SHOP TALK
Page 89
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• From looking at the newspapers and the impending legislation for vehicle maintenance and the haulage industry you get a story that doesn't add up.
A truck driver in a recent court case was reported as only having one eye and never having passed a driving test. Yet the DVLA has taken truck drivers' licences away because they had a fit when they were a child.
Paintshops using over two tonnes of solvent per year will have to register with the local authority. But what of the hundreds of smaller paintshops? They use many tonnes of solvent per year collectively but will not be covered. They can carry on in their traditionally wasteful ways.
We are in the position of over regulation and under enforcement. Look at the EPA. You need a degree in official speak to understand it.
What is needed is legislation written in simple language that is applicable to all. We need Eurowide standards for disqualification from driving because of ill health or disability, exhaust emissions, maintenance standards and solvent control measures. Not the current situation where those who lag behind get all the financial benefits.
Is the European Commission listening? It has listened to national interests, big business and pressure groups, it is now time for it to listen to common sense. So let's move forward on safety and environmental issues but let's do it together.
Editor; Colin Sowman 061-652 3680
Advertising manager: Paul Petty
081-652 3665
Publishing director: James 13Lazeby 081-652 3338 Workshop is the commercial vehicle service and maintenance magazine published monthly as a supplement to Commerriol Motor by Reed Business Publishing,
Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SNI2 5AS (Telephone: Mil -652 3500), typeset by LazerType and printed by Capricorn Group PLC, Basildon, Essex. © Reed Business Publishing, 1992.
Facsimile machine 081-652 8971. Telex 892084 Reed BPG.