Cowboy penalties
Page 27
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T am writing in response to Ian article I recently read on dangerous trucks in a car magazine. As an operator who tries to maintain the highest standards. I fully support its main point that enforcement and penalties are not adequate.
The cowboys who run riot in our industry must be stopped for safety reasons and for the long-term financial outlook of operators like me who buy new trucks and run them legally. The law is my only defence against the criminal few— and with the taxes I pay the money should be there to fund enforcement.
It would be simple to amalgamate the annual vehicle test with the issue of road tax and also have the Operator's Licence checked at the same time.
Vehicle Inspectorate test stations are located in the operator's area and with details held on computer it should be easy to spot check operators who have not taxed or tested trucks on time.
Penalties should include seizure of trucks, trailers and assets to hit the cowboy where it hurts. After all if he has not got a licence you cannot take it away Hire purchase companies should be forced to have the Operator's Licence lodged at the time of purchase to make it more difficult to get into the industry without proper licensing and the standards that implies.
Chris Hayward, Canis Traction, Swindon. Wiltshire
Backing analysis
T was more than surprised to read a letter from Ken Evans stating that the analysis of tachograph charts is both costly and almost worthless (CM 10-16 November). Having provided this service to the professional operator for the past 12 years we have to disagree totally with him.
The professional operator will either send his charts out to a bureau which will typically return them within seven days fully analysed for a reasonable fee; or the operator will have purchased an analysis system and do the job in-house for a substantially lower cost. It should also be realised that many companies analysing in-house can optimise both hours law problems and driver and vehicle utilisation by the daily analysis and return of charts before the driver's next duty.
My concern is that we should not be putting any misguided doubts into the minds of operators about the need for tachograph analysis. The change in legislation for the introduction of the electronic tachograph will come, but at the moment the present tachograph will remain the legal instrument for several years.
Jennifer Joseph, Director, Infoiach, Trowbridge, Wiltshire.