'Owner drivers threaten union'
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NO MORE operators licences should be issued at least for the time being, the Transport and General Workers Union and the TUC have told the Foster Committee on 0 licensing.
When both bodies appeared before the committee on Tuesday they told members that they think there is already enough spare capacity available and further licences would be "an ambarrassment."
TGWU national organiser Jack Ashwell told CM that they believed that the certificate of professional competence would tighten up entry to the transport industry, which had been too easy.
He said that owner drivers with no financial backing and little managerial ability were finding work at the expense of established hauliers.
The committee was told that while its deliberations looked towards a more distant future, the problems were immediate.
Traffic examiners should be used to check if margins on 0 licences were being taken up. Owner drivers should be issued with licences for one vehicle for 12 months only, said the unions.
After that period of probation they should have to give an account of themselves in terms of financial, maintenance and operating record. At the hearing other interested parties could produce evidence of rate-cutting. Mr Ashwell told CM, that his members were already reporting on rate-cutting by owner drivers and "dealings with owner drivers in the clearing house market."
"These people are damaging established operators and are a real threat to my members' jobs," he said. And he added that members would continue to keep an eye on owner drivers.