Attitudes must change
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With reference to your article on haulage boss Tony Salter who said that truck drivers are workshy and would prefer to draw the dole than take jobs (M 8-14 December).
In my 40 years I have found that good employers never need to go to the job centre, or labour exchange as it used to be. They have a list of drivers waiting for someone to die, retire or leave.
Personally I prefer working for an agency and selecting small firms which are pleased to see you and whose customers are glad to get their delivery and get it off the lorry as soon as possible.
I asked one transport manager why the agency drivers get better treaunent than his own men. He said: "When you turn up at short notice and do me a good day's work, you are doing me a favour. I'm doing my regulars a favour by paying them whether they do a good job or not. Paying them when things are slack and most of all putting up with their interminable moaning."
This attitude of regarding drivers as a necessary evil is all too prevalent. As is the demand for the fully-trained and experienced driver, so long as he or she has this experience already, at someone else's expense. There will continue to be a shortage of drivers until it is realised that they need to eat, sleep and most of all be treated as human beings Bob Rust, Basildon, Essex.