Sad but true
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T have just read "Sound Off" CM 12-18 Sept and was saddened by the contents. Why? -Bemuse it is so true. Following a fl fine for a minor technical offence some 35 years ago, I have had a great interest in the way road transport is hounded by the authorities. Indeed, only last week I stood up in a court and made this point. It is about time the legislators asked themselves what is the purpose of legislation.
It is a) to ensure the safe operation of vehicles, b) to ensure the operation of vehicles does not interfere with the freedom of others, or c) to enable legislators to obtain as many prosecutions as possible regardless of cost. All too often, it appears to be "c".
Make legislation compli
cated, don't give help, cause maximum problems and obtain as much money as you can in fines seems to be the order of the day. When will they learn? Perhaps when there is no food in the shops because no one dares deliver it!
Allan Robinson Chester-le-Street.
Only one answer
The argument between the Driving Standards Agency and the Road Transport Industry Training Board (CM 17-23 Oct) seems a bit beside the point to me.
They can argue all they like about who should be allowed on the "voluntary register" of driving instructors automatically, but the real point is there should be nothing "voluntary" about the register. Somebody is qualified to teach someone to drive a truck or they are not.
What the DSA should be doing is working as quickly as possible to ensure that there is a proper qualification for truck driving instructors.
Until there is, this is just one more issue about which the industry will be embarrassed when it is raised in public. It's all very well for the industry to bleat on about how safe it is, but what do we expect outsiders to think when we carry on like this?
G Williamson Leicester.