News

Whenever you canvass those in the industry on what they want the future to hold, a booming economy, a stable diesel price and a more sympathetic government tend to be popular answers. But other issues are more divisive, such as the adoption of longer, heavier vehicles (LHVs).

Commercial Motor asked a selection of operators what measures  the government could introduce to help hauliers, their drivers and other employees. If you could make changes in the road transport industry in 2009, what would they be? What would make life easier for a transport boss? We received some thought-provoking responses...

Robert Wilcox, managing director of Massey Wilcox

1. Make it easier for trucks to service London – firms are faced with the lorry ban, congestion charge and the low-emission zone (LEZ).
2. Don't introduce LHVs.
3. Invest in proper truckstops and more motorway service areas with a cap on what they charge for overnight parking.
4. Make the wheel-clamping of innocent lorry drivers a hanging offence.
5. Get rid of the Working Time Directive.

Piers Carroll, vice chairman of Saints Transport

1. Make sure we can opt out of the Working Time Directive. If people want to work harder to provide more for themselves  and their families, why shouldn't they be allowed to?
2. Provide a level playing field regarding safety and legality. It seems to be a choice to run legally and properly, rather than through fear of repercussions if you don't. Everyone makes the odd mistake, everyone is going to have accidents; all you can do is ensure that you've tried to minimise this.
3. Make foreign drivers pay their share of road tax. If they use the road system, they can help repair and maintain it.
4. Don't introduce LHVs. We simply do not have the road network and structure to support them. Why make the driver's job even harder?
5. We very much like the LEZ and would be in favour of a system that raises road tax by 10% or 20% per year after the first five years, so as the truck gets older and more environmentally damaging, it is charged accordingly.

Alan Ferguson, managing director of Fergusons Transport

1. Provide exemption from the Working Time Directive.
2. Make serious investment in road infrastructure.
3. Give a fuel duty rebate or reduction in duty coupled with an increase in VAT so that the benefit is felt by VAT-registered companies.
4. Increase the speed limit on single-carriageway roads from 40mph to 50mph.

Ian Jarman, environmental and legislation manager of Owens Road Services

1. Scrap the ludicrous rise in fuel duty. The rise in costs is equivalent to the wages of eight drivers. It has effectively lumbered us with an additional burden of over £15,000 a month.
2. Stop the proposed increase in toll fares along the Severn Bridge.
3. Get a rate rebate on warehouses the company currently has that are lying unused.

Andrew Tinkler, chief executive officer for Stobart Group

1. Do more to encourage retailers to share their transport and logistic requirements. This would help us increase our utilisation – which in Stobart's fleet is now 84% – and reduce empty miles and harm to the environment. It could also look at making more grants available for the development of rail and sea-linked transport facilities, which again would reduce congestion and improve the environment.
2. Put an end to waste: trucks travelling with empty loads, containers going back to ports empty and slots on the rail network that aren't used.
3. Support Stobart's initiatives around increasing trailer lengths by less than a metre. This would give an additional 13% of fast-moving consumer goods cage capability and would significantly reduce road congestion and pollution.

If you want to have your say about the industry in 2009, visit the Roadtransport.com 2009 Survey page.