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Use your vote or...
Page 3
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Know who your MEP is? No, neither did we... which is rather ironic considering that every day your life as a truck operator is governed by some piece of legislation from Brussels or Strasbourg. Don't believe us? Where do you think drivers' flours, the Working Time Directive, ADR, cabotage and emission regs came from? And before you say -Precisely and they're all things we can do without, has everyone forgotten that if it wasn't for EU rules allowing foreign NOV drivers to work for UK companies, many operators would have struggled to keep going during the last driver shortage? Actually, it's easy to find out who your MEP is. Just click on www.europarLorg.uk/sectioniyour-meps/your-meps
What's not so clear is what any future MEP is likely to do for you. Next week, Commercial Motor readers have the chance to vote for one. And if you don't know who your prospective MEP is, it's time you did your life could well be in their hands.
On page 12 we've listed four parties' key policies on road transport. Read them and make the effort to vote on polling day. Its that important. CM's one regret is that we can't pick and mix policies. If we could, we'd take Labour's idea to reduce diesel duty, the Tory's proposals to make drivers' hours more flexible, the Lib Dem's suggestions to reduce VED to the European minimum and UKIP's plan to implement stricter checks at all UK ports of entry for safety weight, drivers hours, stowaways and smuggled goods. Would that it were that simple, for as with domestic politics (and politicians), you've got to take the good with the not-so-good. Like it or not, we're part of Europe, but when there's fog in the Channel, we're the ones who are isolated. If UK hauliers want a Europe that works for them, we've all got to get a firm grip on it. Still don't care who your MEP is? Brian Weatherley