Part-time Army drivers 'take jobs' claim
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AN ALLEGATION that locally based soldiers are driving lorries at night for companies in the Medway Towns has prompted a reference to the Ministry of Defence legal department.
Mr John Lee, TGWU official, told Medway Towns Trades Council that off-duty soldiers were used by local companies although there was a shortage of work in the area for regular drivers.
Any work available should go to people on the dole, he argued, adding : "This practice is a sort of undercover thing which we have known about for some time, but now it is starting to come back."
Mr Lee said the soldiers concerned had HGV licences and they would be breaking the law if they drove at night after driving all day for the Army. "After all, the Army people have just had a wage increase, so I do not see that they need the extra money."
A spokesman for the Army at Brompton Barracks said the matter had been referred to higher authorities and a reply was expected soon from the legal department. The spokesman said that seven soldiers at the barracks were employed by a local firm to do shunt haulage, although only five were employed at any one time.
Mr Len LeWarne, RHA spokesman in the Medway sub-area, said he had no knowledge of any Association member being involved as described with soldier-drivers. He wondered whether there was some confusion with the Army's pre-release driver training scheme in which local firms co-operated actively.