Cambridgeshire haulier Paul Fox reckons enough talking has been done,
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IVs time for hauliers to make a stand for what they Move they deserve...
• if you want to sound off about a road transport Issue write to features editor Patric Cunnane or fax your views (up to 600 words) to Nicky Clarke on 0181 652 8912
6 After reading how one of Britain's biggest and best
known hauliers, Eddie Stobart, got on trying to make the present Government aware of the dire situation road transport is in ( CM14 Jan) I can conclude two points.
First, this Government is on a suicide mission with its transport policy and second, it has watched too many Thomas the Tank Engine TV programmes.
The New Labour Government, which is obsessed with everything new, wants to take this country's industries back to the days when goods would leave a factory to be delivered probably some time another day. British industry has for many years enjoyed the efficiency, convenience and reliability of road haulage and cannot now go back to a second-rate transport system.
With mobile telephones and radio systems customers can now enjoy knowing where their goods are at all times. And most large companies can receive stock on an hourly intake knowing the delivery will simply be there when they want it. This, in many cases is a just-in-time delivery system which gives maximum efficiency in terms of transport and warehousing costs.
In his Sound Off, Stobart says that during his meeting with London Transport Minister Glenda Jackson, she kept turning the conversation to rail. But how can any railway system survive without trucks delivering to the railhead and when the freight is already on wheels, why not send it all the way by road?
While this country is an industrial nation it must have its road haulage industry and this Government has got to accept that simple fact. Trying to cost trucks off the road is not the answer and will only result in British hauliers leaving the roads to allow Continental hauliers to drive on the roads which we've paid for through excessive taxes. The trucks will still roll but the revenue stream flowing into the Treasury will deplete.
Of course the British haulier "ain't done yet". I believe if every haulier, from Eddie Stobart to all the one-man bands in the country unite and, just for once, stand together along with the Road Haulage and the Freight Transport associations and owner-driver clubs, then together we could turn the tables.
There are thousands of us working in the public eye. We should use this simple fact to our advantage and spread the word to the electorate about what its Government is trying to do. Tell your friends and family how much vehicle and diesel tax you pay, put slogans on your trucks, write to your local MPs and papers. tt's such little effort for so much gain and so many have sat and taken it on the chin that now is the time for action. The cost of fuel is the one issue that could bring this Government down.
If French hauliers were persecuted like we Brits, then they would have brought their country to a standstill as they have done over rates in the past. It is time for everyone to take part in action, enough talking has been done.
As Elvis Presley once sang "It's now or never". If we stand firmly together, spread the word together and protest together, we could all finish singing, "You'll never walk alone".