AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

RDC queues are hitting recruitment

11th October 2007
Page 28
Page 28, 11th October 2007 — RDC queues are hitting recruitment
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

CAN SOMEONE TELL me where the British Retail Consortium hangs out? It can't be anywhere in the real world.

I've just had a really good laugh at its comment that it is "not aware of any problems with deliveries at RDCs," just as I've been informed that four of my vehicles with 10am.1 I am and 12pm delivery slots at Sainsbury's Elstree RDC are all facing an eight-hour wait before they can be tipped — the 8am truck was lucky he got away after three hours.

Now I expect the men/women at the British Retail Consortium get home after a 391/2-hour working week and tell their partners what a hard time of it they have had.! wish they would spend some time with the people who really keep this country going — they would find their weekly total of hours at work would be exceeded by Wednesday.

Here in the West Country, as elsewhere, we are having tremendous problems with recruiting drivers. It's not the money, they get plenty of thatand it's not the trucks. we specify Mega Actroses and replace them regularly. It's what they have experienced today at Sainsbury, and every other day too. Having driven the 31/2 hours or so to reach Elstree, they then have had to spend a brain-numbing eight hours sat in their cabs with very little in terms of comfort supplied by the RDC.And when they arc tipped and probably out of time they will be told to leave the site. It's this scenario that is helping to deter would-be drivers from joining the industry.

And what about the four customers I've let down because I can't get the trucks to them for their return loads? Does Sainsbury or the British Retail Consortium care about that?

It's all very well making it more difficult to attain LGV licences with the introduction of the driver CPC. But if this wholesale use of our equipment and staff as free overspill warehousing by the retail industry is not brought under control there won't be any prospective drivers wanting to take it, and we'll never get the opportunity to make the job more acceptable to them in terms of the hours they are expected to work.

Robed Wilcox Massey Wilcox Transport Chi lcompton, Avon

Tags


comments powered by Disqus