JUST SAY "NO"
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• Why is "No" such a difficult word to say? If it weren't, we probably wouldn't need charters to remind drivers that nobody is forcing them to run illegally. Come to think of it, if more hauliers said "No" more often they'd probably get a lot more of what they wanted — like better rates, less trouble with dodgy freight forwarders, and fewer prosecutions for running overweight thanks to slap-dash consignors.
Of course things are never that straightforward. When a driver's been out of work for six months he can be excused for grabbing any job that's going. And if it means keeping that job he might well consider that running bent is a small price to pay.
Let's not waste our time debating if the cowboy haulier is more to blame than the driver who breaks rules for him. They are both a cancer on an industry that can be strangely ambivalent when it comes to keeping on the right side of the law.
Sadly, for every 10 drivers, or hauliers, who say "No" to breaking the law there will always be one who says "Yes."
The only real answer to rogue hauliers and drivers is to have a sufficiently punitive, and adequately funded, enforcement system that removes them for once and for all.
Until you Scare the living daylights out of dodgy hauliers and bent drivers, the only word you'll ever hear from them is "Yes."