1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144 
Minister sees no reason why loM hauliers were ignored
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By Chris Tindall THE ISLE OF MAN'S transport minister has admitted he does not know why the contractor behind a multi-millionpound government airport construction project overlooked local hauliers to transport materials.
Representatives of angry operators met the Manx Department of Transport (DoT) minister David Anderson last week after staging a go-slow protest in Douglas ('Isle of Man go-slow over airport contract', CM 22 October).
They demanded to know why contractor Colas, a sub-contractor to Balfour Beatty, handed the lucrative transport work to Norfolk haulier RI Holbrook.
Anderson told the Island Road Transport Association (IRTA) the Department made it clear that all its contractors should maximise the use of local resources as a priority.
A statement from the DoT says:
-This particular project benefited from the process of early contractor involvement, which is where a contractor is involved in a project very early on at the design stage, and [Anderson] could see no reason why the selection of suitable local hauliers by the contractor had not been part of that exercise.
Local haulier Paul Muirhead says the government should be "totally ashamed" for overlooking local haulage companies, and he disputes Holbrook's claims that they were uninterested.
He says: "Last year, a certain amount of hauliers applied to go on the airport job. But we were told we wouldn't get any because Holbrook wagons were doing it."
IRTA chairman Jon Bennett describes the meeting as very successful, but warns the government must get to grips with the haulage industry before introducing 0-licensing legislation on the Isle of Man.
"They have to follow the procedures they would follow in the UK. If they are not going to do it properly, then there's no point doing it."
Colas fielded all calls to the loM airport. Airport director Ann Reynolds did not respond.