Safety licence c • n Mid-East run?
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PROPOSALS for a new operator's licence for companies on the Middle East run have come from Continental Freight Drivers' Club general secretary Richard Reed this week.
"Drivers and employers should get together on this to produce some method whereby a haulier should show that he has enough cash or insurance, or that he is a member of a co-operative and can get out of any trouble," said Mr Reed.
He told CM that he was concerned about the cowboy operator and the smaller firms "whose eyes go pop when they see a lucrative quote for a Middle East run, and then tell the driver, 'It's only a few miles past France'."
The Club, part of the Union Internationale des Chauffeurs Routiers, is now pressing for urgent action to stop drivers and companies finding themselves in serious trouble thousands of miles from home.
Mr Reed's idea for the Middle East licence would mean that a company would have to have proved its capability to send a driver east before the vehicle left its base. "I have been accused of being romantic," said Mr Reed, "but I believe that most operators would accept the plan and welcome it.
"We are not concerned with companies that have been running to the Middle East for some time, and where both the company and the drivers are experienced, but with the smaller companies where ignorance or negligence leads to trouble," said Mr Reed.
"I am sure that responsible drivers and their employers will welcome a plan such as this."
He dismissed suggestions for a special heavy goods vehicle licence for drivers on the grounds of difficulties in qualifying.
He said there is now a lot of concern about the vehicles and drivers going to the Middle East on what have been described "nightmare journeys".
"The trouble that British drivers hit and their problems on the road only serve to bring British drivers and their companies into disrepute," said Mr Reed.