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I. LETTER OF THE WEEK

10th September 2009
Page 17
Page 17, 10th September 2009 — I. LETTER OF THE WEEK
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Keywords : Acronyms, Quango

Stop creating unnecessary costs and start helping those that matter

SO MICK JACKSON of Skills for Logistics (StL) objects to Suttons' Andrew Palmer calling SfL a quango and wants to be known as a company (Ditch quangos, save cash, says haulier', CM 6 August). What's in a name?

Far more relevant is Palmers' observation that the government spends the equivalent of the amount generated through fuel duty, which is helping to cripple the industry, on these unnecessary parasitic organisations. In addition to quangos, the list of expensive groups creating streams of costly legislation and bureaucratic nonsense seem to be endless; are all well-paid and with employment terms and conditions that the average haulage employee only dreams about.

The only growth sectors in the industry are those creating more costs, while those creating revenue and profit are in terminal decline, as administrations and sales figures show.

More recent examples of wasteful costs arc the Driver CPC and the proposed agency driver 12-week rule, aimed at giving the driver more rights (Agency driver rule could slash openings', CM, 13 August). As a West Country haulier pointed out, you can get around this legislation by just replacing the agency driver before 12 weeks expires.

So the time, effort and cost spent on this legislation looks likely to be another waste.

All these seemingly nonproductive, well-paid, groups of people and their political masters must realise that every extra cost they create, whether it be regulatory or through punitive taxation, ultimately has to be paid for out of the rate charged for hauling the goods in the lorry These rates are wafer thin at the moment and are not easy to increase in the present economic climate.

When these people have costed the industry out of existence, who will they legislate for and where will the shortfall in tax revenue be made up?

On a more upbeat point, good luck to Brian Weatherley. I've been reading CM since the 1950s. and, having retired myself, have seen many changes; some good, some not-so-good, and some that are complete nonsense. One constant in all of this, though, is that Brian's Comment page has been enlightening, entertaining, and, above all, always managed to hit the nail on the head.

Thankfully, he won't be departing the industry completely and I am sure that Justin Stanton will carry on the good work.

Mike Davies Via email


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