C-Licensed Vehicles (Hansard, 5 December 1956)

§ 23. Mr. Nabarro
asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what conversations he has had with representatives of industry, including road hauliers, upon suspension of restrictions excluding C-licensed vehicles carrying goods other than for the registered owner, and thus plying, in part, for hire and reward; and, in view of the urgent need to load all road haulage vehicles to capacity and save fuel, whether he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Watkinson
I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. and gallant Friend, the Member for Buckingham (Sir F. Markham), on 29th November, in which I said that the Government has asked licensing authorities to consider sympathetically the issue of a short-term B licence to the holders of C licences who can save fuel by pooling their C-licensed vehicles to carry their own goods.

§ Mr. Nabarro
Yes, but is that measure adequate in the circumstances? Would my right hon. Friend have regard to the fact that there are today about 900,000 C-licensed vehicles, of which nearly half a million are plying on fairly long-distance traffic as opposed to local delivery services, and as most of those long-distance C-licensed vehicles are returning to their bases empty, or nearly empty, does that not represent in the aggregate a vast waste of motor fuel?

§ Mr. Watkinson
I am sure that my hon. Friend, with his usual care, has read the initial statement that I made. If he bas read it, he will have seen that this case is met by the B licences, provided that those concerned can show that they are really going to save fuel and that the goods they are carrying cannot go by rail.

§ Mr. D. Jones
Is not this Question and Answer a clear indication that many thousands of miles are wasted each year by C-licensed vehicles travelling back empty, and is not that a complete justification of our arguments against the 1953 Act?

§ 34. Mr. Collins
asked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what instructions he has given to guide the officers concerned with the allocation of supplementary petrol for goods vehicles on C licences, in assessing the comparative priority to be accorded to vehicles used for nationwide delivery and those normally used for local deliveries.

§ Mr. Watkinson
I will, with permission, circulate in the OFFICIAI. REPORT the criteria which I have asked my regional transport commissioners to bear in mind when considering applications for supplementary rations.

§ Mr. Collins
Can the Minister say whether that is a full report? Considerable doubts have been raised, owing to misleading statements which have appeared. Can the right hon. Gentleman meanwhile confirm that 50 per cent. of the basic ration is not the maximum amount of the supplementary ration which may be allowed for goods vehicles? Can he give an assurance that, having regard to the nature of the goods and the need to prevent unemployment, the allocation will be sufficient, in case of proved need, to ensure that services are maintained?

§ Mr. Watkinson
There is a clear list of priorities, which I am circulating in the OFFICIAL REPORT, AS to need, subject only to the over-riding necessity to save 25 per cent. of total consumption, my regional traffic commissioners will be as generous as they possibly can be.