TAAL's are certainty
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HERE IS no doubt that transport managers licensing will be itroduced in Britain — but who it will apply to and how the /stem will work has still to be sorted out.
Mr R. J. E. Dawson, head of the road freight division at the epartment of Transport, spelt out the inevitability of TML's at ke National Guild of Transport Managers conference (see also ews Extra, page 20).
Unlike the hours law ?.quirements and the tachoraph issue which was inhered when Britain joined Eurpe, the Government had ositively supported the TML ebate in the Council of Min;ters. Despite the certainty of its eventual application Mr Dawson pointed out that there are still many points to be resolved. For example, should its application be confined to the hire and reward haulage sector of the industry as intended by the EEC or should we in Britain retain the integrity of our "0" licence system and consequently also apply the scheme to the own account sector. Further, should we adopt the EEC suggested six tonnes minimum cut-off or should we apply the scheme to the whole range of our "0" licencing system which applies to vehicles of upwards of 3.5 tonnes gross.
Mr Dawson said there is also the difficult question of maximum weights and dimensions for vehicles. The original six EEC members took 10 years to reach a provisional agreement only to find that none of the three new member states, Britain, Eire and Denmark were prepared to accept this when they joined.
In the past four years there has been little sign of movement on the matter even though there is general acceptance that this is something which ought to be resolved.
When pressed by a delegate who was anxious to see increased weights for container carrying vehicles, Mr Dawson reminded the conference that in 1972 the House of Commons voted very decisively against any increase in vehicle weights and dimensions.
British operators were not alone in pressing for increased weights. Mr Dawson said that other EEC member countries were equally concerned to see Britain raise its limits to enable vehicles from their respective countries to travel freely to Britain without having to run with reduced payloads.