'He is robbed and conned, forced to work illegal hours
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and run overweight' 4 1 am appealing to all hauliers to join me in launching the Campaign for Legislation for Road Transport (CLRT) and get a nationwide petition together to force necesary changes.
Why? Well, dire, desperate, diabolical, are apt descriptions of the haulage rates that you, as hauliers, are quoting to customers. You • think it makes sense to run at a loss. You stick your heads in the sand and cry, "It will get better".You have had the chance to operate at a level that would give everybody a reasonable return for their investment and hard work. Have you blown it?
As the life-blood of a modern society, your expertise in hauling the nation's goods is indispensable. Unfortunately, you cannot be trusted to ask for a realistic price for your services. So to protect yourself from further financial abuse, legislation is vital.
Not only have you made life difficult for yourselves but you have dragged down the living standards of the LGV driver. Drivers complain to me about wages that are well below the national average. These are the people to whom you entrust expensive rolling stock and valuable cargo. In return for low pay they are abused by the police, the Department of Transport, weight inspectors and loading bay staff. You, as usual, do nothing to help their plight.
I still have not mentioned the person who receives the worst treatment of all—the owner-driver. He is robbed, conned, forced to work illegal hours and run overweight—yet he works hardest and has the most to lose.
Read my 10-point Charter for Transport. Think about it. Then you can bin it, file it or act on it by contacting the campaign.
If our industry's financial predicament grows worse, most small hauliers will have nothing to lose by withdrawing their labour and services at a vital time. It will be as swift and devastating as the French action last summer.
Let's work to get it right together.
Charter for transport 1. A forked tariff system which allows a body of industry representatives to annually work out an upper and lower limit of tariffs for each weight group of trucks.
2. Drivers to be guaranteed wages related to their skill and experience and not to performance. They should receive expenses and proper subs and should be shown courtesy when visiting consignees' premises.
3. Consignors should face prosecution along with their hauliers and drivers for overloading offences and, where appropriate, mechanically defective trailers and trucks.
4. All aspects of road haulage should be restricted to qualified and licensed operators, obliging clearing houses to hold CPCs.
5. Return loads should be treated as loads at the going rate and not subjected to multiple sub-contracting. A fixed agency fee should be imposed and legislation sought for a maximum 30-day payment period. The consignor should pay the haulier direct less the agency fee.
6. Waiting time payment, or demurrage, should be a right, not a favour.
7. All towns should make provision for overnight trucks with secure well-lit parks which include decent washing and catering facilties.
8. An increase in rest areas on motorways and dual carriageways.
9. A complaints department for WV drivers within the Department of Transport.
10. WV licences should be separate from the driver's car licence where minor traffic offences are concerned although not for serious offences such as drink-driving and dangerous driving.
LI For more details of CLRT's campaign send an SAE to 63, Besthorpe Road, Attlebo rough, Norfolk IVR17 2NQ CI If you want to sound off about a road transport issue write to features editor Patric Cunnane