COMMENT
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...next to godliness
Stand Ards of food hygiene in the supply chain have been inexorably raised ever higher in recent years in response to public demand. As a result, we live in an environment where food scares, whether of real substance or not, can break entire sectors of the market overnight— witness the BS E crisis and the knock-on effects that destroyed some good hauliers.
Small wonder, then, that moves are being made to ensure that vehides carrying grain have not previously been used for potentially hazardous substances such as glass, toxins, waste or even sewage. It means that operators who cherrypick seasonal work from the grain merchants will find it harder to get that work without the expense of dedicated trailers—but it must be in the haulage sector's best long-term interests to be squeaky clean where food hygiene is at stake.
As a side issue, of course, it should mean that hard-pressed specialist grain hauliers will have less competition and a better chance of getting a fair rate for the job.
• When is a law not a law? When it doesn't suit the law, perhaps? That's the way some will interpret the fine imposed on Stephen McFarlane for exceeding the drivers' hours limit by just 3o minutes while he tried to find a safe and legal place to stop. Caught in traffic on the motorway, he had little legal option but to get to the nearest service station.
Some simple guidance outlining when and for just how long a driver may continue to drive past the limit in order to stop in a suitable place would be no bad thing. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how McFarlane's appeal against the decision is received.