RATE RISE REQUIRED • I am writing to say that
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I agree with the editor's comment entitled "Enough is Enough" (CM 4-10 October).
The situation we all find ourselves in is very worrying as we honestly cannot continue to provide a first class service without a rate rise of approximately 30% — and it is not just the price of dery that is at fault.
The quarry owners must realise that the cost of owning and running a commercial vehicle has, quite literally, gone through the roof.
It was bad enough before all the unfortunate trouble in the Gulf, but now with diesel priced at about 22 a gallon, we tipper operators are really at our wit's end. We fully appreciate that costs have also risen for quarry owners, but why can't they compensate for this by quoting their customers a more realistic price for their quarry products, which would then in turn enable the drivers to receive a decent rate for their work?
It is all very well quarries selling off their own fleets to owner-drivers because they cannot afford to continue running them themselves. But how do they expect the ownerdrivers to manage on haulage rates which are 10, possibly even 20 years out of date?
Everyone would like a new vehicle, but the revenue can only come from the work carried out, and unfortunately rates will not even allow owners a tidy living these days, let alone anything else. In sheer desperation rate cutting is rife in this area. The quarries are getting a lot of their work done at far below the actual cost. But before the operators realise what they have done, the job is of little or no use to anyone else either.
We do not wish to become multi-millionaires overnight, just pay us a proper rate for the services which we provide and enough to keep our heads above water.
We are more than willing (and we do) work very hard for our living, and we expect to be treated with respect, not like the so called "here today, gone tomorrow" cowboy operators. I must call upon all quarry owners to get their act together before time runs out.
Help us now to help you at all times. Operators too must move with the times.
Name and address supplied.