1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178 
Ladyman ponders future of Forum
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
TRANSPORT MINISTER Dr Stephen Ladyman has admitted that the Road Haulage Forum is due for a shake-up.
His comments came during a meeting with Andrew Tinkler and William Stobart, the bosses of Eddie Stobart. which had been set up by CM.
Referring to the forum set up by the then Transport Minister John Reid in 1999 Ladyman said: "[said some time ago that I wanted to look at its structure.
"I'm not sure that we're getting the right messages from it." he added. "We get one line from the forum and another from people like yourselves. Is it working? Does it have the right structure, the right people?"
William Stobart remarked that he wasn't sure its messages were getting through to government.
Ladyman replied:"That's some thing I'm worried about. And you're not the first to say that really big operators need a mechanism to get information through.
"Stan Robinson told me exactly the same thing he doesn't think that people like him are getting his message across.
"We'll look to improve communication with you big guys.. there's a whole voice of haulage out there that we aren't hearing."
Membership of the Road Ilaulage Forum is currently confined to staff from the Freight Transport Association, the Road Haulage Association, the transport unions and a number of other individuals.
• See page 22 for a full report of the Stobart/Ladyman interview.