Is your food a danger to your health?
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• Poor diet is costing many drivers their jobs and possibly their lives, according to the United Road Transport Union. It is so worried about the problem it is to commission a major survey to find the causes.
A preliminary study by the union found that almost 90% of drivers live on diets "loaded with fat and sugar" and many, as a result, are failing medicals at the age of 45.
Last week URTU president David Higginbottom told a transport safety conference that roadside facilities are "hopelessly inadequate" and drivers' diets poor. "As a union representative I have attended many more funerals than retirement parties," he says.
URTU says the high stodge diet, combined with stress and lack of exercise, leaves many drivers too unhealthy to renew their licences after they reach 45.
The DVLA says it does not measure how many drivers fail their licence renewal medicals or why, but URTU claims that the DVLA's insistence on five-yearly merlicals once a driver reaches the age of 45 is a tacit admission of the problem.