes are often found to be inefficient, and the Yorkshire Licensing Authority suggests that drivers should be instructed to make greater use of such brakes in service, if only for the purpose of keeping a regular check on their efficiency. Let operators take heed of the words of the West Midland Licensing Authority, who ,says : " In order to obtain a reasonable standard am nowcontemplating a more stringent line with regard to the contravention of the condition attached to licences, that vehicles shall be maintained in a fit and serviceable condition."
In some areas there is a tendency for a greater number of hauliers than previously to appear as objectors' to applications by other road operators, but the railways still provide The bulk of opposition. The resistance of objectors has stiffened and progress at public inquiries has been slowed down. In the words of the Northern Licensing Authority : "Not only has the number of objections . . . steadily increased, but the cases involved, so soon as a question of principle emerges, are fought ton standstill." The railways have opposed practically all applications for A and B licences, other than renewals, and in the Northern Area they have objected to over 68 per cent, of all applications. The railways have not been following the policy, which they have always pursued on the passenger side, of objecting to applications by their associated goods-transport companies on the road, but there has been "an increasing tendency on the part of specialized hauliers to object to applications affecting businesses in which they are mainly engaged.
Hard Times for the B.licensee.
The B-licensee continues to be the butt of railway venom. In the North-Western Area, the railways have not sought so much to prevent the renewal of licences to B-licensees, but have pursued a vigorous paring-down policy designed to strangle the• liberty "Of the limited carrier.
The West Midland Licensing Authority appears to he a little weary of the persistent attacks oil road operator S. Objections to renewal applications having been maintained in instances where the position has previously been fully explored, the Authority has felt constrained to point out the waste of public time and the unnecessary inconvenience to the applicant caused by this Vicious practice. The West Midland Authority is not. taking the line that conditions of B licences should be tightened up each year, in accordance with a reduction, in the zone of operation, due, perhaps, to a temporary increase in the demand for more local haulage, in lieu of the longer journeys, which may again be required. This enlightened outlook has, to some extent, deterred the railway anglers in their fishing expeditions. A similar attitude has been adopted by the South Wales Licensing Authority, in whose area the public , is, to a large extent, dependent on the serVices of B-licensees.
Should B-licensees Travel Long Distances?
A rather different view seems to be taken by the SouthEastern Licensing Authority, who doubts whether, apart from the wider aspects of public interest and the claims of whole-time hauliers, it is really in the interests of the local operator to allow him to take an occasional long-distance load. It is thought that in doing so he may forfeit work in his own immediate neighbourhood, to an amount that could not be offset by the possible gain from an occasional excursion into unknown territory. In some areas, at least, the resistance of B-licensees appears to have been worn dOwn. In seeking additions to their fleets, they display the same tendency as A-licensees to confine their requests to the barest minimum and to invite restrictive conditions that will eliminate, so far as possible, objections. They have humbled themselves to the railway despot.
The question of rates is, of course, one of the principal issues of contention, and there is an aspect of voluntary rates stabilization that may not, have been generally realized. It may be suggested that rates that are not enforceable by law have little value, but there is the important advantage that, despite the absence of statutory obligation in this respect, the operator who cuts a voluntarily agreed figure can easily he shown to be attracting false traffic by charging rates uneconomic to himself.
There are several directions in which the law may not
operate equitably towards all interests. One is in connection with the use of trailers behind private cars. This practice appears to be increasing. Cases have occurred where C-licensees have disposed of their goods. vehicles and resorted to the use of private cars and trailers, in circumstances where there is no liability_ upon them to take out C licences. The Yorkshire Licensing Authority urges that amending legislation should be introduced at the earliest opportunity to enable control to he exercised over the employment of these vehicles.
Unfair Competition by Farmers.
Unfair competition with A and B-licensees by farmers under C licences is growing.
The Contract A licence is also open to abuse. There seems to have been a general and substantial increase in the number of such licences issued, partly, perhaps, owing to pressure by the railway companies. Indeed, the increase
has been so great in the Yorkshire Area that the LicensinE Authority has found it necessary to. examine -the position.
The West Midland Licensing Authority comments that the cumulative effect of the abuse made possible by the use of Contract A licence vehicles is considerable. " It may," he says, " accordingly be found necessary to explore the applications at public inquiries, as'well as to direct special attention to. the observance of the conditions attached to the licence." The Eastern Licensing Authority feels that there is not sufficient safeguard against contracts being terminated if the work be completed in less than a year.
• On the other hand, the Southern Scotland Licensing Authority considers that there should be a wider use of contract licences in connection withmunicipal work. "There must," he points out, "always he a free margin, but it seems hardly necessary that all the work he undertaken without any obligation on the hirer to make sole use of at least a minimum tonnage daily upon work requiring the vehicles every day."
One of "the clauses of the 1933 Act that presents a danger to hauliers is Section 10 (3), which empowers a Licensing Authority to delete vehicles from a licence if they he lying idle for any reason other than a fluctuation in business. The aid of this provision has not been widely invoked, and the South Wales Licensing AnthoritY declares that in a distressed area, such as his, where vehicles are thrown out of employment through slackness of trade, a wide latitude should he allowed in its application.
Few Amalgamations.
So far, contrary to the trend on the passenger side, there has been no pronounced tendency to amalgamation in the road-haulage industry. The Yerkshire Licensing Authority considers this to be a matter for surprise. Combinations of small hauliers' should, he thinks, be one of the first movements towards any scheme of co-ordination and self-help, provided that the limited-liability companies formed be started and maintained on a sound basis.
It is true that a certain number of mergers has taken place and, in connection with " transfer " applications, the West Midland Licensing Authority has always treated as confidential financial details of the purchase and sale of businesses. He has no doubt, however, that attempts are being made, both by existing operators and intending entrants to the haulage industry, to obtain vehicles by purchasing derelict businesses.
One of 'the principal trends of goods transport by road is the increasing number of C-licence vehicles. This growth of ancillary transport appears to be due to a tendency for traders to provide their own vehicles, but is, in part, due to the ready means for detecting unauthorized vehicles provided .by the identity certificates issued under the Goods Vehicles. (Licences and Prohibitions) Regulations.. The issue of these certificates was immediately followed by a large number of applications from operators who had hitherto operated their vehicles without licences.
This increase in C-licence vehicles provides an answer to the persistent cry of the railways that they are not receiving a fair share of industrial prosperity, and tends to suggest that hauliers are not benefiting wholly by trade improvement.
No Inconvenience to Industry.
Summing up licensing administration from the national standpoint, the Metropolitan Licensing Authority disputes the contention that industry has suffered loss and inconvenience through a shortage of road transport. He admits that " short cuts " in licensing are often liable to fail, because they tend merely to show that whatever work may he available is already being done by existing transport. He holds, however, that where there is a real need, there is little difficulty in obtaining additional vehicles.
It is not anticipated that there will ever arrive a time when the transport pool will be sufficient only for the bare needs of the public. Fluctuations in different branches of trade will always provide a certain surplus of vehicles.
Competition is likely to have greater, play in the case of goods than passenger transport. Where different systems of goods transport are in competition, it is of vital iynportance to each branch that it should be able readily to adapt itself to the changing needs of industry.