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First and fearless with the news
Page 26
Page 27
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Congestion-busting, ball-breaking and kick-ass
campaigns... In 2003 CM told you first.
CM KICKED 2003 off with a bang, launching a hard-hitting campaign to claw back £2m worth of stowaway fines. This fight has now been taken to the European Court of Justice, thanks to solicitors Rothera Dowson.
At the same time the European Parliament was voting to adopt new drivers' hours proposals, which would cut driving time by 20%. And Wincanton became one of the first haulage firms to scrap its final-salary pension scheme for new recruits. The switch to a money-purchase scheme was slammed by the unions as an erosion of employee rights with the value of pensions dependent on the stock market.
In February the long-awaited London Congestion Charge came into force: it was quickly branded a bloody shambles" by the Freight Transport Association after hundreds of hauliers desperate to register their fleets were unable to get through on the phone lines or were given the wrong information.
Transport for London failed to set-up hundreds of payment systems, leaving over 800 operators facing unjustified fines.
CM conducted its own research into the charge by spending a day with draymen from Young's Brewery. who felt that the charge was working.
We also revealed that the government's promise to treat hauli ers fairly over stowaway fines if they complied with its code of practice was a sham. Bristol-based Westfield International became the first firm to be hit under the new fines regime, despite going through the scanners — but the scanner operator had refused to sign any forms, so no proof was available.
Curfews and costs In March Steven Norris, the Conservative candidate for London mayor. revealed in an exclusive CM interview that if elected next spring he would introduce a daytime delivery curfew and scrap the congestion charge.
After three long months CM received a formal letter from the Home Office in response to its stowaway fines campaign. Home Office inspector David Gale repeated the government's line that those who had paid up had admitted their guilt.
Securicor agreed to sell its 50% stake in express and logistics divisions Securicor Omega Holdings (SOH) to German postal operator Deutsche Post.
At the beginning of April the Vehicle Inspectorate and Traffic Area Network joined forces to form the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), promising a better service, less bureaucracy and a crackdown on cowboy operators.
Suffolk haulier Martin Graves was jailed for manslaughter after he was found guilty of encouraging employees to break the hours rules, leading to a fatal smash after one driver fell asleep at the wheel. The case sent out a stark warning to industry that if a driver's accident was attributed to pressure from his boss the haulier concerned could up in the dock beside their employee.
Haulage giant Murfitts Transport lost its 254-vehicle 0-licence and was disqualified from holding another for five years following the conviction of 131 of its drivers for hours offences.
CM continued to cover the proposed Lorry Road User Charge and in May we beat our competitors to get the economic secretary to the Treasury, John Healey. to explain how the charge would be enforced.
At the same time we broke the news that the M6 Toll would cost hauliers £11. But there was also some good news, when we covered Steve Bryant's release from a Moroccan jail after 10 years. We followed this up by covering David Wilson's release on bail from a Greek prison, and throughout the year we've campaigned for the release of other British drivers jailed abroad. notably John Vasey and Tim Andrews. who has recently been released.
June began with an astonishing report on how Customs & Excise carried out a dawn raid on a haulage boss seven years ago. He had never been charged but still hadn't got his trailer back. It turned out that Customs had sold it.
Money...and madness
CMcontinued tocarnpaigiagainst road charging for goods vehicles with an article on the effectiveness of the London congestion charge. The FTA told us truck drivers were still having problems getting into London. despite being forced to pay £5.
We also highlighted the fact that an astounding 72% of operators surveyed by CM had never heard of the Road Haulage Modernisation Fund, which was set up to provide the industry with money for modernisation.
In July we exposed the farcical situation surrounding the introduction of digital smartcard tachographs. Hardly any manufacturers were in a position to roll out the technology but the deadline was only a year away. The FTA was calling for a delay until this "complete dog's breakfast" was resolved — and the situation is still unresolved as we go into the new year.
We were the only magazine invited to join VOSA for a day to cover new technology the agency were planning to use in the fight against cowboy hauliers — Automatic Number Plate Recognition. CM investigations continued unabated, first with a look at truck crime on the Continent, followed by an exclusive investigation into Harp Riley Holdings. It had fallen into administration yet a new company sprang up within days, operating from the same address. We also reported on the huge number of foreign hauliers escaping prosecutions, although the number of foreign-registered trucks on British roads was (and is) soaring.
August brought the sad news that Vasey'llansport had been forced to close down asJohn Vasey languished in jail, still protesting his innocence of drug smuggling charges CM reported on Trans-Consuit's campaign against the Traffic Commissioners over the law surrounding the use of part-time transport managers. The consultancy claimed a victory after the European Commission's Loyola de Palacio confirmed that operators need not employ full-time transport managers.
In September Commercial Motor was redesigned to offer more to you, the reader. In our relaunch issue we gave you two hard-hitting exclusives: our investigation into the proposed Lorry Road User Charge was the first attempt by any transport magazine to put a figure on what the government will want you to pay in 2006 — the results showed that costs were set to rise by up to 10%.
Our second exclusive that week was an interview with driver Colin Murphy, who was hijacked at gunpoint and forced to drive his attackers away from the scene of a motorway accident.
Elsewhere in September we reported on a row engulfing several West Country franchises of parcel giant ANC: investigated the possible effects of EU legislation on livestock hauliers: and exclusively revealed strike action by subcontractors at Lafarge Aggregates.
In October we looked at the scandalous lack of parking for HGV drivers in this country — a problem that hits everyone in the industiy.This investigation lead us to write to influential MPs in a bid to get the authorities to act.
We reported on Safeway dn. ers' lack of confidence in their reengined, gas-powered trucks. All the drivers we spoke to told us of problems with sudden engine cutouts and heat build up in the cab. Our stories resulted in the trucks being withdrawn from service until the issue was resolved. Oh. and a certain Edward Stobart sold his stake in the business. Our in-depth analysis told you why he sold, and to whom.
Only place for news
throughout November CM's
news team continued to bring you the exclusive stories that other magazines missed. We wrote extensively on the problems that drivers suffer at the Southampton and Felixstowe container tenninal.s.talking to hauliers on the spot. Our research suggests that delays at these two vital ports are costing the industry over £100m a year.
In another exclusive we revealed that Sainsbury's was switching its fuel distribution to refinery giant BP: then we discovered that a former Motor Transport haulier of the year was settling a pay dispute with three drivers to the tune of £32,000.
More news on Knowles followed in December. We also got the only interview in the road transport press with Exel chief executive John Allan.
Moving into December and there was an exclusive first interview with Ling Aliance chief executive Chris Sturman and Bob Russett from Palletline, plus Pat Nicholson of the Professional Drivers Association — again, all interviews that have appeared nowhere else.
And we haven't finished yet. Roll on 2004 and plenty more exclusives to keep you fully informed on the stories some people in the industry would rather you didn't hear.