truck blockade
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but is 25% busier since being privatised out of the Dock Labour Scheme. He believes that truck drivers have been given "the back end of the deal" and are often forced to wait while containers are loaded on to trains which have to leave at a set time. Last Thursday was extremely busy with three ships in at once, says Harryman. "I understand their frustration. It's like getting a quart in a pint pot."
Many of the drivers CM spoke to at Southampton docks blamed the dockers' work practices: "I often wait seven hours to get a pick-up," says Colchester ownerdriver Malcom Cox. "The dockers never work fast. They don't give a damn and don't realise it's our bread and butter. If they sit me here for seven hours I don't earn a penny."
Granville Sutcliffe of Alcan Enfield Alloys of Bradford agrees: "They go off on tea breaks for an hour when things are busy."
However, Dan Kinsella of owner-drivers' organisation Port and Container Division United Transport Association blames some truckers for illegally taking their daily break periods while queuing. He says this clogs up the docks.
SCT admits that queuing has been "a factor of terminal operations for many years", and says it has got worse because of "increased business attained by winning new traffic".