Hauliers All waifin on late payment law
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Juliet Parish • Hauliers are furious that they will have to wait at least two years before the Government introduces legislation to make debtors pay interest on late payment if non-statutory initiatives fail.
Small hauliers say late payment is their greatest problem. And research shows late payments to all businesses reached an all-time high this year.
Some non-legally enforceable initiatives to combat the problem are in a competitiveness White Paper, announced last week.
The Department of Trade and Industry is proposing to: • Widen the scope of the small claims procedure; • Make it less costly and lengthy to chase debt through the courts;
• Provide more advice to small firms on credit management;
• Develop a British Standard for prompt payment and to require public companies to state their payment policies.
There is statutory interest legislation in France. Italy and Spain.
I: Rick Ellis, managing director of Newark-based freight forwarding business PBC International, says it has £25,000 overdue. He says hauliers could demand interest when they enter contracts for work. But 'It would only be really effective if every haulier charged interest."
Owner-driver Graham Cordiner, who says he always has around I:3,000 overdue to him, agrees: "We need legislation because we would be laughed at if we demanded interest on our own."