Norris looks at consignor liability
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• Roads Minister Steven Norris is considering new legislation on consignor liability on the lines of the law in the Irish Republic.
But he warns that there have been problems with the Irish system, particularly with partloads, where responsibility can be unclear.
Norris was speaking at the launch of Road Haulage and Freight Transport Associations' consignor-carrier-consignee accord, designed to improve the business relationship between hauliers and customers, and to help prevent problems like overloading.
The RHA and FTA plan to give hauliers and their clients a better understanding of each other's problems. Their accord will also seek to clarify the legal position of all those in the supply chain, particularly in relation to overloading.
Hauliers will be encouraged to ring if a delivery is likely to be late; customers could be asked to provide better waiting areas to ease deliveries.
The accord was the result of the work of a year-long study which included ICI, Tesco and Econofreight.
Norfolk haulier Nigel Jolly Transport was recently convicted of overloading after a customer failed to load its truck correctly. The company has welcomed the accord: "Anything that would prevent it happening again has got to be a good thing," it says.