'hers are made to feel like secolldflass citizen!
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hen trucks are held up for hours at supermarket distribution centres it is understandable that hauliers become angry and frustrated.
Idle lorries cost money. On many occasions I have had to use two lorries to do one day's work because a driver has not come back from his morning delivery in time to do the afternoon one. Trying to plan a week's work for a truck knowing full well that the driver faces these delays is a nightmare.
Despite widespread complaints in magazines such as Commercial Motor the queues continue, and the supermarket chains and the distribution companies which run the centres appear to be doing nothing to stop them.
Many of the supermarket bosses have tried to blame the delays on hauliers, claiming that they arrive late. In a few instances this may be true, but what they don't realise is that hauliers often arrive late because another warehouse has delayed their trucks earlier in the day. The knock-on effect can sometimes last all week.
I can see that the distribution centres have their own problems. They have to deal with hundreds of lorries carrying thousands of tonnes of different goods each day; to unload, check and store everything must be a mammoth task.
But my sympathy for them is limited. It is extremely annoying that many warehouses have separate entrances for their own trucks and these do not encounter any hold-ups. Maybe if their drivers spent a week queueing with the rest of us their bosses would be more sympathetic.
My drivers report that supermarket distribution centres are often unfriendly places where they hardly get a smile from the staff and where drivers are made to feel like second-class citizens.
Sometimes the distribution centre bosses are so unaware of our problems that they allocate hauliers the same delivery times, compounding delays.
Most of the distribution centres were purpose built for the job and the people in charge must have drawn up a plan for the efficient unloading before the first truck ever drove through the gates.
So what went wrong? I call on the supermarkets bosses, their hauliers, and anyone else who thinks they might be able to help solve this costly problem to get together and sort it out.
I understand that in these hard times all employers, including supermarket chains, have to control the number of staff they employ. However, I would ask the supermarkets not to cut their warehouse staff levels at the expense of hauliers.
Somebody needs to make supermarket distribution centres happier places to deliver to.
The supermarkets should not forget that hauliers may work for them Monday to Friday, but on Saturday and Sunday their families and friends become y the customers.