BOOM OR NO BOOM?
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• If Mike Binns (CM 18-24 May) thinks that tipper hauliers are enjoying a boom year then he is desperately out of touch with the industry. The day the mortgage interest rate went up several domestic sites were closed and others are just generally ticking over to keep them tidy.
The muck is not being taken away from the sites — the workers are finding places on site to dispose of the waste.
The sites that are working are past the "muck-away" stage or gravel for foundations level as they were started &fore the increase. Demolition jobs are being put back, which then holds up the next lot of ground work.
My business colleagues are cancelling orders for new lorries. ARC, our main employer last year, has only had enough work to keep its own lorries going, and other big haulage companies often have several lorries stood up.
Some companies are desperately under-cutting others to get the work, which then makes me wonder, who are they not paying to be able to afford to do that? Others are sending lorries miles off route to get enough money in to pay wages, and are hoping that it is only short term.
Jobs that we have got are paid out late, which then means, I am sorry to say, that I have to delay payment to our creditors. A vicious circle all round. An architect I was talking to recently said that they had never been so busy, so things might get better. But I wonder how many hauliers are still going to be in business when that happens. J Copping Thatchant, Berks.
SCANIA SCHEME • In the May issue of Workshop you had an article on Service Contracts. In this you stated "Despite the growing importance attached to this service (contract maintenance schemes), Scania . . would not provide us with figures."
This gives the impression that we did not wish to participate in your survey and that we were not prepared to make public our figures.
This is not so.
As we explained when figures were requested, it is impossible for us to quote a national rate as we do not have one. One of the main advantages of Scania's Contract Maintenance Scheme, which comes under the Scania Lifeline services, is that it is tailormade for every operator. It is true to say that it is rare for any two companies to have identical needs. Labour rates vary, according to the part of the country, as does mileage and the scope of maintenance requested.
We believe that this method of quotation achieves the most cost-effective solution for the customer. We did state, however, when requested to give figures that if an example was given to us stating the various operators' parameters then we would quote.
Dermot Bambridge, Scania (GB),
Tongu,,ell, Milton Keynes.
DRIVERS' UNION
• Well done for your recent article on HGV drivers' low pay (CM 26 April-3 May). Us being bottom of the European league? Of course — what do you expect when the majority of English lorry men are in the wrong union?
What use is it being a member of a left-wing society that thinks more about giving national dock workers a minority of jobs for life?
What use is it being part of a mixed body who have to put other workers' interests first? What use is a union's ban-thebomb policy with no parks to put your lorry on?
What we need is a drivers' union that will be accepted by the hauliers, and together we can up the rates and get things done — this is the message that needs to be put across. John Jones,
Salford, Lancs.
INSURANCE POINTERS • With reference to Commercial Motor 1.1-17 May. I would like to make the following 22ints: 11 Damage excess clauses in vehicle insurance policies are usually voluntary, in exchange for a premium discount,
If a haulier builds up good will with a broker, this makes no difference if he has an atfault knock-for-knock claim.
It is up to the insurance company what effect this will have on his no-claim record, not the broker.
▪ Most good brokers provide a free claim service (this is what we get paid commission for), and even if a broker feels he can charge for that service, (which we do not) for legal and professional reasons, he must not be rewarded on a results basis. He should be professional and hard working on behalf of his haulier client in all circumstances, whatever the outcome, under the concept of best advice as with other professionals such as accountants and solicitors.
B S Padfield, Southern Insurance Services, Mere, Wiltshire.
MORE DETAILS ON INSURANCE
• Why do insurance companies never tell the client of the outcome of claims? Especially when the blame for the accident was the third party's.
I have always found that the only information freely available is one's total claims at year ending, when it comes time for renewak.
A H Tonge AMIRTE, ASJ Freight Forwarding, Nuneaton, Warwicks.