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WTD needs more time
Page 7
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THE TRANSPORT industry sighed with relief as the Department for Transport finally published the definitive version of the Working Time Directive regulation& The regulations were laid before Parliament on Monday 14 March. The Directive was to come into force on 23 March; it has now been delayed by two weeks until 4 April. However this is unlikely to cause operators problems as the original timetable gave 4 April as the start of "reference periods".
Transport Minister David Jamieson says: "These regulations should deliver safety benefits for drivers and other road users, improve drivers' working conditions and help make the road transport sector more attractive as a career choice."
There are no major changes from previous drafts of the regulations, except that training time will be counted as "working time", much to the annoyance of the trade associations, which fear operators will scale down training.
However, the unions have already begun sabre-rattling and are clearly looking to bring a test case against a transport firm at the earliest opportunity.
Ron Webb, national secretary at the T&G says: -We have asked the European Commission for a view on what the UK government has done, aided and abetted by the employers." The T&G is urging members to be eagle-eyed for abuses once the WTD is in force.