Foster 'stark ch
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A "STARK choice" faced the Foster Committee on goods vehicle licensing, warned Ian Phillips, president of the Freight Transport Association in Manchester on Thursday. It was a question of choosing between an imaginative and liberal approach to licensing, or a return to protectionism where hauliers, railways and environmentalists would fight for their own restrictive measures.
Trade and industry had no such dilemma. It wanted to continue with the exi system, reinforced strengthened at the marl did not want the sy thrown out of the wind favour of a return to car control, tariff control, o of the other options v were being proposed to • tect special and vested ests.
Operators' licensing been an outstanding su and brought trade an dustry a tremendous flexi in the use of transpon immense amount of c bureaucratic rigmarole been done away with.
Society had also bent from the vast improvemE the standards of operatioi safety of lorries whiclsystem had brought abou It was the F'TA's job to out against environmentz the road lobby, the commercial vehicle lobby the protectionist road hat lobby, who wanted the sy changed to suit their vested interests.
If such groups had 1 way, road transport wou put into a strait-jacket costs raised to a compl, unacceptable level.
Four questions for the mittee were posed by Phillips: • What would the about un-licensed op tors? These presum re a significant proporn of the so-called "cowys" and should be a prime get.
What would they do Jut enforcement? There .re too many rules and t enough resources to force them effectively. ,uld we justify more enrcement resources — iich was doubtful — or ould we use the existing ;ources more effectively? Which licensing system re they going to review? le one introduced in 1969, which there was plenty of perience, or the one lich started in January is year?
Would they succumb to e logic of those who anted the system exnded to include a million ht vans? If they did the owboys" would be laughg, for every extra effort ,ent on enforcement in is field meant less checkg in the area which really attered — the heavy !hide.
a comment on the Is vehicle drivers' hours [don, Mr Phillips pointed hat FTA action had saved stry eight years of very nsive legislation. In hard terms it worked out at billion, which was about ame as the value of North oil last year.