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In defence of road haulage
Page 24
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LAST WEEKEND my wife and I invited some relatives over for Sunday lunch, and the subject of conversation at the table turned to their recent trip to Plymouth and the road transport industry.
Their complaints spread from how many trucks were on the motorway to how long A Ducks: Where would GB plc be without them? it took one articulated truck to overtake another, and how slowly these lorries travelled on ordinary A-roads.
When I explained that they weren't driving at this speed through choice, they said that in their opinion all freight traffic should travel by rail. When !asked how they would receive deliveries in Cardigan,West Wales (the nearest railway station is 30 miles away).they blamed the Conservative government for ripping up the country's railway network back in the 1960s.
They also believed that a truck travelling on the motorway was causing damage, and the £4,000 of taxation on each vehicle wouldn't be enough to repair the damage caused.
As a professional driver and operator, I have travelled throughout this country and rarely seen a goods vehicle being badly driven:The same can not be said for car drivers, who seem to drive along stuck in the middle lane of the motorway, and seem to have a deep hatred of using their indicators when overtaking.
How many people in this country don't value our industry, thinking they are doing us a favour by letting us use 'their' roads? Maybe instead of blockading fuel depots to trying to reduce fuel duty, we should go on strike for a week. Maybe then they will realise that we keep GB plc afloat.
Many thanks for a great magazine.
Andrew Bowcott, director Ideal Foods (Wales) Aberystwyth