Memorandum by The Potter Group (RH 03)
THE ROAD
HAULAGE INDUSTRY
With reference to the examination by the sub-committee
into the road haulage industry, we give below our comments in
the same order as in your communication.
A. The role of the road haulage industry
is absolutely essential to the well being of "Great Britain
Ltd". We could not function without it.
Over the last three years it has had enormous
pressure placed on it by large increases in the cost base, due
to more congestion on our roads from the M25 to M6 around Birmingham,
M62 Manchester to Leeds, plus other smaller roads. Bearing in
mind that heavy lorry numbers are reducing, then the congestion
comes from cars. Often the lorry lanes move quicker at peak times
than the outside car lane.
The transport industry is very flexible and
offers their customers a good level of service, at the same time
continually meeting new restrictions (ie more weight restrictions
on certain roads causing detours and more cost) and legislation
(ie chemicals legislation from Europe).
The new commercial vehicle is much more environmentally
friendly, emissions have reduced by nearly 50 per cent in 10 years
(if other industries achieved this sort of saving then it would
be to the benefit of all).
The vehicle suspensions of these trucks and
trailers are now on air which evens out the weight across all
axles.
The noise level of vehicles today has reduced
substantially, particularly now that the speed limiters, fitted
to all new trucks, of 56 mph are in place.
Road haulage should be linked to rail and all
forms of transport to supply end users with the best solution.
B. VED—Fuel. The extra costs imposed
on VED and fuel have had a marked effect on the industry. It has
made the industry look to operate vehicles from outside the UK
to take advantage of both cheaper fuel and VED. The reason for
this is due to the fact that European vehicles are running into
the UK, then undercutting the UK hauliers because their cost base
is much lower.
This cannot be good for the industry or the
Government, who in turn lose a considerable amount of revenue.
VED and fuel duty should be more in line with
Europe, someone has to be the highest but not by the margin the
UK is. It is not fair that UK hauliers and European hauliers can
fill up at Calais and then drive for 1000+ miles in the UK. Consideration
must be given to the fact our roads are toll free at the moment.
C. The regulations which govern the industry
will have to be looked at carefully to make sure that the UK does
not suffer due to our road network eg no other country in Europe
is having quite the congestion problems we are now experiencing.
Traffic examiners will have to be more understanding on drivers
hours if traffic is so slow that drivers are unable to get to
their delivery point due to traffic problems.
The regulations now in place covering the medical
examination is very thorough and means that only suitable applicants
are allowed to drive.
The safety record on HGVs are improving all
the time, the more rigorous safety checks by the Ministry and
the Police have very much reduced "the rogue operator".
Also, a great deal of extra training of the drivers in securing
their loads and, where necessary, having the correct markers for
chemicals displayed on the front and rear of the vehicle, has
created a greater awareness which all goes to improve safety.
The profitability of the industry has dropped
very sharply with a lot of businesses closing down. The industry
is very short of HGV Class 1 drivers, all across the country but
particularly in the South East.
Drivers hours should be controlled and enforced
more at the current legislation rather than spend time reducing
them to 48 hours per week. The trunk road speed limit should be
increased from 40 mph to 50 mph and dual carriageways from 50
mph to 60 mph as with motorways. Speed limiters to remain at 56
mph.
D. The Government's policy to increase VED
and Fuel will undoubtedly have the effect of increasing costs
which will eventually make UK industry less competitive.
Our organisation has been very much at the forefront
of "putting freight back onto rail". However industry
is very cautious about changing over due to rail not being as
flexible and not as reliable. They are also concerned that there
is no real competition (EW&S have 93 per cent of the freight
in the UK), and as a result they are very nervous.
There is now new management at EW&S so perhaps
there will be a change in attitude, particularly to the haulage
industry, who felt extremely threatened by EW&S as they did
not want to deal with a haulier, instead they wanted to go direct
to their customers.
In the long term it would be far better for
the UK if more freight was put back onto rail and that Railtrack
were forced to look at freight.
The current grant schemes in place for rail
tend to benefit the larger customer with large volumes. A system
needs to be put in place to benefit the smaller freight user,
particularly as they need to be encouraged as they will not put
all their freight onto rail, eg small customer 500T per year of
freight requires the logistic company/terminal operator to provide
specialist handling equipment. This is not viable due to the small
tonnage.
However if the operator bought this equipment
and only initially received a small FF grant but as more business
came through the terminal to justify the full grant, they then
should be able to go back to the DETR.
Our view is that there are a lot of smaller
parcels of freight which could be converted to rail.
The rail industry needs to recognise that it
needs to work much closer and gain the trust of the haulage industry
who have the freight and so enable both industries to go forward
to the benefit of each other. They must create a situation of
win for the rail industry and win for the haulage industry, a
win for industry which in turn means a win for UK industry.
Encourage 24 hour operating and allow night-time
deliveries everywhere instead of restricting them. Introduce motorway
tolls for cars and small vans only, allowing buses and HGVs (3.5t
up) free use. Allow HGVs (3.5t up) to use bus lanes in cities
and do not allow taxis to use them.
C D Potter
Chief Executive
February 2000
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