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A SCOTTISH PERSPECTIVE
Page 54
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On the face of it, Scotland has an awful lot going for it. By and large, property prices remain on the right side of ridiculous and there's always an air of optimism you don't find in many other parts of the UK. Maybe it's a case of brutal necessity, but the country seems to have developed a natural ability for relentless re-invention. The once colossal steel and coal industries were partly replaced by electronics. Who knew that one day cathode ray picture tubes would be replaced by flat screens? Not the people who offered up the sweeteners and subsidies, that's for sure.
But if you turn your attention towards drinks, the country's as strong as ever. Having said that, there's still a rather unhealthy imbalance of imports verses exports. "Personally speaking, export traffic is hard work. The rates are low and there's never enough of it. As a nation, and as an industry, I think we constantly shoot ourselves in the foot with gross underselling. Service should come first and everything else second. But we've managed to engineer ourselves into a position where price is (by far) the overriding factor," Marco Haig thinks.
When asked about the Scottish Parliament, Marco's answers may sound surprising, especially for those of us south of the border: "The noises from Edinburgh have been very encouraging. They do listen to the voices of the Scottish road haulage industry and take on board our concerns," he concludes.