Haulier journey CALL FOR TRAKBAK CHANGES
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plans shelved
by Juliet Morrison • International livestock hauliers will not after all be forced to draw up detailed export journey plans following a Government Uturn this week.
On Monday the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food modified a rule which would have made hauliers responsible for submitting journey plans for exporting livestock (CM 19-25 Jan). It bowed to pressure from trading standards officers by making consignors responsible for drawing up the plans for the haulier to follow.
The decision strengthens calls for a full review of the livestock transport rules which came into force on Monday (23 January).
Trading standards officers feared that the original plan would have weakened their enforcement powers says Graham Godbold, divi sional trading standards officer for Shropshire: "It would have meant all we could get at is the haulier when a lot of the time he is not the one controlling the export. Under the established order we could get at anybody involved in the journey."
But Godbold believes the amendment does not go far enough and is optimistic that MAFF will now consider other changes to the order. He particularly wants a definition of when a journey should be considered to begin and end.
North Yorkshire county trading standards officer Gordon Gresty agrees with this view: "The order needs a complete review, taking into account what the enforcement authorities say, as soon as possible. The amendment is a knee-jerk reaction to an order that should have been postponed."