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The Olive Branch?
Page 45
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DEMANDS by Socialists that the Government should halt the disposal of British Road Services are so frequent in Parliament that they seldom attract interest. There was, however. a ring of sincerity in a plea made last week by Mr. James Callaghan. His speech was free from the usual political bombast, although his statement that most of the country disagreed with the dissolution of B.R.S. cannot be supported by the result of the General Election.
His argument was that the Government had achieved their main objectives by allowing dispossessed hauliers to return to the industry and by lifting the 25-mile radius restriction. Little more was to be gained by continuing to break up a profitable State enterprise.
Peace the Aim He based his plea on the need for peace in transport. That is the aim of everyone concerned in the industry, but the means to be employed to secure it are less clear-cut.
It is important to know whether Mr. Callaghan was speaking "off the cuff ", as an individual, or whether he was making an offer of compromise on behalf of his party. Back-bench opinion on both sides of the House of Commons is not hostile to the possibility of compromise, although the Government are unlikely to place a time limit on disposal. If the Labour Party would guarantee to abandon the policy of renationalization and, still more important, undertake not to try to extend State enterprise by even more vicious means, there would be scope for an inter-party agreement on disposal.
It should now be possible to assess with reasonable accuracy the number of B.R.S. vehicles for which there is unlikely to be a demand. That quantity might be added to the 3,500 vehicles which the Transport Act, 1953, allows B.R.S. to keep, and the balance might continue to be offered in the most attractive form until all were sold. Alternatively, the possibility of setting up jointly owned road haulage companies on B.E.T. lines might be investigated. The Government occupy a powerful enough position to be able to think along these lines without losing prestige. There would also be no question of sacrificing principles.
Last year 11,816 B.R.S. vehicles were purchased by hauliers, and sales this year have continued at a similar rate. The industry cannot, however, go on much longer at this pace. The gross book value of the State road haulage undertaking's vehicles at the end of last year was about £47m. This figure covers 25,442 operational vehicles and a relatively small number of additional tractors, trailers and ancillary vehicles.
By this reckoning, the 16,500 vehicles still awaiting disposal have a book value of about £30m. To that amount must be added the value of the special A licences that accompany them— probably not less than £15m.—and an incalculable sum for premises The result is a capital commitment of dramatic proportions. Unless the road haulage industry can guarantee to meet it, there is no alternative to a revision of the basic fleet which B.R.S. are permitted to retain.
B.R.S. Main Objective This week The Commercial Motor asked Gen. Sir Brian Robertson, chairman of the British Transport Commission, to outline the plans of B.R.S. He was reluctant to reply, but when pressed he said that their main objective was to give a good national trunking service. It is clear, therefore, that the State is to be the competitor mainly of free-enterprise trunk hauliers and that a large field will remain for private enterprise.
Sir Brian was confident of the ability of B.R.S. to serve industry "and of their particular usefulness as a complement to British Railways." Freeenterprise hauliers are no less sanguine of their ability to meet competition from any quarter, even if B.R.S. have a larger fleet than was originally intended. Sir Brian is worried by the long-term loss of traffic to the railways as a result of the recent rail strike and his anxiety is a measure of the efficiency of road transport, irrespective of its ownership.