'Foreign' tippers attacked by RHA
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"FOREIGN" hauliers engaged in shifting 3,000 tons of fish from Plymouth quaysides are giving the road haulage industry a bad name.
The claim comes from Devon and Cornwall Road Haulage association area secretary, Brian Elliott, who told CM that tippermen from other parts of the country, who answered the call to help clear the fish, are using unmarked vehicles and spilling water and fish on Devon roads.
Mr Elliott said he had followed two vehicles one Sunday and found them to be leaking large amounts of water. "On another occasion I stopped one and was drenched in about five tons of fish water" he said.
Mr Elliott also alleged that 20 tons of wet fish had been dropped on the A38 and that the driver had made off before the police arrived.
The area secretary said local operators had looked at the job of carting the fish away, but he suspected that the rates were too low to make it worth while.
"There are no large tippers in this area" he said. "Operators have not been making enough in recent years to get rid of their four-wheelers and buy large new vehicles. The situation in Cornwall could now be described as desperate," he added.
Denial
Mark Paine, speaking for Amoric Freight International of Poundsgate, Devon, who is organising the fish run, denied Mr Elliott's allegations.
He said that all vehicles went to a draining park within Plymouth Docks and stood for up to two hours allowing the water to run off.
He also said that only a small amount of fish had fallen from the lorry on the A38 and that the operator had reported it immediately to the police.
Mr Paine agreed that there were no local vehicles on the long haul because there were none large enough. He said that customers would only allow 15-ton and above carrying capacity machines on the quayside, and they were being supplied by firms in Bristol, the Midlands and the North East.
Each round-trip took two days, provided the contractor was not back-loading, and he said the rate was well in excess of £5 a ton.
The 3,000 tons each week, amounting to about 30 loads a day, will last until the end of March and thereafter will begin to tail off, added Mr Paine.
Since CM first broke the story of the fish bonanza on January 14 we have been receiving inquiries at this office. Amoric's telphone number is Poundsgate 233.