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HITTING BACK
Letter sent to the Sunday Express following a feature giving "lo sound reasons not to feel sorry for lorry operators"...
X Polly Ghazi and a few weeks ago Martin Samuel have both made ill-informed statements concerning the truck drivers' dispute (actually it's hauliers: truck drivers are paid employees).
Trucks are going to be here for the foreseeable future but they are likely to be foreign ones from countries that do not have such rigorous MoT tests as ours, or monthly safety checks like ours, or drivers who are as rigorously tested as ours, and they will be driving left-handdrive vehicles with a huge blind spot down the right side.
As to the theories that all freight should be put on rail and canals, whiled is possible that some freight could be transferred, it will not provide the whole solution. Canal boats and locks are both too narrow to carry a viable amount of cargo, and we do not have enough water to float the pleasure craft all year round, so forget adding to the number of
movements. Rail-freight operators have stated that if they doubled their freight capacity it would take less than 5% of freight off the roads. More could be done in time,,but it would take extra trucks and transfer terminals.
As to her "10 sound reasons not to feel sorry for lorry operators", here are 10 replies: E l. She claims that lorries are bad for your health. I cannot argue with her figures; I do not have the sources. But trains also have diesel engines and I know that rail-freight containers get coated in a syrup-like substance that can only be removed with a special chemical solution that is used to clean up underground trains. it is so hazardous that it cannot be bought over the counter.
Also, if she wants smaller trucks, it would take eight 7.5tonne vehicles to carry the cargo of one 40-tonne artic. Which system is going to cause the most pollution?
• 2. She claims a pedestrian is five times more likely to be killed if hit by a lorry than hit by a car. I should have thought that this was obvious, in the same way that if an elephant sits on you it will hurt more than if a kitten does.
• 3. She claims unsafe juggernauts are rife because a number fail the MoT test with brake problems. From experience I have found that most problems with brake failures at the MoT are caused by steam cleaning the vehicle immediately before the test so the brakes are still wet when tested. Re-presenting the vehicle when they have dried out gets a pass.
• 4. She claims road-freight traffic in England is growing. It is true that the amount of freight carried has increased considerably, but thanks to more efficient usage the actual number of trucks on the road has decreased between 1979 and 1998 from just over 500,000 to just over 400,000 (Government figures). In the same time the number of cars on the road has increased from about 12 million to about 23 million.
• 5. She claims heavy lorries are blighting rural life. I can assure you that lorry drivers do not drive down country lanes for fun. There is usually a good reason for them being there, such as a farm, trading estate, or even a corner shop. When an operator can be fined 1300 for having a cracked mirror he doesn't clip overhanging hedges through choice.
She also claims that noisy trucks are rattling people's houses. This is more likely to be caused by potholes in the badly maintained roads than actual noise. Still, look on the bright side; it could be an express rail line passing their houses.
• I, She claims lorry operators are perpetuating tax myths. It does not really matter whether the actual increase in the last Budget was 8% or 11%—it still makes it the most expensive fuel in Europe (or the world?).
It is obvious that if a road is designed to carry the heaviest trucks, then a family car is not going to make much impression on it. If there were no trucks do you think that roads would still be built to the same standard? NI 7. She claims Continental drivers are not treated much better than their UK counterparts. It is not true that fuel and excise duty taxes are "often" lower abroad. It is a fact that they are considerably lower abroad—a UK operator pays 15,700 for a 40-tonne truck compared with just a few hundred in most of the rest of Europe.
The claim that in France tolls can amount to £7,800 per lorry is a bit like "how long is a piece of string?"—it depends entirely on how much tolled motorway is used. It is possible to operate in France and not pay any motorway tolls; just a couple of hundred pounds road tax.
The problem is not what they pay in their own countries, but that they pay nothing over here, so their overheads are minimal. She also claims VAT on fuel is often higher abroad. The amount of VAT is immaterial as businesses get it refunded.
• IL She claims that only three in 10 fleet managers know their fuel costs or have acted to cut fuel use. I too have seen this claim. Every operator and manager that I know (and that's quite a few) is seriously worried about fuel costs and how to reduce them; after all, they amount to about 40% of costs.
• 9. She claims that lorries are bad for wildlife. I have read reports that state quite the opposite to her claims in which environmentalists were surprised at the amount of wildlife living in roadside verges.
Perhaps the wildlife she is concerned about is trying to avoid the carbon monoxide being pumped out by cars. Have you ever heard of anybody committing suicide by putting a hosepipe up a lorry exhaust?
• 10. She claims lorry fleets are helping to kill the corner shop by servicing out-of-town superstores. How on earth does she think the corner shops get their supplies?
She claims to rest her case: she has no case.
Gain MeArdlo, AL Marlrdie Transport, Axbridge, Somerset.