POLITICAL MOV ULD UPSET TRANSPORT CO-OPERATION
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" OPERATING as we do over such a wide field and carrying some 60 per cent of the nation's traffic, there are tremendous opportunities for the railways and our members to collaborate to provide a better service to trade and industry," said Mr. 'C. Robinson. chairman of the Road Haulage Association's Eastern area, on Monday. He was speaking at the Norwich sub-area annual dinner.
Co-operation was not new, he said, but had been an established fact among some groups of operators for many years; they had got together to cope with large blocks of national or local traffic or with specialized goods. What seemed to have happened now was that the growing complexity of industry and the tendency of manufacturers to form combines had made it increasingly advantageous for hauliers to follow their usual practice and adapt the services as exactly as possible to the requirements of the customer.
Mr. Robinson looked forward with nterest to the results of the national committees' discussions on the proposals nit forward in the main resolution at he Brighton conference; there might well le a part which the Association Could )lay in bringing members together, he mid. The best example of this was the uachinery which had been set up to ook into the practical ways in which nivate hauliers and B.R.S. and the .ailways could act jointly. Subjects which had already been discussed ncluded the equipment for road/rail containers destined for liner trains, the ransfer of livestock traffic from rail to .oad and the setting up of inland Customs knots.
Political Context
It was regrettable, said Mr. Robinson. hat these promising developments had
o be considered in a political context; he R.H.A. had no desire to dabble in )olitics but on behalf of its members was
compelled to lake an interest in the transport policy of the Labour Party and to try to ascertain what that policy was likely to be. It had been suggested that British Road Services would be encouraged to expand; they had been given the chance to do this under the last Labour government, when there were severe restrictions on private hauliers, yet during that time the B.R.S. fleet actually declined by about 10 per cent, British Road Services could now expand only at the expense of existing road operators, he said. So far as one could make out it was not alleged that these operatorswere inetlicent—which in any case was simply not true.
There was no doubt, remarked Mr. Robinson, that what the Labour Party had in mind could only tend to disrupt the proposed extensions of voluntary co-operation between private hauliers and with nationalized transport undertakings. This demanded careful attention as the Gene7al Election approached.