More time for checks
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by Juliet Morrison • As Northern Ireland celebrates six months since the beginning of the IRA ceasefire, hauliers in the Province have mixed feelings about the new order.
They say police, with less security work to carry out, have turned the spotlight on them. Routine vehicle checks—once well down the priority list of the hard-pressed Royal Ulster Constabulary—have become an everyday event.
Gerald Doherty, a director of Eglinton Fast Freight of Eglinton in Derry, says one of its drivers was stopped three times in one day for tacho-related checks. "The amount of checks we are seeing is ridiculous," he says. "Some owner-drivers have stopped coming into Northern Ireland since the ceasefire because of the checks."
William O'Neill, a director of O'Neill Transport of Strabane, County Tyrone agrees: "Since the ceasefire we have been hounded from pillar to post by police who have nothing else to do. One of our drivers was stopped five times on an 87-mile trip from Belfast to Derry," A source within the RUC agrees that since the ceasefire officers have had more time to concentrate on haulage enforcement.
However, hauliers say that peace has brought benefits too: Joe Baird runs 40 trucks, trading as Joseph Baird Transport of Craigavon, County Armagh. "Traffic is moving more freely because check points have gone," he says.
"And we no longer fear drivers accidently getting caught up in a shooting."