) you want to comment on any stories in Commercial
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Motor? Does someone In the dus'b, deserve a pat on the back, or a dressing down? Drop us a line at Commercial rotor, Room H203, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SAI2 SAS or fax us 020 8652 8971. Alternatively you can e-mail melaniehammond@rbi.co.uk.
NO LOVE FOR THE DIRECTIVE I would like to add to the comments by JD Barber (CM 29 Mar-4 April) with regard to the Working Time Directive. I have worked as a night trunker for the past 10 years on journeys of various length but all between 912 hours and occasionally more where circumstances dictate.
Last tax year I earned £26,800 for an overall average of 59 hours which included 19 overtime (6th) shifts. This year I have been noting my driving time and it works out at around 40%-60% to all other time. I have found regular night work to be far easier then day work and there are many drivers waiting to get on the night rota.
The White Paper which discusses the Directive makes clear that a driver working between midnight and 07:00hrs, even if on a rotating shift pattern (ie days/afternoons/nights) would still be classed as a regular night worker so fundamentally everyone would be restricted to 8 or 10 hours maxi
mum. The same White Paper talks a lot about the "internal marker and says there could actually be productivity gains!
This, of course, is totally at odds with the current government thinking on the "24-hour society" and "the global economy" in which the UK is supposed to compete, and it highlights who has the whip hand when it comes to UK legislation.
I didn't see Mrs Preston's letter but it has also crossed my mind that the directive restricts personal choice and lifestyle in a way which is out of all proportion to limiting working hours.
The fact is that the current legislation gives excellent flexibility but does need stricter policing with far harsher penalties for persistent offenders, with the same ones seeming to appear on a regular basis in the transport press.
These views are not untyplcal of many of my colleagues, and I have not heard anyone say they are in favour of the directive in its present form. Of course there will be some, and that is their choice. Mr Barber alludes to the fact that it may need something akin to the fuel protests to get the legislators to see how out of touch with reality the no-opt-out directive is.
But, along with most people, I would much prefer common sense and respect for other people's right to work to prevail before it comes to that.
Stephen Moran,
Class 1 Driver, Lancs.
PSI wrote this letter while I was waiting to get loaded—no surprises there then...
BECOME YOUR OWN MP!
Now that the election has finally been called let's unite and have a voice of our own in Parliament. We can oppose the other parties in seats where fuel prices really matter and in seats where main contenders are seeking election.
Every lorry is a potential billboard and they cannot stop political parades, or their election busses would not be able to run either.
All those people who were prominent during the fuel protests deserve our support to try and elect them as MPs, even if we only manage to elect a few. It will always remind the elected party that we do have a
legitimate voice and it can be heard. The rate of pay is better than the going rate in haulage and it is tax-free plus secretarial allowances. So don't delay—get fighting for a real future by working together.
By e-inal.
TAX DISC THANKS If you were an exhibitor at Truckfest you may have found yourself approached by someone collecting expired road tax discs. That was me! Can I say a very big "Thank you" to everyone who let me have any of their old discs. My collection now stands at just over 18,500 and I am due to appear on Channel 4's Collectors Lot programme soon.
Thanks again.
NM Jones,
Suffolk.
THE LONG TERM COSTS Much as I am as relieved as any other haulier by the results of the CM fuel tests (26 Apr-2 May) which concluded that there would be no appreciable fuel penalty in using Euro-3 over Euro-2 engines, I must remind the industry of the longer term cost.
I am as committed to the need for viable long-term transport as anyone, but I also have grandchildren, and I would like them to have as clean an environment to grow up in as I had, and for their children not to have to wear masks to school like children in Tokyo.
It's great that cleaner engines won't cost us more— and I know we already pay more than enough for fuel—but even if they did, this is one cost we just have to stomach. Believe me, the cost of not becoming green as an industry is one we do not want to have to pay. Janice Leighton,
Stoke-on-Trent.