THE RIGHT TO KNOW
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• "Be sure your sins will find you out." So says the good book, and judging by two stories in this week's headline news pages it's difficult to argue otherwise. The first concerns that most careless of calamities, bridge bashing.
After years of suffering from trucks hitting its beloved bridges British Rail is now taking tougher action against the bashers. To help highlight the problem it is teaming up with the Department of Transport to put more pressure on operators and drivers to know the height of their vehicles. Surely it cuts both ways. If BR and the local authorities want hauliers to stop bashing their bridges there are three things they have to do. First, they've got to ensure that every bridge in their manor has conspicuous signs in both metric and imperial measurements. Second, any time they introduce a diversion it shouldn't send 4.2m high artics under a 3.8m bridge. And finally, when they resurface the road under the bridge they should re-check the clearance.
The second story is more serious, involving police attempts to prosecute drivers for old tachograph offences committed on the Continent. To do this they are using the Forgeries Act: whether they succeed will depend on a forthcoming test case.
These stories may appear to be unrelated but they share a common theme—the need to keep a firm control over what drivers get up to when they are away from the depot. While there is no suggestion that the hauliers in these cases were anything but diligent, they serve to remind us that knowing what's happening isn't just sound business practice, it's a legal requirement. Failing to keep a firm grip on he reins could land the haulier up before the beak shoulder to shoulder with an erring driver. Ignorance is no defence, especially when you're the boss.