Thousand of jobs to go in mad cow crisis
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by Karen Miles • Three thousand haulage staff have lost their jobs or been put on short-time because of the ongoing BSE crisis and another 5.500 are likely to follow in the next few days.
The number of victims could rise to 12,000 if the dairy industry is forced to institute a mass slaughter programme, warns the Road Haulage Association. The collapse in consumer confidence in British beef is expected to force the closure of many livestock and refrigerated operators over the next few weeks.
At a meeting in London this week hauliers called on the RI-IA to press the major banks to deal leniently with hauliers facing ruin. Calls for compensation continue although hauliers are unlikely to get cash.
As the crisis deepens the ITF livestock-only ferry service running from Dover to Boulogne suspended operations last week, leaving international hauliers carrying all types of livestock without a route to the Continent. "For this sector it is every bit as harrowing as the fuel crisis in the 1970s when fuel prices trebled overnight," says Graham Houghton, the RHA's livestock and foods group controller. E Peter Gilder raised ,C450,000 at a weekend auction for the sale of his livestock haulage fleet. Tractors sold for around £25,000 and sheep trailers averaged £33,000. Gilder, who arranged to sell his equipment six weeks ago, says: "The ban is a serious blow to the agricultural industry hut the farmers will get compensation: the service industries including hauliers will get nothing."