Two steps forward
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hy is it that every time someone tries to cut some of the red tape round the 0-licensing system we seem to take two steps forward and one step back?
In your story about continuous licensing (CM1723 August) you say that "Hauliers in trouble with Licensing Authorities will be more likely to have their licences suspended or revoked." But wasn't the whole idea of continuous licensing to give the LAs time to concentrate on keeping an eye on hauliers who step out of line and work out ways to get them back on the straight and narrow? OK, the real rogues, cowboys, or whatever you want to call them, need to be sorted out. But what about the ordinary haulier who lets his maintenance slide or doesn't check all his drivers' charts properly? They'll either get off with a warning, which doesn't exactly help discipline, or find themselves off the road and their drivers on the dole...
LAs may have their faults but they do know a lot about the industry so they should be left to get on with doing their job.
Keith Charlton, Ipswich, Suffolk,
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