SHOP TALK
Page 87
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An aftermarket supplier told ; Workshop it
I was 201:1 cheaper to get ' a truck load of parts from Munich to Birmingham if he used a UK haulage company instead of a German.
If cheapest is best, UK hauliers are leading the aack. But if our transport inc ustry wants the status it has in Germany there's got a long way to go. With a system akin to our old A, B and C licences, Germany could be accused of protectionism and inflating its transport prices.
But is our system any better? it is, after all, an environment where too often the industry is dragged down to the lowest common denominator; where thousands of owner operators have to drive their vehicles for six days and service them outside their houses on Sundays just to scratch a living. Deregulated markets work well while supply and demand are in reasonable balance. But where supply outstrips demand, as in recession, too many operators are running at a loss—and we all know what that does to maintenance standards.