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11th November 1999
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Motor? Does someone In the industry deserve a pat on the back, or a dressing down? Drop us a line at Commercial Motor, Room 11203, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5A8 or fax us on 01111 652 6969. Alternatively you can e-mail us at Miles.Brignallq_rblco.uk.

WHAT PRICE OUR JOBS?

Last week a call came into our recovery business asking if we could assist a foreign driver who had hit a low bridge and dented his headboard. The driver was escorted to our workshop by the firm he was collecting from and abandoned with us. I inspected the lorry and realised that it was extensively damaged. The driver had hit a low bridge with a 150-high tilt-trailer. The entire tilt frame was twisted; the head board behind the cab was at 45° to the cab and the tilt was torn in several places including the rear top section.

After ascertaining that the driver was Bulgarian, and that he spoke no English, I managed to make him understand that the bill was going to be very expensive and asked him how he was going to pay for the repair. He said it was no problem, he had plenty of money, so we started the repairs.

Not being completely happy about his ability to pay I contacted the Bulgarian embassy in London and explained the situation. The Embassy agreed he said that he had enough money and that he understood the situation.

The repair took two fitters eight hours on a Saturday to straighten out the framework; the tilt had to wait until Monday for specialist repairs.

During the weekend the driver wanted to know what the final bill was going to be. I couldn't tell him exactly because I didn't know until the tilt was repaired, but thought it would be in the region of £300 to £350. At this point the driver nearly had a coronary.

The terms of his employment state that the driver of the lorry is responsible for any repair costs—and our bill would constitute over three months' wages for him. After contacting the embassy again I was told he had 600DM--about £185—and I was told that surely £185 was better than nothing. This is what we received in total for this job. We lost out; the tilt repairers lost out; the driver lost two months' wages. The only ones to benefit were the shipping agents, and Willi Betz, the owner of this vehicle.

The point of my letter is to ask what hope do our own drivers have of competing in the haulage business when certain Continental firms are using drivers from eastern European countries who are willing to work for the equivalent of £100 per month and are collecting goods from the UK and delivering them all over the Continent?

On this particular day the driver was one of 10 Bulgarian drivers, all collecting bags of clay from Cornwall to be delivered throughout the Continent. God knows how many are actually working on this type of contract during the course of a year.

This is taking more work from drivers of a struggling economy such as Cornwall, where it is hard enough to earn a living. Foreign lorries and their drivers should work under the same restraints and pay into a standardised tax system to travel on our roads.

Not many things get me upset, but the sheer injustice of this has infuriated me. How could anyone exploit another human being in the way these drivers are being exploited— and how can it be allowed that these drivers put nothing into our economy when working in our country?

They sleep in lay-bys and bring all their own food with them. They only buy the minimum fuel—none, if possible, in England, because they say it's too expensive. They take everything and pay nothing.

How can our government turn a blind eye to this situation and allow our jobs to be taken by Europe?

Elizabeth Wills, Cornwall Commercials, Truro, Cornwall.


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