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24th May 2001, Page 20
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Does someone in the dustry deserve a pat on the back, or a dressing down? Drop us a line at Commercial oter, Room H203, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS or fax us

1020 8652 8971. Alternatively you can e-mail melanie.hammond*rbi.co.uk.

TRUE COST OF TRAINING

I have seen some crazy regulations going through over the past few years, but I have never seen a directive like this one for driver training.

We are short of drivers now, but if this European directive is passed you will have no drivers in the future. Where can a young working man find the funds to keep himself for 210 or 420 hours' training, which works out to five or 10 weeks respectively. as well as the money to pay for these courses and the driving instruction, and the test?

And that's before you start to think about the 35 hours every five years re-training.

All I can say is that if this goes through, we will have no new drivers coming through and very shortly there will be a major shortage of drivers. Stan Robison, Stan Robinson (Stafford).

APPEAL TO THE WORKERS

This letter is with reference to a conversation with a representative of the Labour Party today regarding the Civil Code of Practice. He stated that it was a waste of time appealing or going to court when immigrants are found on your trailers as the Labour Party want to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country (and, of course, so do the wagon drivers).

In reply I would say if Labour and Jack Straw had listened to what the drivers, haulage com panies, Road Haulage Association and Freight Transport Association told them, they would not have put the onus on the wagon drivers. Granted the French are making an effort, but the immigrants are still getting in.

Scrap the Code of Practice, Mr Straw, After all, you let the Eurostar off with 118,000 saying they weren't at fault. You're a disgrace to the working man. I thought the Labour Party was there to fight for the rights of the working man—not to persecute them.

Mr Blair, in the House of Commons, stated that wagon drivers found wtth illegal immigrants were criminals, but when I wrote to him he passed the buck. Then, in his manifesto for the election, he once again implied that wagon drivers were dealing in human trafficking.

As he is a solicitor, I would have thought he would know this was slander. This is a government which is against drivers; it's a government of three monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, but speak evil!

Please God save us. If Jack Straw is moving to transport, you've had Et boys. Come on lads, make your choice on 7 June.

Jan Wilkinson,

Bishop Auckland, Co Durham.

THOSE HOME OFFICE BLUES

Copy of a letter sent to the Home Office: I have written several letters to MPs, transport associa tions, and newspapers regarding my fine for 212,000 for six illegal immigrants being found on one of my vehicles while entering Dover.

The responses have been totally sympathetic, and, in some cases, appalled at my predicament. That is, except for the Home Office.

I have tried to explain that my problem is not with the fine; it is the way that it has been imposed upon me.

I have been declared guilty without being allowed to present a proper defence, and without being able to have access to all the facts. I have not even been allowed to represent myself or be represented at my appeal (which, incidentally, has cost me almost 22,000 to date).

I am 58 years old and have never or had the inclination to mug anyone, burgle houses, attack people for no apparent reason, or taken or dealt in unlawful drugs. In fact anyone who knows me well knows that I would not hesitate to help another person in trouble, with no thought for my own safety.

If I did commit these crimes and was prosecuted, I would at least be able to conduct a proper defence and have access to all the facts. I have always been told, and believed, that an Englishman was innocent until proven guitty.

What has happened to me has completely shattered my faith in British justice and has made me feel very bitter.

I now have a very different opinion of our judicial procedure, and this is not right. Is this government, and in particular the Home Office, comfortable with this situation?

If the government is comfortable with it, we should all be concerned; and if it is not, it should change this law. It should do so before all respectable citizens become afraid and resentful of British justice, or, as in my case, injustice.

K Taylor, Ken Taylor Transport, Slaithwaite, Huddersfield.


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