Mersey surcharge after driver assault
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NATIONAL express parcels company has added a delivery surlarge for Merseyside, to cover the cost of providing additional icurity on vehicles operating in the area.
Nottingham-based Plackett's )cided earlier this year to emoy second men on all vans defering on Merseyside, after one its drivers was assaulted hen attempting to make a derery.
According to the company, the iver was alerted when an inder climbed climbed into his cab, and, ter ejecting him, was assaulted ( two others who then made f with packages from the van. le driver's glasses were broken the incident.
It has since increased its defery rates by two codes on its rates scale, to cover the cost of providing a mate on each vehicle, but a spokesman stressed to CM that this still represents "only pence" on top of the previous rates, and said this was certainly not as high as 20 per cent, as some had suggested was the case.
He said that Plackett had to remain responsible for the safety of its customers' goods and of its drivers, and it would apply a similar surcharge if similar security arrangements are needed elsewhere in Britain.
Plackett's action prompted Merseyside Chamber of Commerce to draw chief constable Kenneth Oxford's attention to the problems affecting delivery vehicles in certain parts of the area, and to ask the police to bear traders' problems in mind when reviewing its foot patrol policy.
The police have praised Plackett's action in providing its own security in an area which comes third in the vehicle security crime league after London and, ironically, Nottingham.
The Chamber of Commerce says it accepts that Plackett must make its own judgments on such matters, although it is disappointed that this increases the cost of transport in the area.
It has pointed out that police efforts have already deterred vandals in many cases, and says that it hopes that future vigilance will help turn the tide.
Some other operators are known to have refused to deliver at all in some parts of Liverpool, but National Carriers, which also uses second men, says it has no intention of imposing a surcharge as it feels it would be unfair to treat one part of the country in isolation.