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Lorry firms say law will hit work

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Date / 16 May 2005

Under the laws, 60 hours driving will be the limit for a working week

Haulage companies in Devon and Cornwall say they face an uncertain future with the introduction of new laws on Monday limiting drivers working hours.

The new road transport regulations will cut a driver's average working week to 48 hours instead of the current 55.

South West firms say they will be penalised because the region is so far from other parts of the UK.

The Department for Transport says the new legislation will only hit hauliers who exploit drivers.

Financial pressures

Under the new working time directive, drivers must average no more than 48 hours a week over periods of up to six months.

Sixty hours is the limit for any one week, but time spent queuing to load at depots is not included.

David Cook, who owned Cooks Transport in Hayle, Cornwall, said it was an impossible demand and that he felt he had to close because of huge financial pressures caused.

One pressure he said would have been the need to take on extra drivers to make sure regulations were not broken.

He said: "We could not get the drivers to cover the work we had, and I could not see it getting better with reduced hours."

The Freight Transport Association said the South West and Cornwall in particular would suffer more than other areas.

Director Geoff Dossiter said: "Journeys will have to be rescheduled, and this is the special problem for areas like Cornwall, which is, of course, literally at the end of the road."

David Hookins, national chairman of British Association of Removers, and also vice-chairman of the Road Haulage Association in Plymouth, said drivers were also worried about the effect on them directly, not just employers.

Financial pressures

He said: "Drivers are worried about some the flexibility that's being taken away from them, the option to work extra hours if they needed them.

"This industry works on flexibility. We have to be able to achieve the targets that our customers want.

"Another of the fears of the industry is that this could force drivers to work in the black economy, working for cash in hand."

The government's Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) insists the new legislation would hit only hauliers who exploited drivers.

It said it would benefit drivers are "being cajoled into working excessive hours".

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