No Enemy But the Winter
Page 64
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Political Commentary By JANU
OF all the committees that have clustered round the Ivory Tower like a protective coat of barnacles, give me, for purely decorative effect, the Winter Transport Central Joint Conference, on which is represented not only the British Transport Commission but practically everybody else with the exception of Father Christmas. The conference was set up in 1951 after a severe winter which had threatened at one time to bring about a complete breakdown in the country's long-distance transport. A series of meetings was held, and 44 district committees came into being.
It would be interesting to know how often, if at all, these committees have met. They are supposed to function whenever a spell of bad weather looks like catching the Commission on the wrong foot. The conference will "advise traders on their transport problems." In return, the local committees are supposed to "examine such questions as the re-routeing of railway traffic, diversions to road and other measures to relieve congestion." Plans were drawn up, we were told, for carrying out all these manoeuvres in the winter of 1951-52, and particular stress was laid on relieving the pressure on railway marshalling yards in Birmingham and London.
The bad weather did not come that winter, nor the winter after, so the 44 committees went on hibernating, and the conference waited, like Charlemagne in his cave, until the call to action. Each year, as autumn droops to its end, the Commission take the conference out of their drapes, blow the dust off the mothballs, and issue a bulletin steeped in the spirit of goodwill and modestly laced with praise for their own achievements.
Arctic Spell Whether the conference have any practical use still remains to be seen. The Commission, like any other operators, are bound to plan differently for winter than for summer, and to bear in mind the possibility of an arctic spell of weather. In coping with an emergency of this kind, the Commission, again like any other operators, would hope for, and no doubt receive, some co-operation from their customers.
Only the Commission would hit upon the idea of taking the customers into partnership, so that they would in a measure have to share the responsibility if anything went wrong. "Here shall he see no enemy but winter and rough weather" would be an appropriate, motto for the joint conference, with no more than a suggestion that . winter is the invention of the opponents of nationalization, who have captured the Socialist Proserpine and hauled her down to a free-enterprise Hell. . _ .
The latest bulletin from the conference, described as a "review of inland transport.prospects for the coming winter," opens with a tribute to the railways, which have carried so much more iron ore, coal and steel this year than last, and expect to maintain the progress. On the other hand, the Inland Waterways "have a margin to spare," and British Road Services "are working well within their capacity."
This ingenious device for making a virtue out of necessity may be compared with a remark in the Commission's report for 1951 that, during the previous winter, B.R.S. "bad to deal with unusually heavy traffics and particularly small consignments at a time 1.34 when the process of organizing the acquired business was still incomplete." With the completion of tl process, B.R.S. have shed their surplus traffic, and no present rows of empty vehicles in the hope that a hal winter will fill them.
This year, "the conference agreed that given norm winter weather all traffic requiring rail transport cou be accepted and moved currently." Customers will t reassured who were getting ready to declare a state siege, and they need not fear that the chill and numbir grip of free enterprise will freeze the Commission road vehicles in their tracks. Co-operation betwee road and rail services "is assured as under tt programme agreed with the Road Haulage Dispos Board, the actual handing over of _road vehick purchased will not begin until February, 1954."
The statement ends with a homily to the custome "All concerned in industry, commerce and agricultur are to be asked to continue their close co-operation wit those responsible for the Commission's transpo: services, and are being reminded that users can hel to make the best use of public transport by regulatin the forwarding of traffic to match ability to accept i by loading vehicles to capacity, by ordering only th number needed, and by dealing quickly with vehicle at terminals."
Transport Cut Would any but a nationalized organization dare t lecture their customers in this way? Perhaps too man traders in the past have behaved too arrogantly uncle the delusion that the transport operator is there to fi in with their requirements rather than the other wa round. Only the other day an ingenious expert expIaine that transport was like electricity, in that it could nc be stored. From this it should be only a step to th transport cut, and posters appealing to all and sundry ti stop wasting that truck. Once get the man-in-the-stree to acknowledge that his time is his own, but the Corn mission's time belongs to the nation, and we may expec never to see a lorry or a bus that is not filled to capacity Would any but a nationalized undertaking think ti kill the bogey of winter by setting up a committee? I would be foolish to ignore or underestimate the diffi culties. Every industry finds them, and transport i particularly vulnerable. Even in "normal winte weather" the drivers of trunk vehicles need endurancâ– and courage to complete the day's work, or the ever tougher night's work. They deserve everything that car be done to lighten the task, either by better organizatior or by co-operation from the customer, who will ofter go out of his way to help by, for example, acceptini delivery outside his normal working hours.
The call to arms from the joint conference leave the impression that it is a wonder the Commission eve] gets through the winter at all. The conference " considered it encouraging that when fog in the nortt recently caused some local difficulties, these were effectively overcome." The railways and the road operators have done as much for more winters than they care to count, and for the most part the thanks of the individual customer have been thought sufficient reward. The Commission are right in trying to keep in close touch with the user, but it is questionable whether they can best do this by interposing the Winter Transport Conference as a medium.