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Mote Does someone in the industry deserve a pat on the back, or a dressing down? Drop us a line at Commercial Motor, Room H203, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS or fax us on 020 8652 8971. Alternatively you can e-mail melanie.hamrnand*rhi.co.uk.
KEEP THE RUNWAY AHEAD Some lb years ago, Commercial Motor reported that a parachutist in the final seconds of his descent was blown into the path of a moving lorry. It was one of the very few truly unavoidable road accidents.
One wonders if driver behaviour has improved in the intervening years if two recent reports are typical. There is often little a driver can do to avoid items thrown or dropped from bridges over motorways, but every driver has a legal and moral duty to avoid stationary objects—or even a slow moving pedestrian or animal on the highway. It requires no great skill, only concentration. If swerving was a safe emergency manoeuvre it would be part of the driving test and mentioned in the Highway Code. Only sloppy drivers need resort to such a potentially dangerous practice. Even the simple two-second rule is widely ignored. There is nothing more useless than runway behind you—those drivers who leave plenty of space in front are better placed to safely avoid unexpected obstructions.
Lack of personal responsibility and seemingly official indifference were in evidence when a motorcyclist was struck by a hit-and-run lorry and then hit by several following vehicles.
With autumn approaching, many so-called accidents will no doubt be blamed on fog or poor light. The 100-vehicle shunt will be blamed on one person braking sharply, rather than on 99 not paying attention, Vehicles become safer, but driver attitudes seem hardly to change. Anthony 0 PhMino,
Salisbury, Wilts,
STAND YOUR GROUND
We are a recovery and breakdown company from Hampshire and are not contracted to Hampshire Police. Over the past seven years the police have done their utmost to ensure that all breakdowns and recoveries are only handled by contracted operators on motorways and trunk roads.
Recently we were called by the breakdown control room of a national company to an artic which had a fractured red air line. To the best of my knowledge, no traffic was inconvenienced by the breakdown. I arrived at the scene to find a police car parked on the opposite side of the vehicle. I picked up my tools and a red sale and walked to the vehicle. The driver confirmed that only the suzie was broken.
I then told the police officer that it would only take a couple of minutes to repair the vehicle. He leapt out of his car and told me that I was not to touch the vehicle because he had a contract garage coming to recover it and that my call out had been cancelled. He made it clear that I was forbidden to work on the vehicle.
When my office contacted the breakdown control room, they advised that they had not been contacted by the police at all. They contacted the officer in charge of the incident in very strong terms whereupon they agreed to allow us to repair the vehicle.
They said that this sort of incident was increasingly common and they felt compelled to act in the strongest terms with the police in defence of their agents right to carry out their business. The control room needs people to turn out at all hours and in all weathers on its behalf and cannot expect its agents to tolerate this sort of inconvenience.
The moral of the story? If the haulage industry wants a 24hour breakdown service, it too needs to stand its ground to ensure that it gets the operators of its choice. Support the people who support you. Wheatsheaf Garage, Basingstoke, Hampshire.
WISE UP FOLKS
Congratulations on the editorial piece referring to the flood of East Europeans (hauliers and drivers) within the EU. It is about time we took a realistic view of pay and conditions, encompassing the whole picture, not just a narrow-minded view of personal benefits. The EU driver shortage is not going to fuel a pay rise, nor will it improve the reputation of drivers and hauliers, in fact it will only hasten the demise of our international UK operated market, and possibly domestic market too, as more and more non-EU drivers and hauliers pour into the system to fill the gaps.
Politicians will not complain. Manufacturing will not complain as industry may benefit from cheaper transport costs, and Joe Public—well, when did he ever have a good word to say about us? Wise up folks, times are not going to get any better for us unless the frontiers are closed. I don't think that this will be the end of it. Eastern Europeans want a free trade area from the Turkish borders to the EU and around the Caucasus and Black Sea areas. Some European ministers want a united Europe to cover geographical Europe—all lands west of the Ural mountains and south to Turkey. Either way, noone will be able to close the frontiers now, we've gone too far too soon.
Name supplied, Aspley, Nottingham.
DIRECTION CHARGES
In an article in CiWon Sewell Distribution, deputy MD Gary O'Gara pointed out that his trailers were charged 8195 to use the Channel Tunnel from Folkestone, while foreign trailers were only paying ,2145 travelling in the other direction.
Myself, on using the western Channel routes, compared my ticket price with a Frenchman who had the same size vehicle as me, and was paying about £50 less for a round trip (R25 each way). These are the real cost base problems in the UK and not the exchange rate. Surely with a strong sterling rate we ought to be getting things cheaper? Not the other way round.
But, as land you and many more have said, without harmonisation of all factors affecting costs, whether fuel, VED, ferries, wages etc the UK international haulage trade will continue in its downward spiral. David S. Noyes, Radian& Transport, Leeds,
AGENTS OF FORTUNE
I write with reference to a letter entitled "Waste of talent" (CM 16-21 Nov). Advancing years (60+) and common sense persuaded me to stick to Y.5tanners when I started to drive a truck a couple of years ago, but I feel my experience may be of help to people who obtain a HGV licence with no previous experience in the industry.
Agency work, ie through temping agencies who specialise in short-term work, provides the opportunity to gain experience. If they are short of a driver they will get you into places where you can build up your knowledge. If you 'have a bad experience" you put it down to bad luck and wait for the next job. When necessary you have somewhere to go for a reference. And after twelve months with an agency you will have a better idea of how tote!! a straight employer from a sadist.
Sign on with more than one agency, even half a dozen, and keep calling them (at 16:00hrs each day) until they give you work. Agency work can be demanding but it solves the dilemma of how to break in when you lack experience. PB Clare, Holmfirth, West Yorks.