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High hopes for more meetings with DfT
Page 66
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Stan Robinson has been busy vvith construction projects, politicians and a road transport solicitor.
LEGISLATION. I put the word in capital letters, because this month my comments are all based on it. Firstly, we are building a new warehouse at our Devon depot having submitted the plans. which included a loading dock at one end.
As an afterthought it was decided to construct rooms above the loading dock to include. an office and ladies' and gents' toilets, with a fire escape via a set of steps at the rear.'This building will employ five people: four male and one female There will be an office manger, three forklift drivers and one woman sorting boxes.
Disabled access
When the job was nearly completed I was informed by the building inspector that the steps from the fire escape were no good, and that I must have a disabled ramp with a maximum slope of 10% for a length of 22m.
With not a disabled person in sight or able to do the job, needless to say the contractor was still about to spend over £1 0,000 on this ramp. Fortunately. following some smart talking to the right people, we're back to the steps. As a member of the Route One lobby group we had our first meeting with the Transport Minister and his civil servants.We explained that we would like to become involved with the minister and his team while legislation is being discussed.We were well received and I hope that they will come back to us in the near future.
As is usual with politicians, we did not get a direct 'yes' or 'no' answer, but at least Stephen Ladyman now knows who Stan Robinson is.
This week I was invited to sit on a panel that includes road transport solicitor Stephen Kirkbright at the Sixth Motor Transport Working Time Conference in Birmingham.This was the first time that I've ever done this sort of thing butt must admit I enjoyed it. Mind you, what a lot of rubbish some of them make of it —it must be costing some companies a small fortune.
I was able to demonstrate how we've tackled this legislation, for which I've devised a simple logbook type of record. was pleased to hear Kirkbright say that our record keeping was just what was needed by VOSA; and to confirm that it had made very little difference to our operation.
The 48-hour week
We were also addressed by Robert Monks of the United Road Transport Union, followed by a question-and-answer session. I took the opportunity to ask him if he expected to use this legislation to get drivers' pay for 48 hours to the same level as it is now for a normal week (I won't put any hours). His reply was, as expected,"yes". •