Blitz on non-EU drivers in UK cabs
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by Karen Miles • Hauliers who use cheap foreign drivers face a crackdown this week with new guidelines from the Department of Transport on the issue of visas to eastern European drivers.
UK embassies in eastern Europe have been ordered to stop issuing truck drivers with visitor visas unless they have British driver's licences. The DOT says it is "clear cut" and it will be up to the Vehicle Inspectorate and police to enforce the law by clamping down on the growing number of non-EU drivers in British cabs.
The DOT statement comes after months of speculation over the law and a request for guidance from the UK embassy in Bucharest. British drivers had complained to the consul there about the increasing numbers of Romanian drivers working from British depots in British-registered vehicles (CM15-21 Oct).
The authorities know of at least 40 hauliers, mainly in the South-East, London and East Anglia, which are using foreign drivers: observers believe there are many more.
The DOT says the rules on non-EU drivers are clearly stated in the Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) Order 1975, amended 1991, Articles 2.1 and 2.2.
Nonetheless, Maurice Harper, the British consul in Bucharest, fears that some British hauliers will continue to take advantage of low Romanian wages. "We can still give drivers a visa if they prove to us they have a British driver's licence," he says, "but we don't think they'll bother. We think British hauliers will de-register and get a Romanian company to do the work for them."
Harper says his embassy has been issuing up to 30 visas a week to Romanian drivers working for British firms—and he will be unable to recall their six-month and one-year visas.
The Freight Transport Association and Road Haulage Association have welcomed the move. But Karen Packham, international section manager at the PTA, says: "It's always good to give out advice but people need to be caught, and until that happens nothing will change."