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e welcome the news that aspiring inter national hauliers are going to have to meet tougher entry requirements and will conse quently need "loadsamoney" to get their 0-licences. The latest Eurocrat proposal (see opposite) is that international operators should have a guarantee for up to 212,500 for each vehicle before they can cross the Channel. This "financial protection rule", says the Commission, is designed to regulate entry to an industry that constantly suffers from overcapacity. The "knight of the road" image of the lorry driver may have disappeared from the public's perception long ago, but there is still an element of hopefuls who see, through rose-tinted spectacles, that owning their trucks would be the answer to their dreams. All too often these would-be hauliers fail to consider the harsh realities of running a business: the fact that you have to keep accounts, maintain your vehicles and pay the bills— usually before payment for work has come in. Stories of small hauliers going bankrupt, calling in the receiver or being swallowed up by bigger fish, fill Commercial Motor's news pages at regular intervals. But saying the new rules will not threaten smaller hauliers is wrong—nearly 80% of the 8,000 companies holding international licences run fewer than 10 vehicles. Tougher entry rules to the industry are long overdue and rules have to be enforced. At the moment the requirement for Ecu3,000 per vehicle is only checked if an international operator comes before an LA when applying for a new 0-licence. But what's to stop Joe Soap International borrowing the money from his mum and showing his boosted bank statement to the LA before returning the money the next day? And why restrict this requirement to international operators? 1905-1995
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Why does distance appear to matter so much? Long-distance operations are rigorous but domestic urban work can be equally demanding in other ways. Any moves that help raise standards should be welcorned by those operators who are professional, hard working and lucky enough to survive. Now the European Commission should go the whole hog and make tougher entry requirements national law in every member state.