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WTD is just a job for the boys
Page 26
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I HAVE BEEN following your recent series of articles regarding the Working Time Directive and have found the opinion of your contributors astonishing.
First,1 believe that all of this is just a job for the boys, and when you see the amount of training courses that are on offer it just reaffirms my opinion.
Second, with regard to training courses,I am puzzled as to what they consist of and what value they have.
After all, it is well documented that the government has yet to issue any definitive guidelines on certain aspects of the WTD, and until it does I question the validity of such training. How can you train people when you don't know what the content consists of?
The government's approach to all this has been abysmal, it continually ignores industry opinion and permanently drags its feet in offering guidelines to industry over implementation and interpretation. It will be a different story on 23 March next year.
The more I read about the effects of the WTD the more disheartened I become. The apathy and laid-back approach of my transport colleagues and trade associations in fighting this is laughable. Even now I do not understand how a driver's liberty can be taken away over the amount of time he can work, and what the difference between an ownerdriver and employed driver is. Until someone can tell me this,1 for one will be in no hurry to implement the directive.
Geoff Martin Geoff Martin Transport Rugeley