TROUBLEMAKERS
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e can't help but wonder how lawabiding hailiers will greet the news that young people with a list of motoring offences are to be offered low-cost insurance to get them on the road legitimately. The chief probation officer for Essex says: 'This is not treats for cheats. It's not a soft option. There is discipline in that offenders have to stick to some structure and purpose and reach targets." Her may have a point. But to an operator who's just had a truck sideswiped by on uninsured boy racer it's probably the daftest kind of featherbedding that anyone's ever thought up. Imagine what would happen if a similar approach was suggested for unlicensed operators. Or hauliers who skimped on maintenance. Or owners who let their drivers break every rule in the book on speeding and hours. There would be a deafening howl or protest, and quite right too. Why reword people who live outside the law with concessions to make them live within it? When it comes to dealing with operators who break the rules some Licensing Authorities make great efforts not to revoke licences in a bid to keep miscreants within the 0-licence system, with all its records and obligations.
0 thers, notably senior LA Ronnie Ashford, would far rather make sure that those bad apples who've been slung out of the 0-licence barrel stay out— by impounding their trucks if necessary. CM supports Ashford's no-nonsense approach. There's little point in giving a dodgy operator a second chance when he's blatantly wasted the first. If you've been chucked out you should stay out. It's not as if operators don't know what's expected of them—every 0-licence comes complete with statutory obligations on vehicle servicing, loading and drivers' hours rules. During recent months a couple of LAs have held evening seminars where local hauliers can discuss operational matters in a nonconfrontational atmosphere and be assured of practical, helpful advice. Unfortunately its seems that not every haulier feels a need to attend them If operators can't see a helping hand when it's being extended then they have no right to be surprised when the same hand slaps them down if they break the law. The kid-gloves treatment may be fine for young offenders—though we remain unconvinced—but it's certainly wasted on errant hauliers.