HC Deb 17 January 1968 vol 756 cc1769-71
35. Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

asked the Minister of Transport what representations she has received from chambers of commerce and other representative bodies in Scotland regarding the Government's proposal for abnormal charges on road haulage; and what reply she has sent.

Mr. Carmichael

We have received letters about the proposed abnormal loads charge and other proposals in the White Paper on the Transport of Freight from the Glasgow and Aberdeen Chambers of Commerce. A number of firms have also written. In our replies we have drawn attention to the undertaking my right hon. Friend gave in the House on 20th December, to consider whether the effects of the charges could be mitigated on firms in development areas.

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that one firm in Scotland has calculated that the movement of a single drum in two parts outwith the railway gauge will cost £8,000, thanks to the abnormal load charges? In view of this, are not the Minister's assurances about reconsideration totally inadequate?

Mr. Carmichael

I do not see what else my right hon. Friend could be expected to do but reconsider in respect of development areas, and this she did very promptly when representations were made to her, but I think the House should realise that the abnormal load charge is some sort of compensation for hold-ups which abnormal loads cause to other industrial traffic also using the highway.

Mr. Lawson

Will the Minister bear in mind that these loads are already under complete Government control, and that merely to charge extra money such as this can only have a negative effect; that it cannot have any effect of turning those loads on to the railways because the railways cannot carry them at the present time?

Mr. Carmichael

I agree that, in some cases, what my hon. Friend says is perfectly true, but I have in the last few weeks myself dealt with a number of actual instances where an application for a licence has been made and where it has been discovered that the loads can quite easily be put on the railways. Part of the reason for the charges is to try to keep these loads off the roads to the greatest extent possible, because, as I said earlier, they do hold up other very important industrial traffic.