1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196 
Have now, pay later
Page 22
Page 23
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Late payments adversely affect operators businesses, yet most are loathe to take court action against their creditors. However, those that do take the legal route claim a high success rate. Jennifer Ball reports.
OPERATORS' BUSINESSES are being hampered by late payment from their clients, according to the latest results from the Commercial Motor/Michelin Business Monitor.
The survey reveals 60% of operators find late payment from clients is affecting their business, but few are taking legal action to stop this.The majority of respondents (62%) said that, on average, it takes 30-60 days for them to receive payment from customers, with 12% of operators waiting more than 60 days.
However. 90% of operators say they settle their own invoices within 60 days.
Laine Daff, transport manager at Uplawmoor-based Greenside Transport Services, says the UK should follow the US and make all businesses settle their invoices within 30 days: "Late payment affects many businesses, but not ours because we drop clients that do not pay on time. We always settle our own invoices within 30 days; this leads to much better relationships with your customers."
In 2002, the government amended the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interests) Act of 1998 to enable hauliers to not only charge interest on outstanding debts. but also to claim reasonable debt recovery costs. However, only 3% of operators said they have used this legislation, despite those that did seeing a 75% success rate.
Only 7% of operators said they had used the Small Claims Court to get back money owed, yet those that did report a 100% success rate, Chris Revill, director at Grimsby-based George Revill (Haulage), says he has managed to get back more than 14,000 owed to him through the Small Claims Court.
It took around four years, but was worth it in the end,he adds. -However, on the other occasions that we have used it, it has taken less time because the person has paid up at the first stage. One of the problems is that often when a haulier is owed money it is more than £5,000, so they have to go straight to their solicitor."
Revill adds: "I am lucky that there is a great shortage of hauliers where I am based so I can pick and choose who I work for. I won't work for anyone that doesn't pay on time."
Our survey also reveals that for the third quarter running the number of operators with driver vacancies has fallen.
In the third quarter, 26% of firms said they had vacancies, compared with 27% in March and 28% at the end of last year. However.of those with vacancies, 2% need more drivers now than in June. Around 12% of operators now need two or more drivers, compared with 11% last quarter, and 17% at the end of last year.
"Touch wood, we've been lucky and not needed any drivers for a few months now." says Revill.