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di I have never seen so much rubbish coming out of the
Page 44
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European Commission as the Working Time Directive.
it is totally impossible for an abnormal loads carrier to comply with and here's why.
For me, a typical journey from Scotland to Southampton Docks carrying a heavy wide load in excess of 120 tonnes, 18ft wide and 16ft high can take as long as three days. We load on Monday. On Tuesday morning, the police tell us they'll be ready to escort us after rush hour in the evening. The police are then held up but tell us to be ready for 4am. We are ready but they're short staffed and don't appear until 10 am when we start moving.
After other escort delays, we arrive in Southampton on Friday. During this time the driver totals 60 hours on duty with a driving time of 25 hours and 35 hours waiting time.
According to the WTD, this means my drivers will not be able to work some four weeks out of every 17 weeks. What do I do with them during this time?
Because our vehicles and trailers are all specially built, they require a highly skilled workforce to operate them. Good drivers are hard to find—let alone ones who can operate specialist equipment. How can I be expected to employ more staff to take over when existing drivers have used up their WTD quotient of hours when there is such a driver shortage? And how do I employ them? They would want full-time employment and to be paid to hang around waiting for up to 48 hours in order to be ready to take over from other drivers somewhere in the country who have finished their 48hour week.
It's all very well introducing new legislation, but the government ought to explain how those it affects can follow it.
I am reminded of doctors and hospital staff who work in excess of 70 hours a week and we have waiting lists of two years in length. If their hours were reduced to 48 per week we could add another year onto that waiting list. The problems in the NHS are the same as those in the haulage industry—there are no more skilled staff available.
Also, the regulations will mean more trucks on our roads, not fewer, adding to already dreadful congestion problems.
If we were allowed 48 hours driving time and waiting and loading times were not calculated into that time then the WTD would be just about workable.
The Bible says we should work for six days and rest on the seventh. I am happy to abide by that and no-one has the authority to challenge that. What right does the government have to accept all this WTD nonsense from other countries and dictate to us how to run our businesses?
If we're going to be forced to comply with the new rules, the government could at the very least give us the same fuel tax levels as our European counterparts.
The haulage industry should come out and reject the WTD as plainly unworkable. It is simply not in the interest of the British public or industry as a whole. I never believed I would see the day when government would try to stop people and businesses operating with this kind of unworkable rubbish.
We have all got to have the guts to stand up to this and take any action to get an exemption if our industry is to survive. We should all lobby our MPs, the Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association—and we should lobby for an exemption with one voice,