§ Mr. Nabarroasked the Minister of Transport what sum of money in respect of compensation for road haulage assets acquired under the Transport Act, 1947, remains outstanding for payment to former operators; and what financial arrangements he proposes to make to enable these creditors to employ the sums owing to them for acquisition of road haulage sold by the Road Haulage Disposal Board under Section 3 of the Transport Act, 1953.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydCompensation ascertained and outstanding at 30th April, 1953, amounted to £3.2 million. This included a substantial amount of agreed compensation which at that date required confirmation of the Transport Arbitration Tribunal but which, in accordance with Section 32 (3) of the Transport Act, 1953, no longer requires such confirmation and is now in course of being paid. It also includes agreed compensation either in course of payment or awaiting completion of formal agreements with the transferors and payments on account offered to but not yet accepted by transferors.
112WThe total amount of the Commission's outstanding liability cannot yet be determined. In some cases determination by the Transport Arbitration Tribunal of the amount payable is required; in others final agreement between the Commission and the transferor has yet to be reached. There is no statutory provision which would enable the Commission to offset sums payable for compensation, which for the most part is payable in Transport Stock, against consideration for the sale of transport units or shares under the Transport Act, 1953.