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HARD SHOULDER
Page 9
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The thin blurred line
People say the shadow of the WED is receding, unenforced, diluted an manageable. So why then is Mr X still filled with fear, uncertainty and doubt?
Will 2005 be a real cracker— or yet another damp squib packed in a rather tatty box full of ever more ridiculous legislation that the transport industry is expected to sort through, year on year, decade on decade, until suicide or retirement takes a hold?
This should be the year that efficient transport companies of all sizes will be able to command the prices and conditions that allow a fair and reasonable margin, given the risks associated with running trucks. After a year of uncertainty involving rocketing fuel prices, driver shortages and impending legislative changes, we should be well prepared for some hard-nosed negotiation with our clients. When your back's to the wall, the resolve hardens with remarkable alacrity.
Or does it? At a recent meeting of like-minded hauliers, I was shocked to hear the diverse opinions expressed on critical issues, such as drivers' pay, rates, and the VVTD. Has nobody done their homework? Is it not crystal-clear that for ar given set of circumstances, after 23 March this year a driver is going to work fewer hours for the same amount of money?
To make matters worse, enter our old friends VOSA as enforcers of the VVTD. With an unlimited fine or imprisonment on the menu for transgressors, the outlook is bleak. VOSA is not averse to treating truck operators with the venom norma6 reserved for serial killers and paedophiles, so when I see their "senior policy advisor" stating that they will not be "rigorous" ir implementing the new rules, my suspicions are aroused. Has anyone tried appealing against a VOSA decision lately?
Call me old-fashioned, but I really thought that when a law is passed, one should attempt to obey it. So how can we have the enforcers publicly stating that they will not be enforcing it? Either it's the law or it's not. Simple. You can't have a half-way house.
"How can the enforcers publically state that the not enforce the law? Eit the law or it's not. Simp