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Enough is enough
F''' let me thank MP Gwyneth Dunwoody and her colleagues for the excellent Transport Select Committee report and all the hard work and long hours they put into it. Having read both parts of the report it is easy to spot why nothing will be done to implement it. Quote: p170 of the minutes of evidence given to the committee, point 12 of a memorandum from Transport 2000 by Dr John Whitelegg: "concluded that lack of enforcement amount to 20% higher costs."
Any government of any colour would
Greedy hauliers
Jam a self-employed HGV driver, town an 8x4 ERF tipper which is two years old and my fourth new vehicle in 13 years, I pay myself a good wage, along with HP and running costs, etc. I've got no overloading, speeding or hours convictions so it can be done on tipper rates which I know are not good. So I'm afraid it's greedy hauliers who will not pay fair wages. They can find an extra £1,000 per year for diesel after a budget but nothing for a driver, the most important piece in the jigsaw. J M Sturdy
Thornaby, Cleveland
Catch 22 for drivers
T passed my LGV test in i September first time, no problems, paid for by myself.
have applied for various driving jobs and joined driving agencies but the feedback I get is not enough experience". Well, how can anyone get experience if they don't get the chance to not even think about putting up haulage rates by 20%. Imagine what that would be to inflation. With dery prices up 15% and set to rise again in the budget it is time to do something ourselves.
How about taking a week off? All at the same time? How about on budget week? I reckon by the time we got to Tuesday a state of emergency would be in force. With any luck we might have a vote of confidence and if we are lucky this god awful government would be on the way to history.
Frederick A Agombar
Cromer, Norfolk.
drive? How did all the haulage contractors get their experience? Somebody somewhere must have given them the chance to drive. All 1 want to do is to prove that I can do the job as well as the next man, as do many others in the same position as me, Glen McNally
Norwich.
Lack of home supporters
In CM 24-30 October you state that British hauliers spent more than £1 billion on foreign trucks while British manufacturers struggled to fill their order books.
In another part of the magazine you say "hauliers in the West Midlands owe a lot to the motor industry" This may be so but one would not think it judging from that article in which all the companies featured ran almost exclusively Swedish and German trucks.
If British haulage relies on custom from British industry it appears that British indus try can expect no support in return.
David Jones Leeds.
et 's hope the RHA's plan 1._..to blacklist distribution centres that make hauliers wait (CM 7-13 Nov ) doesn't backfire. Before we know it, it could end up being the hauliers who complain (or are believed to complain) that end up on a blacklist. Jeremy Lowe
Blackpool
No dispute over training register
For the information of Mr G Williamson of Leicester (letters, CM31 October-6 November), I would say there is no dispute between the Driving Standards Agency and the Road Transport Industry Training Board over the proposed voluntary register of LGV driving instructors.
I would recommend Mr Williamson looks at the letter from the managing director of Trent Training (CM 24-30 October) outlining the position and the need for this voluntary register. Clearly, everyone would like legislative control of instructor standards but in the present political circumstances so close to an election this cannot be achieved and a start has to be made with the industry/DSA control system which is now proposed.
Commercial Motor has rightly long supported action to control LGV standards and a good start has been made with this scheme. J Coates,
Leicester