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"I still have my vehicles in the yard so things

7th September 2000
Page 35
Page 35, 7th September 2000 — "I still have my vehicles in the yard so things
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

change round I could start th firm again but really the wagons are more likely to sit there rusting."

Steve Goulding

NI One firm which is teetering on the edge of giving up is Gloucestershir -based Gouldings of Nailsworth which last year employed five drivers. In January the firm had to reduce these to one, hired someone else in the early spring but in July had to lay both off. Steve Goulding owns th family firm which had been in existence for 53 years and now works a an owner-driver. "There are four words to describe what has happened to us and they are 'no money in it'," he says.

Goulding blames fuel tax, soaring insurance premiums and complicated health and safety legislation which he has to comply with as the main reasons for his problems but also says that there is no heavy industry left to provide work for the hauliers: "The cost of diesel ha really killed this job but we have also been clobbered by a 20% rise I our insurance premiums this year and they are likely to increase by , the same amount next year."

Goulding also blames recently introduced health and safety legislation for increasing the pressure: "If you get a driver putting a tarpaulin _ on a flatbed when the top of the load is more than 2m off the ground you either have to provide a safety rail or a cradle, but what this is meant to be fixed to I don't know. Failure to comply with this act could mean a two-year jail sentence or a heavy fine.

"Similarly, I could be done for tachograph offences," he adds. "Drivers suit themselves if they want to get home but it is me as their employer who will get done if they clock up more than three offences—, they just go off and join another firm. All this bureaucracy is another reason I want to work for myself. I still have my vehicles in the yard so if things change round I could start the firm again, but really the wagon are more likely to sit there rusting."

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People: Steve Goulding
Locations: Gloucestershir

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