P LETTER OF THE WEEK
Page 18
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Trade associations need to fight for the industry
THE ONLY WAY TO save this industry is for us to work together — and that, of course, includes the Freight Transport Association and Road Haulage Association. It is clear to me, and I'm sure to many others in this business, that neither of these organisations has shown sufficient determination to support our cause. They allow themselves to be bullied into submission by a government that doesn't seem to care that yet another British industry is dying.
We know from experience that demonstrations and strikes won't win us any battles in the long term. What is needed is the courage of our trade representatives to stand up and fight for a fair deal for their members.
There is no longer any advantage in owning a company with a large number of vehicles, or even having what we believe to be watertight contracts, because we are constantly undercut by foreign hauliers prepared to work for lower rates. The UK companies now choosing to use foreign trucks in preference to British no doubt believe that they are getting a good deal.
This may be true in the short term, but how can they fail to see that when they no longer have a choice, those low rates will dramatically increase. Every UK haulage company that folds brings that day ever closer.
I have campaigned endlessly on the question of charging foreign trucks at the point of entry to the UK, but have constantly been told that it would be unworkable.We are an island, after all. Just how hard can it be?
WW Smith D Perfect and Sons Essex