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Stobart drivers take up slack from mail strike
Page 6
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CM COVER STORY
By Chris Tindall. and Kevin Swallow THE POSTAL STRIKES have provided an opportunity for the UK's most famous haulier, Eddie Stobart, to take up the slack left by Royal Mail workers downing their tools However, drivers are telling CM that they are running the gauntlet when they cross picket lines outside depots across the country.
A spokeswoman for chief operating officer William Stobart confirms that the firm is helping Royal Mail while the Communication Workers Union remains at loggerheads with the postal company.
More than 43,000 union members in mail centres, delivery units and network logistics drivers are striking against Royal Mail's plans for modernisation.
Stobart drivers say they were asked if they would be prepared to cross picket lines in order to deliver mail, and a procedure must be followed if it becomes unsafe to do so.
One driver reveals: "They are allowed to ask you nicely not to break a picket line, but if it is safe to go through, you must.
"If not, we should hack off out of the site and ring our planner and they will ring the police."
He adds: -It can be quite nasty, although up to now it has just been a bit of verbal. There have been a few nasty remarks from Royal Mail staff at service stations"
Another Stobart driver tells CM
he turned down the work because he is a union member: -We have had about 15 units pulling the mail. In West Thurrock, when people realised we were doing it, I got two fingers stuck up at me and I am not even doing the work!"
A Stobart spokeswoman says: "We do very little, just bits where we can help and where we can support them."
Boost for rivals
Parcel companies and couriers continue to benefit from the industrial action at the Royal Mail.
A TNT spokesman says its call centres have -received 20,000 more calls than normal in the two week run-up to the first strike': Guy Busvvell, chief executive of Business Post, also confirmed r, his firm has seen a 10% to 15% increase in work due to the strikes re Chris Watts, owner of CWS P, Courier Services in Newport, Wales, reveals that there has been a 25% rise in business.
He adds: "I have seen a rise in letters from solicitors and large firms who want the delivery of their accounts on the same day."
Kevin Arrow, owner of Arrow Light Haulage, based in StanfordLe-Hope, Essex, is getting five to eight calls a day, of which 50% turn into genuine work.
• If you want to reach customers looking for alternatives to Royal Mail, log on to www.roadtransport. com/postaloptions