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BAD PUBLICITY
Page 5
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• The road haulage industry has an uncanny knack of attracting bad publicity; sometimes through it's own actions, sometimes through the actions of others. The latest 'exposé' by the Sunday Times Insight team into the transportation of livestock onto the Continent has clearly uncovered a disturbing situation. Not that the story should have come as any surprise. The questionable conditions under which some animals are carried by trucks onto the Continent has been highlighted before. Along with reports on fly-tipping and the disposal of hazardous waste by hauliers, they're clearly good grist for the Fleet Street mill. But for the road haulage industry they spell disaster, only serving to reinforce the public prejudice that the majority of hauliers are engaged in dubious activities.
If the companies mentioned in the Sunday Times report have been breaking the law then the authorities should take action against them. If the allegations are wrong then presumably they will have recourse through the courts. In either case, every shock-horror story inevitably hits the reputation of the whole industry.
There must be a limit to what an operator will do for money, whether it's transporting livestock or trying to squeeze an extra tonne onto the back of a truck. Ironically, by tackling the jobs that responsible operators shun, many of the so-called cowboy operators aren't even making a profit: they're just breaking the law to break even.
Of course it's easy for us to moralise. When we look out of our windows we don't see a £60,000 artic standing idle collecting massive interest payments. With that kind of liability hanging round their necks it's not difficult to see why some hauliers choose to turn a blind eye to regulations in order to keep the money coming in. But don't expect that to impress a judge.
DOSED WITH OUR OWN MEDICINE
• We're used to giving out awards for excellence. Our annual livery awards, Truckfest trophies and the like are designed to reward the effort that you put into your operations. So we hope you'll forgive us for banging our own drum for once.
Against competition from more than 100 other magazines published by our parent company, Reed Business Publishing Group, we have been named Editorial Team of the Year. The fact that you paid to read this, while most of our competitors arrive through the post willy nilly, does tend to keep us on our toes. We intend to stay there! e'-