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WILLING VICTIMS?
Page 5
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• The haulage industry is being knocked hard again. It has just been denied the chance to run 40-tonne GVW trucks until the end of the century, when it will be too late. It is facing a police crackdown on the London lorry ban after years of regulatory indifference on the streets.
During a recent trip to France, senior road transport managers asked me why British haulage companies do not take to the streets of Westminster and blockade Parliament in protest at the way our Government fails to argue their case in Europe. French farmers and French truckers frequently protest and make damned sure their Government understands their predicament, I was told.
It was odd to watch the Freight Transport Association fight for 40 tonnes with little or no support from the rest of the road transport industry.
It has been even more peculiar to see no reaction to Paul Channon's delaying tactics in Brussels from the international haulage community. The implications of our inability to run alongside Continental competitors on an equal basis could be devastating over the next 10 years or so.
The dock strike will only worry hauliers when drivers end up queuing for days on approach roads to the port, as happended during last year's ferry strike. This dispute is unlikely to come to such a pass, but when firms are being forced to make their business elsewhere at extra cost, they ought to consider compensation claims.
When the Metropolitan Traffic Police said they did not have the resources or the inclination to enforce the London Lorry Ban when it was introduced in 1986, the GLC instantly called on Commissioner Sir Kenneth Newman to resign and raised questions in the House. In a nutshell, it made a stink — and got its way. Perhaps we should take a leaf out of the French farmers' book, and scream a little too.