Civil servants to climb down soon?
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'HE POSSIBILITY that a settlement to the Civil Service dispute, now its eleventh week, might be reached this week should be welomed by all in the road transport industry.
Although the civil servants' inJstrial action has not brought ings to a complete halt, it has t this industry on a number of Dots.
The DVLC at Swansea has aen effectively silenced and allough post is now being lowed into the building, the )mputer was still shut down as e went to press, and so driving ence issues and amendments :main at a standstill.
As far as hgv licences and !sts are concerned, the situaon at the various Traffic Area ffices varies from one area to lother. The Department of ransport says that the Metroelitan Traffic Area office at Acm is among the worst hit with elays there caused by postal roblems.
On the international scene, staff at the International Road Freight Office at Newcastleupon-Tyne are working to rule. This has slowed down the processing of permits. Whereas an urgent request could previously be dealt with quickly, all post is now being handled strictly in rotation.
Customs staff are also involved in the dispute, and down at Dover senior Customs officials are standing in where necessary. As a result the usual 24-hour coverage is not being provided; the hours vary but 9am to lOpm was typical this week.
A Dover Harbour Board spokesman said that freight traffic coming into the country at Dover was unaffected, but lorries leaving the country were being delayed. There are cases reported of drivers waiting 36 to 48 hours but he estimated the average to be nearer eight hours, depending on what time of day the vehicle arrived.