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Rife with greed, UK plc is choking the Life out of the road transport industry
Page 17
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I HAVE TO confess to moments of irritability when I read the papers about how little esteem our industry is held in, and when it becomes obvious that we're being ignored by those whose job it is to ensure a level playing field.
And so it was last week when I read an article on the front page of my local (Kent) newspaper about a police officer who was banging on about now bridges could collapse because of lorries ignoring weight limit signs due to their (poor) sat-nay systems.
Sweeping generalisations such as these tend to tar the whole industry with the same brush of irresponsibility. Please forgive me if I've missed something, but isn't it the job of the police to catch these offenders?
In my opinion. Vosa comes across as neither having the funding, the management or even inclination to catch a cold, but, old-fashioned thing that I am, I expected better from our boys in blue — The Sweeney's Jack Regan, and The Bill's Burnside and Carver wouldn't shirk from such responsibility, so what's changed?
One rule for them...
Further into the newspaper. I found a matter outlined by a local operator about the unfair advantage foreign operators have regarding the cost of diesel fuel.
It's a sad comment that when banks run out of their raw material — money — Mr Brown drops what he's doing to offer banks a great big chunk of 'his' (our) money without hesitation, deviation etc.
When one of our few remaining major industries (and for many counties, a major employer) complain about high fuel tax, unfair competition and the flouting of laws by foreign-registered operators, we're treated to a trip into the long grass where the issue has been consigned to. As an industry, we're left to our fate and (possible) oblivion, I have to conclude from all this that, regrettably. UK plc gets the transport industry that it deserves.
Buyers of transport who are precious about the company car they themselves drive home from the office every night will quite happily cut a transport operator's legs from under him for a few quid off the transport rate, ignoring the extra services, ambassadorial roles and loyalty provided.
They seem happy to engage foreign-based operators with apparently poorly maintained equipment and no ownership of UK environmental necessities, as well as ignoring the chances of their goods stuck down a country path because of a cheap sat-nay system, or the damage the vehicle carrying their goods will cause to the environment, and/or their company reputation.
Red tape
These people are the real villains. second only to a large squad of civil servants heaping an everincreasing amount of guano, in the form of rules, on the heads of UKbased operators with undisguised gusto, while the activities of these foreign-registered operators are put in the "too difficult" tray. in