Hauliers need debtors' law
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• Owner-drivers are on average owed twice as much as they are in debt and generally have to wait 77 days before payment. but new laws might offer help.
According to a recent survey by the Forum of Private Business, £128 billion is owed to small firms, but they owe just .£63bn.
The survey has been released as Parliament is set to debate a Private Member's Bill intro duced by Cardiff Central MP Jon Owen Jones that would allow small businesses to reclaim interest from late payers.
The bill would allow creditors to claim interest for up to six years from invoice date, and would be phased in over five years starting with government departments and public limited companies. Small businesses already angered by Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine's recent boast that he skillfully strung along creditors, also revealed that 60% have resorted to hiring debt collection firms in the past.
Keighley-based owner-driver Eric Clapperton says hauliers welcome the proposed changes. "Hundreds of hauliers face problems caused by late payments and anything that would improve payment times has to be a good thing," he says.