MO ATTACK ON GOVT. MEDDLING
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P AND 0 chairman Lord Inchcape has criticised "unnecessary the working of the company's bureaucratic intervention" in road haulage operations.
In his introduction to the P and 0 annual report for 1977, he refers to a Price Commission investigation into P&O Road Services' operations. This, he says, highlights one of the causes of poor productivity in Britain.
"Considerable management time," he says, "is taken up with such investigations," and adds that government should provide industry with a climate in which profits can be earned and investment and employment improved.
Demand for road services was high and the company is satisfied that improvements in safety standards are spreading throughout the industry. As a large mover of bulk chemical products, PORS and its customers are promoting responsible environmental safety attitudes.
There was a great improvement in the dry goods haulage work of P&O Roadways, but the company feels that further improvements will be needed if the UK road haulage industry is to give a proper return on replacement costs of its equipment.