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
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194 
On the margin
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Mine's a double
Take a stroll with us through the little sideroads of haulage, the diversions and detours, the quirky, the quixotic and the downright strange...
One month into the New Year and already On the Margin's resolutions are dropping by the wayside faster than the sort of horse we usually back in the Grand National (or indeed one of our editor's hot tips— let's just say after the Truckers' Tavern debacle we can find better ways of frittering our kids' inheritance).
Take the one about climbing on the wagon for January. Three days in and with a frenzied yell we're swigging sweet cider and standing at the bus stop talking to tramps. Getting fit again? It started so well running, swimming, skipping, gorging on fried pig products and lard?
Ah. You see how these things break down? Well it looks like we're not the only ones.
Step forward, well, the entire transport industry. You remember the Working Time Directive? Yep, that one. The one that's been slowly taking shape since the last Ice Age. In fact you may remember warnings as far back as this time last year that you might need to focus on it and actually prepare for its implementation rather than putting your hands over your ears and shouting 'Ialalalalalalalalalalalalcan'thearyou' in the vague hope that this might prevent it arriving.
Failing early preparation it should have been on the industry's list of resolutions (and OK, we realise that the government hasn't been entirely helpful here) to get it sorted somewhere in advance of the 23 March deadline.
You could have been fiddling with pay settlements, changing shift patterns, working out whether you need any more staff or just buying a flippin wall planner and some coloured pens. But no, with all the predictability of a French fisherman's blockade, comes the news that only one in seven firms in an FTA survey has bothered to pull its finger out and attempt some sort of preparation.
We might ask what the other six have been doing but suspect that the answer might start with sweet and end in FA. It's enough to drive a man to drink...