Further anger at delays
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• Northern supermarket chain Morrisons has come under renewed fire for delays in accepting deliveries: one haulier claims his driver was unable to unload for three days.
Last week CM reported a 14-hour wait by Hepden's Transport on 16 December at Morrisons' Wakefield depot. Other hauliers have since come forward with similar complaints and the Road Haulage Association says it will intervene if
Morrisons fails to compensate Hepden's for the delay.
Owner-driver Mark Catterall says that he was kept waiting 15 hours on the same day as Hepden and he is threatening to charge Morrisons £20 an hour for lost time.
"You lose your place in the queue if you leave your lorry to go to the toilet or have a cup of tea," says Catterall, who is usually kept waiting for up to six hours, despite arriving at ap pointed times. He claims that such delays lose his business thousands of pounds in the run up to Christmas.
Northern haulier Peter Haworth runs 31 vehicles. He says that in the week before Christmas one of his trucks went to Morrisons at Wakefield three days running before it was able to unload. Haworth reckons that delays that week cost his firm more than £3,000.
"The waiting time is at no expense to the supermarkets," says Haworth, "only to the frustrated haulier trying to give a good service to these inefficient people."
Mike Farmer of the Road Haulage Association's West Midlands region has promised to back Hepden's Transport in its fight for compensation.
"Delays are a growing problem, even among firms with BS5750,“ says Farmer, who believes that many hauliers are reluctant to complain because they are dependent on the supermarkets for business.
"Lengthy delays are unacceptable and compensation should be paid," he says.