INTO THE DUSTBIN I must take issue with the Comment
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in today's issue of Commercial Motor (12-18 August). You state it does not matter who owns the truckmaking factories or where those vehicles are built, as long as they supply what the customer wants.
It matters a great deal who owns factories, industries and companies. Your bold statement is typical of the introverted, me-first attitude that pervades British society.
This is a massive falsehood perpetrated in the 1970s by Margaret Thatcher and her crowd of industry-hating hangers-on which has resulted in Britain becoming a fourth-rate industrial country which is unable to afford a decent police service, has a second-class education system, third-rate health care and fifth-rate roads. The balance of your taxes goes to finance the 223bn annual trade deficit Britain "enjoys".
Everywhere you look, you will see bosses bemoaning the lack of business opportunities, poor rates, intense competition, the strong pound and so on, while driving to work in their new Mercedes-Benz car (or holidaying in Mustique or Tuscany).
This attitude is not the sole preserve of the road haulage industry (which will very soon cease to be British-owned as Government "policies " will see to that). It is indicative of British thinking from the 1960s onwards. It manifests itself today in the apathy, inertia, intransigence and conservatism of British boardrooms, workplaces and households. Britain is becoming Europe's warehouse and dustbin.
At the rate we are going, we shall be hke Spain and Portugal—dependent on handouts from the EU to sustain the basics of a civilised life. What price now your new Scania/ Volvo/ Renault/Daf?
The customer is seldom right. He goes only for the cheapest line on the day, caring not one jot for the consequences as long as he has a shilling left for a bag of chips on his way home from the pub. As long as he views the world through self-coloured glasses, Britain's business—all of it—is doomed.
If DaimlerChrysler or VolvoScania can make a living out of building lorries, why is ERF owned by Canadians? Why is Foden owned by Americans? Why is Rover owned by BMW? Where the hell are Leyland Motors, Seddon, Atkinson, Guy, Albion, AEC, etc? Why do Hotpoint washing machines contain Italian motors? Why do all television sets carry Japanese names? Answer: if British lorry drivers were as proficient as their bosses seem to be, there would not be a pedestrian, motorist, dog, cat or lamp-post safe in England.
A question: if Britain and the rest of the EU cannot operate under the same tax umbrella, why do we need European Drivers' Hours Regulations and tachographs for UK-only operated lorries?
John Beaton, Moxley, Walsall. West Midlands.