1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192 
It's time to act tough
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Barry Proctor reflects on a year of living with the Working Time Directive,
IIIand looks at how implementation is progressing across Europe. Cast your mind back a year ago. Remember all the hullabaloo surrounding the introduction of the Working Time Directive?
I believe we were all predicting the end of the transport industry as we know it. But that hasn't happened, thanks to a sympathetically written set of regulations, with periods of availability (P0As) proving particularly useful. Of course, we've had to re-jig our operations and drivers aren't always available but I bet that drivers are working almost as much as they used to.
On the other hand, admin costs have soared as a result of the extra record keeping. And the fact that Vosa says it is enforcing the regulations with a light touch which in practical terms means not at all renders the issue of record keeping somewhat meaningless, Most operators will be left with a lingering sense of pointlessness when staring at the regulations. Just what have they achieved, other than creating more bureaucracy? As far as I can tell, accident levels haven't been dramatically reduced. and drivers aren't being paid hugely more or working markedly fewer hours. So what is the point apart from tickling the fancy of a few left-leaning Brussels politicians?
Which brings me neatly to the issue of Europe at present nine countries are still to enact Working Time legislation. Among them are some of the usual suspects Italy Spain and Greece for instance but there are also transport and economic powerhouses such as Germany and the Netherlands on the list, not to mention our near neighbours over the Irish Sea. They are currently stealing a march on the UK transport industry by blatantly flouting the regulations.
The whole picture seems incredibly confused. It's high time the UK government and the trade associations brought pressure to bear on the EU to force other countries to comply. It may only have had a slight impact in the UK, but it's yet another nail in the industry's coffin.
"Most operators will be left with a lingering sense of pointlessness when staring at the Working Time regs"