11.
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I do not think that there is any force in the suggestion which was made at the Home Affairs Committee meeting that the rejection of the Commission's claims under these heads could at any time be used to support a claim for a subsidy. Quite apart from the fact that the present manage- ment of the Commission is strongly opposed to asking for a subsidy, the amounts involved are very small in comparison with the £600 millions annual turnover of the Commission. Only £2.8 millions out of their total constitutes a charge on revenue and that is itself a once for all charge.
12. I regard my proposals for the winding up of the levy as a lump sum settlement. If the 1953 Act principles are preserved, they are very slightly too favourable to the Commission. On the other hand they do not concede its claim for a revision of the 1953 Act provisions, The Bill as a whole is, of course, very much in the interests of the Commission and I have no hesitation in commending the above-mentioned solution of the levy problem to my colleagues.
13. The Home Affairs Committee also discussed the desirability of including in the Bill a provision to cure the anomalous situation which admittedly exists in respect of the disposal of contract vehicles. The present position is that under an agreement made between the Disposals Board, the Commission and the Road Haulage Association, the problem of the disposal of the Commission's vehicles which operate on contract hire is being resolved as follows. Existing contracts are terminated in accordance with their terms and the other party is given an opportunity to enter into a new contract either with the Commission or a private haulier. But as under the 1953 Act the Commission's vehicles have in any event to be disposed of, in the event that the Commission rather than the private haulier obtains the new contract, the Commission are bound to purchase a new vehicle.
14. This state of affairs is subject to the obvious criticism that it is anomalous to compel the Commission to buy a new vehicle to carry out a contract previously operated by one they already have. The Commission's vehicles of course do not go out of circulation but are bought and operated by somebody else.
15. The difficulty about bringing this state of affairs to an end is that it involves legislating to increase yet further the number of vehicles to be retained by the Commission. The number involved is uncertain since the termination of the contracts is a continuing process. It might, however, involve some 1,500 vehicles. The Home Affairs Committee asked me to discuss the matter further with the Road Haulage Association who are a party to the agreement. It has not been possible for me yet to do so as they have been away at their annual conference, I am, however, very much impressed by the political risks of legislating for further retentions by the Commission, particularly so if such legislation involved imposing a breach of an agreement made with the Road Haulage Association. Also, any such action would be a further direct reversal of the Cabinet's decision of 14th July.
Ministry of Transport and Civil
Aviation, W.1.
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14th October, 1955.
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