II EDITOR'S COMMENT
Page 5
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• You can cut all the red tape you want. You can reduce the level of government involvement to a bare minimum. But at the end of the day there is a point beyond which you cannot and must not go. In the case of road haulage, judging by our operator survey on licensing, that point is a voluntary code of practice on vehicle maintenance. It may surprise the Department of Transport that an overwhelming majority of hauliers insist on rigorous measures on maintenance — but it comes as no surprise to Commercial Motor. Despite what the popular press has to say, the industry does take an interest in its standards, particularly when it comes to the roadworthiness of its vehicles. The honest haulier is only too aware of the competition from cowboys who skimp on their truck care in order to squeeze an extra penny from the job. He may even be tempted to follow suit — but the end result could be much more than a stiff rebuke from the Licensing Authority. There are lives involved here.
It is not realistic for the Department of Transport, already under fire from many quarters on the general level of safety in transport, to ask the road haulage industry to adopt more self-regulation when it comes to maintenance practices. Not least because in the Vehicle Inspectorate it has an agency with an exemplary reputation for professionalism and commitment to road safety, and one which is more than capable of setting and maintaining high standards.
No doubt the responsible road haulage companies which comprise the bulk of our industry would be able to operate under a voluntary code of practice for maintenance and maintain their current high standards. But surely the whole point of enforcing high safety standards is to keep a tight rein on the black sheep of the industry who wouldn't give a tinker's cuss for a toothless voluntary code.
Of course the Government is right to look at ways of reducing the time spent in actually applying for licences, and there is no doubt that scrapping five-year licences would make things simpler for hauliers. But instead of looking at ways of transferring more responsibility for maintenance to operators beyond that already held, the DTp should be stepping up moves to rid the industry of those operators who cynically bend the rules to suit themselves.
As one of our respondents succinctly put it: "Why make it easier for the cowboys?" Why indeed.