1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156 
Why are we hounded by government?
Page 17
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Truckers stand up for yourselves!
I AM WRITING as a final battle cry to save the haulage industry from certain demise, as it is increasingly bombarded by all the wrong rules, regulations and law enforcement.
Does anyone realise what will happen if the situation continues? Will any action be taken when most firms can no longer afford diesel or customers can't afford deliveries? Will the reality of the situation finally sink in when there is little food in the shops and few supplies in the deserted high streets?
What I want is action. Gordon Brown and the DfT have made it quite clear they have no interest in the trucking industry.
Brown no doubt regards us as second-class citizens bringing in far too much easy revenue in speeding tickets, parking fines, Indeed he chunters on about meeting oil companies and lowering the price of oil when his government charges 15 to 20p more in tax on a litre of fuel than the average levy on the Continent. When I wrote to it about the Alconbury truckstop, the DfT informed me truckstops are private ventures and it was not there to rescue them, adding Alconbury must have gone bankrupt as some drivers were spending nights in laybys. Because the government did not help, there are now a significantly larger numbers of drivers parking in laybys in and around Huntingdon.
The police, in West Yorkshire anyway, have decided to prosecute hauliers who took part in the fuel protest convoy on the M62. They have not said exactly what they are being prosecuted for and that, alongside the ever changing and confusing tacho regs makes it difficult to stay on the right side of the law.
Vosa is another big obstruction in the industry. I would like someone to explain to me why I saw two Vosa officers at Corby service station go round the truck park getting drivers — presumably on a tacho break — out of their cabs and question them when no apparent offence had been committed. I try hard to stay within my driving time. The last thing I need on a break is the law questioning me.
The price of diesel, the lack of secure parking and plethora of so-called rules and regs, a lot of which make little sense, lead me to ask: how are we supposed to make a living?
Paul Dakers Councillor, Huntingdon District Council Cambridgeshire