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Motor? Does someone in the industry deserve a pat on the back, or a dressing down? Drop us a line at Commercial Motor, Room H203, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS or fax us on 020 8652 8969. Alternatively you can e-mail Rohin,Meczes*rbi.co.uk.
WEIGHTY EVIDENCE
Linda Wise's letter in
Commercial Motor of 25-31 May makes the point that her company was fined for overloading offences and that the fines imposed were excessive. Unfortunately, she must realise that the court considers such offences as serious matters.
In the first place there is a clear danger that a vehicle that is overloaded could not be controlled to the same extent as one which complies with the permitted weight. A sudden haft or turn of the vehicle would be much more difficult and would present a danger.
Furthermore, overloaded vehicles ruin our roads, which are clearly not constructed for them. Finally, it does create an uneven playing field with those operators who are prepared to comply with the rules. I have sympathy with her, but companies must have systems to avoid infringements of this nature taking place.
However, there are circumstances which are clearly strong mitigation that might cause a court to impose a lenient fine or even no fine at all.
if it could be shown that the company has systems in place and that the situation was really one which could not be avoided by any reasonable operator, then a company might find itself with an absolute discharge rather than a fine.
Obviously, to present such an argument a solicitor who practices transport law should be consulted.
I conclude by saying that local authorities should be treated in exactly the same way, bearing in mind that the means of the offender will always be taken into account. All Ostrin, Transport lawyer, London W12.
LAZY TRUCKERS
A constant theme running through Commercial Motor, and other similar publications, is how hard done by the UK haulage industry is and how little work is around.
I have first-hand experience of just how apathetic the majority of the industry is.
I have been involved in haulage in various capacities for 20 years. In that time! have been a driver, owner-driver and transport manager and have been involved in every sort of transport imaginable except animals.
For the past eight years, I have been selling transport
related products while still keeping my hand in with the occasional low-loader move. I have recently begun to import machinery for the waste disposal industry from Belgium and I thought that I would be able to put something back into the industry. How wrong can you be!
I have made dozens of phone calls, sent a whole forest of faxes showing dimensions, weights, etc, all to little avail. The job in question is one collection, one delivery. Fast loading and unloading; take a week if you need—in short all the things I would have killed for when I was doing international work.
Most companies I've contacted haven't even bothered to ring back and say "thanks but no thanks". Even when I have a need to move machines within the UK,! still can't get past the "Oh, it's only a customer—if we ignore him perhaps he won't bother us again" syndrome.
Needless to say I have eventually found someone to do the job. Unfortunately for the UK industry, it's a Dutch company. They collect when I ask, deliver on time or earlier and can't help enough. The point of all this? WAKE UP you hauliers, before your apathy sends your jobs down the drain! Maine and address supplied.
MERGER SUPPORT
Now that the votes have been cast, it is time to place in perspective the views and concerns of the "rebels" which have occupied your columns over the past few weeks.
While IRTE as a company will change, this is a legal technicality.
The things that matter in practice to members and employers—professional standards and qualifications (including CPC), publications, seminars and conferences, technical investigations and advice, influence on legislation, a regional structure of centres with lecture programmes and networking opportunities— these things will continue and may be enhanced.
Concern over the possible loss of institute identity was recognised early on in the negotiations (which began two and a half years ago).
The IRTE "brand" is being retained as a professional sector within the Society of Operations Engineers, covering transport-specific activities and events and including members involved in transport.
The advantages of the merger need a separate article to do them justice, but can be summarised as the opportunity for cross-fertilisation of ideas and best practice in operations and maintenance across a wide field of engineering.
So what did the membership think?
All the points above, plus a great deal more detail, were set out in a proposal sent to all IRTE members last September as part of a consultation exercise; 84% of those who responded were in favour.
The IRTE Council then set in train the implementation planning, including the detailed legal work, on the basis of this democratic mandate.
The results, and the final recommendation for merger, were put to the Extraordinary General Meeting onl June. This time just over 90% of the votes cast, in person or by proxy, were in favour. The turnout in both cases was around 30%, which the experts say is par for the course.
There will always be some who find change difficult to accept, particularly those in the twilight of their careers for whom there will be little or no benefit. But the IRTE membership has given overwhelming support to the merger and the industry stands to benefit too.
It's now time to stop the shroud-waving and look to the future.
Philip Corp Ca Gong, Chief executive.
1RTE.
MARS ATTACK With reference to your article on Internet backloads (CM1-7 June), for a large multinational company like Mars to be able to claim 3-4% commission on each job value through a subsidiary company (FreightTraders) seems like very good business.
How long will it be before the supermarkets start charging a commission for allowing transport companies to deliver these loads to their RDCs? Ian Matthews, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire.