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Scots coal operators fear rates shortfall
Page 14
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Coal hauliers in Scotland have guaranteed work — now they want an increase in rates. David Harris reports.
SCOTTISH COAL'S three new mines in Lanarkshire will give local hauliers work for years to come, the company said this week.
The three open-cast mines are on the outskirts of Douglas, at North and South Brokencross and Poneil; they are a development of mines already operating nearby.
A spokesman for the company says the extra mines will not increase the amount of coal extracted each year but will mean that the area will produce coal for much longer than would otherwise have been the case: "The new mines will benefit the local community and add about 15 years to the life of the site," he adds.
One haulier operating from the collieries is Sandy McCracken Transport. Director Duncan McCracken is pleased that the mines' futures have been assured but is still worried about rates.
Scottish Coal, which currently has the contract out to tender, is now paying £420-£440 a day for a 44-tonner to take coal to and from the nearest railhead. But McCracken warns that anything less than £500 leaves local hauliers struggling to make a profit: "It doesn't help that fuel costs in the past year have gone up £30 a day for each vehicle. The Working Time Directive affects this sort of work a lot because there is no availability time at all."
McCracken points out that due to the WTD a driver who normally completed nine runs between mine and railhead may now only be able to do six or seven trips.
-I'm not sure that any hauliers round here can afford to do that for the rates that Scottish Coal want to pay," he says."