Are owner-drivers and smaller operators becoming endangered?
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THE TALE OF the tipper subbie struggling with a 27% fuel cost increase, while rates remain static, is all too familiar (CM 22 November 2012). And, of course, fuel is not the only cost going up — as tyres, insurance and main-tenance all go up, and up, and up, and you can't even get discounts!
The small man can't insist on anything like rate increases, fuel rise surcharges, or even prompt payment of invoices without risking losing the work he relies on, because most customers know how desperate he is.
But in the days of minimum wage and minimum capital per vehicle demanded by the 0-licensing regime, surely it is not beyond the wit of the industry to have minimum rates for each class of vehicle — be it a four-axle tipper or an artic?
I believe this is the case in France, where for general haulage with a standard articulated outfit, customers have to pay rates that truly reflect the running costs of the haulier.
Because without some protection, not subsidy, the owner-driver and the small haulier — an already-endangered species — may become extinct.
DS Boyes Leeds