A BRITISH HAULIER HAS A BEEF
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by Roger Howell
IN the highly competitive world of road haulage it is not always easy to get operators to talk about their business. This is especially true if they believe that competitors are ready to cash in on their knowledge.
However, one man who is completely uninhibited in this repect is Mr. J. Wyatt Jnr. of Diss in Norfolk After almost 40 years of home operation Mr. Wyatt entered the Continental field and now has a fleet of 25 refrigerated vehicles, carrying the Fridged Freight fleet name.
From the outset he realized that this type of operation had new types of problems, some domestic, some natiohal and not a few international. He has solved those over which he has direct control but there are many beyond his control which still lack a solution. Yet Mr. Wyatt is adamant that solutions can and must be found, and soon.
The domestic problem which has been met is in the selection of staff. Drivers on long distance operation in Great Britain are to a large extent their own masters. This is even more so on Continental operation. Men are frequently away from home for six days, sometimes longer. I understand that one Continental operator has his men away from base for a 13-week stretch.
The men from Diss do not spend so long away but they are "out of sight" as it were for long periods. They have to be trusted with considerable amounts of cash to pay taxes; they are in charge of valuable exports and
they have to overcome language and frontier. difficulties. The firm believes it is recruiting the right men.
Changes?
Men need machines and in this respect Mr. Wyatt is less happy. Until now the fleet has been entirely of British manufacture, but there could be changes. Mechanical failure in this country is bad enough, but when stoppage occurs on the Continent it is relatively more costly. Delays create particular problems when markets have to be met. Mr. Wyatt believes he is having more than his share of breakdowns. To support this belief he told me that one vehicle had been back to the manufacturer every 5,000 miles in the first 12 months of its service. Overall loss of revenue due to stoppage is estimated at £30,000 a year; this in a relatively small fleet with adequate maintenance facilities. Quotations have been taken from foreign manufacturers, and the threat to purchase from abroad is obviously not an empty one.
This is a problem which Mr. Wyatt (or a British manufacturer) can solve. Problems which he obviously cannot solve himself are the national and the international ones.
Continental operators coming into this country must obtain a carrier's licence and road fund tax, The carrier's licence is issued by the Metropolitan LA and has a three-month duration. The road fund tax is issued for four months and is charged on the usual basis of the unladen weight of the vehicle. Any unused part of the road fund tax is rebated to the nearest month. Simple and straightforward.
It was disturbing to hear Mr. Wyatt's allegation—incidentally recently confirmed in approaches to the Ministry by the RHA—that some Continental operators were neither licensed nor taxed when they entered this country. He told me that it was sometimes the practice for vehicles to get Customs clearance and pass through the dock gates without any check on their other documentation. There are also disquieting rumours . that 38-ton-gross vehicles are running in to Britain and taking out goods which British
operators could carry but for which they cannot get authority for the heavier gross weights.
Mr. Wyatt's complaint is that we are too lax and that our authorities could and should have acted a long time ago.
Once the Continental driver is on the open road the language barrier makes it difficult to check documents etc., and in any case very few policemen have a detailed knowledge of international haulage regulations. Compare Continental practice where our men can experience long delays until discrepancies are cleared, Continental officials normally being extremely rigid in approach.
Headaches
Taxes at European borders are among the headaches British drivers have to overcome. Fuel tax, transit tax, axle tax, road tax are but a few and no two countries are the same. Certainly these difficulties are deterrents to operators who are trying to build a Continental operation and the door is opened to foreign competition. Language and currency problems apart, the additional cost of operation resulting from foreign taxes, without any offsetting allowance from our government, is bound to be borne by the customer. The costs of exports are increased and consequently we are less competitive in Europe.
How can these difficulties be overcome? Well it is most unlikely that the EEC countries will do much to help. Many operators could doubtless tell a good tale about vehicle quotas and the like! Mr. Wyatt believes emphatically that the answers lie at home and he offers these suggestions.
If an operator produces proof that a vehicle has been out of Britain for, say, 200 days in a year and consequently he has not fully used his road fund tax or insurance he should receive a rebate. After all, we do this for the Continentals coming in.
Tighter controls
What would this mean in financial terms? Insurance is about lOs per vehicle per day for both here and abroad. When abroad a vehicle is wastefully double-insured : this means £100 excess insurance, or £2,500 per year for Mr. Wyatt. It costs approximately £350 for road fund tax for a 32-ton-gross vehicle. Another £4,000 a year unused. Mr. Wyatt contends that if every incoming vehicle was properly taxed there would be no loss of revenue if these rebates were made to British hauliers.
Spot checks are ineffective, he suggests. and tighter controls are needed at the ports. It appears that the North Sea raiders are still at work, and not only are a minority of disreputable Continentals carting goods in, but they are taking out back loads in untaxed vehicles! Mr. Wyatt feels that Continental vehicles entering this country should be scrutinized, licensed and cleared by one authority at the port of entry. He is not alone in this view.
Speaking of organization Mr. Wyatt also refers to the availability of Customs facilities, particularly where inland loading points are involved. He feels that staff should be readily available at main centres to inspect goods on loading and complete TIR formalities, finishing by sealing the trailer. Quite often trailers specially built to TIR specification must proceed unsealed, with resultant delays at Continental borders while a full inspection is carried out. Imagine a fridge van being opened on a hot summer's day for inspection. The goods certainly remain the haulier's responsibility.
Nationwide Though the present business has its origins in the East Anglian frozen food industry, it is now nationwide. You may have gathered that J. Wyatt Jnr, is not one to rest on his laurels and he is now moving many types of perish able goods, a high percentage of the traffic being chilled meat from Eire to Europe. The Fridged Freight fleet uses almost every ferry port in Britain, although its base lies adjacent to Felixstowe and Harwich. Its drivers are skilled in all aspects of Continental operation including the important one of refrigeration control. The vehicles are fitted with either the Petters Thermo-King unit or a unit designed and built in the Diss workshop. The type of refrigeration is one economy which Mr. Wyatt has control over. He told me that gas operation was impracticable because of the difficulties of restocking while on the Continent. This, and the availability of plug-in sockets in depots and on ferries, is why he opts for mechanical equipment.
Where Mr. Wyatt has the ability to control events he is working economically but in the other areas of operation—taxation, insurance, illegal operation by some Continentals and vehicle manufacture—he is frustrated. Yet the answers all seem so easy!