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Page 9
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Mr X wonders just how long it will be before road transport is given the priority and attention is deserves by our would-be leaders.
Are you looking forward to life after the Election? To a life where promises and assertions actually mean something? To a life where politicians might say things they believe in rather than simply for grabbing votes? Come to mention it, I haven't noticed our industry being singled out for much vote-grabbing attention so far, and there's only a couple of weeks to go.
It really is such a shame that an essential service, namely road transport, is given so little credibility at top government levels. What is t that makes overpaid ministers, like David Jamieson, for example, talk down to the assembled ranks of businessmen and captains of industry at an FTA conference? So what if his father was a Welsh truck driver, it's not relevant in that context. There is no connection between operating a fleet of trucks successfully and physically driving them. We may empathise with the drivers, but that is all.
It is high time road transport was given the priority it warrants and deserves. Without being alarmist, where would the UK be without us? We deliver every mortal thing you can Imagine We underwrite the terrible, fragmented rail system. We deliver economically, largely on time, safely, and with a flexibility that is the envy of Europe. And we do all this on the smallest prof it margins imaginable, in the face of burgeoning legislation and overwhelming ministerial apathy. We are the UK's forgotten industry.
Road transport needs someone to take up cudgels on our behalf. Whoever wins on 5 May must make the survival and furtherance of the British road transport Industry absolute top priority, 'Helpful' legislation such as the selective lifting of some speed limits, and the use of bus lanes, must be encouraged. The big issues of taxation of fuel and road user charging should be publicly debated. These issues, and many, many more, await the incoming Minister for Transport, and I for one hope, this time, he or she is up to the lob in hand.
"Without being alarmist where would the UK be without us? We deliver every mortal thing you can imagine."