FEAR IS THE KEY
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IIIII Francis Bacon hit the nail on the head when he said of the law "Severity breedeth fear". But it also breeds compliance. When it comes to road transport there's not enough of either. Too many hauliers aren't afraid of being caught, and are not frightened of the punishment if they are.
From next month they may learn the meaning of fear, because heavier penalties are being introduced that will hit dodgy hauliers where it hurts most — in their pockets (see news pages 4-5).
And not before time. Commercial Motor has long argued that the only way to make hauliers uphold the law is to ensure they're frightened of the consequences of breaking it. Unfortunately the application of the law has been patchy, to say the least.
It's no good LAs talking tough and acting soft. During 1991/92 exactly 362 0-licences were revoked out of a total of 137,960: that's 0.2% of all 0-licence holders.
That figure either means that all's well with the world or a lot of operators are getting away with murder. As we have no trouble filling the Legal News pages in CM each week, we think we know which is more likely.
The sooner LAs stop saying "I'll give you one more chance" and start saying "You've had your chance and blown it" the sooner errant hauliers will start toeing the line. Until then the Department of Transport will have to spend a damn sight more on enforcement than it does now. If the DOT really wants to get rid of
cowboy operators then it ought to go gunning for them. And fear makes for great ammunition.