Lack of facilities
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A y late father spent all —VI his working life in road transport. I remember him telling me that on one trip from a livestock market, with his boss, he was directed to pull into a hostelry so they could have something to eat. The landlady refused them service as they were lorry drivers and smelly livestock drivers at that.
The boss knew the laws and rules of that day, almost by heart, and quoted law this, sub-section that, paragraph whatever. He said that as they were travellers of the road and she was a licensed refreshment house she was not able to refuse. She called the local policeman who did not know the law, such as it had been quoted, so it seemed she had little choice.
Now to come up to date and to my question. As a sub-contractor for a local company in Dover I get a great deal of our reloads from steel works, mainly South Wales, but also from Sheffield and Sheerness and we are always kept in long queues for many hours waiting to load.
Friday 26 September was a good example. I arrived at Sheffield steelworks along with other drivers, two of whom had rental vehicles because theirs had broken down en route, and therefore we had very little in the cabs. We were kept waiting by a mechanical breakdown at this modern fully automated plant.
My delay was one minute short of eight hours We were informed that if we did not weigh out before 10:00hrs we would be unable to leave before Monday morning Now, just as ferry companies have to supply cabins and refreshments on journeys lasting more than four-and-ahalf hours, we reckon that any company that keeps you waiting so long through their own fault should keep you fed and watered.
Very few companies have the facilities offered on the Continent, ie canteens, toilets and showers, and even fewer allow drivers to use them.
It is therefore about time such a law, if indeed there was one and it's still on the statute books, was implemented.
This seems to be something for the unions to get their teeth into.
Alf Buckman,
Dover.