PAY UP AND PLAY THE GAME
Page 8
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How can the conditional discharge with £65 costs handed out to Mark Purnell this week for running a vehicle without an 0-licence (see page 9) have any real deterrent effect on others breaking the law? While the court ruled there were mitigating circumstances in this case, you have to wonder what sort of message the sentence sends out to the haulage community. We've said it before and we'll say it again—operators who run vehicles outside the law must be hit and hit hard by the authorities in support of those who play the game by the rules. This week, at last, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel with the possibility of vehicle impounding passing into legislation as a Private Members' Bill over the course of the next Parliamentary session. This would see trucks stopped for roadside checks confiscated immediately for serious licensing offences. While legal operators have nothing to fear from this development, those who flout the law could soon be dealt with by the loss of their vehicles and, quite possibly, their livelihoods. To our mind, that sounds like a much more realistic deterrent than a small fine. But we have to wonder why it is that successive Governments have failed to find Parliamentary time to introduce legislation which is more than likely to attract cross-party support.
Ask any operator who has lost a contract to a cow boy operator whether we need impounding and you'll get an unequivocal ,"yes!". For the sake of all honest operators out there, CM is happy to reit erate its support for this move. It's time the authorities gave honest hauliers a fair deal.