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The price of professional drivers
Page 26
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ANDY BOWD ASKS why good drivers can't be found for £6.75 per hour with a "guaranteed 50 hours Monday to Friday" (CM 6 October). What a surprise when this rate is only a matter of pence over the new national minimum wage.
Fifty-hour week?
What happened to the • Tesco drivers on €33,000.. 48 hours week? Oh,!
forgot, PoAs, so nobly fought for by the RHA & FTA, have put paid to that idea.This in a week when The Independent informs us that a Tesco driver is not alone on a salary of £33,000 a year (last Tuesday's survey of incomes). This was read with a slightly disbelieving wry smile.
For myself.l expect an hourly rate in double figures, but then I like to think that I bring Value Added to the job.! can read a map, occasionally fit a quart into a pint pot and have been known to utter the occasional complete sentence in unbroken English.This has to he paid for. Mr Bowd, it seems, would rather save on a few pence an hour and add £500 to his diesel account or spend three times that on repair bills.Twenty years ago requests for a sensible wage were laughed at with comments such as "there are plenty of other drivers that will..." Well, now there aren't. Welcome to the Market Economy Mr Bowd et al.
There are decent drivers out there, it's just that they're now plumbers, electricians, teachers, builders... anything that pays a decent wage, gives a little respect and allows them to sleep in their own bed at night!
Richard Jordan Clevedon, Somerset