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The horse has bolted
Page 8
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PL, H, YU, BG, RO, LT, SK, EST, SLO, CZ...noticed any of these badges on the back of an artic lately? If you have we're not in the least surprised. The number of Eastern European-registered trucks travelling from Great Britain to the Continent during the first quarter of this year rose by 45% compared with last year.
And if the number leaving this Sceptred Isle has gone up by almost a half, it's a safe bet that the number entering the UK have gone up by the same amount. Why is that exactly? Because a driver from Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, or the Czech Republic costs a damn sight less than one from Scunthorpe, Sienna or Saarbrucken. No wonder Will Betz uses them.
The availability of cheap drivers from former Communist Bloc countries is having a catastrophic impact on UK-based international hauliers. Once you've added the cost of a UK driver, UK diesel; and UK VED what kind of profit margin is there left when you're up against a Bulgarian? Outward-bound British trips are now Polish backloads. The Germans had it right: "No liberalisation without harmonisation"—especially on diesel, road tax and drivers' wages. Meanwhile, any talk of barring Eastern European hauliers from running in the EU is nonsense. They're already here. The stable door's long been left open and the horse is many miles away...