November/December Issue 64 - Flipbook - Page 13
NEWS
THERE’S NEVER A TIME TO SELF-REGULATE
2500 kilos into regulations similar
to vehicles over 3500kg what other
regulations do they have in mind?
Let us remind ourselves why we
voted and implemented Brexit - there
is no reason to believe at this stage
the British government will follow
Europe on this or any element.
By Fred Henderson
If ever history is about to repeat
itself it is now as once again
Derek Firminger ratchets his case
up for self-regulation and I make
my point that it is completely
unnecessary,
unloved
and
unwanted.
I must first acknowledge that Derek
is a far better, more intelligent writer
than I will ever be. His articles are
well researched and usually cover
all elements – but on this occasion
he has only covered elements that
suit him.
While not being as well-educated as
Derek, I need to remind him that I
do have, in abundance, common
sense; which seems to be lacking
in many areas in this day and age.
We all need to remember a divisive
attempt to introduce an ‘R’ Licence
a few years ago. It caused recovery
operators to drop out of trade
associations and, basically, people
were fed up at the prospect of more
regulations and more cost and, in
many ways, nothing has changed.
I find it sad that Derek and one or
two others are totally obsessed with
more regulation to the point they
remind me of the now-dead MP
Tam Dalyell who spent all his life on
a lost cause claiming the Argentine
warship the Belgrano should not
have been sunk by the British navy
when, in fact, the sinking went a long
way to winning us the Falklands war,
just another lost cause.
If we look at this proposed EU
Regulation of putting vehicles above
Firstly, let’s not get excited and
panic. We must just take a look at
the impact of such regulations on
the whole 2500/3500kg transport
industry. There must be a million
vehicles that fit into this category.
How can they all possibly be retrofitted with tachographs? Could it be
that some sort of half-way house rule
is in the making? Also what about
4x4 pickups? It is probably time that
we gave the Federation of Small
Businesses a tap on the shoulder,
after all a lot of their members might
be affected. Rather than introduce
a regulation we need to ensure that
one way or another we retain our
100 km exemption for the recovery
industry. It is worth remembering
that this concession is about the
only one we possess, everything
else is ‘law of the land’.
Time would be well spent lobbying
the Department of Transport, but
our track record of these things is
historically very poor. Even the
deputation to get flashing red lights
seems to be lumbering on and I
wouldn’t be surprised if it concludes
that we are only allowed to use
these lights when there is a full
moon and an ‘R in the month! It is
no good rushing in to self-regulation
because we could finish up with
both self-regulation and government
regulation – in other words, the worst
of both worlds.
We need to remember that selfregulation is useless because it
is unenforceable, costs a lot of
money to get approval and, in the
meantime, someone will be on the
gravy train making money out of us,
again. Many companies also won’t
bother to sign up and save money.
It is not just our industry. I recently
read an article on the Red Tractor
Programme in agriculture. There
is a lot of dissatisfaction about the
amount charged for each inspection
which, to say the least, had varying
standards. Haven’t we heard that
before?
Going back to this European
Directive, how much do we know
about it? Once again, what will it
involve and what vehicles would
be affected? Then again, what do
we need to know about a European
Directive when we voted for Brexit?
Now is the time to play that hand
because, among other things,
the industry is not in a good state
following the dramas of last year.
Perhaps any change may finally
get through to Recovery Operators
that this time they are not taking
increased costs on the nose and
work providers will have to face
extra costs if they want a half decent
service, driving bent and working far
too many hours has to end.
Finally, with all this scaremongering
if I was a van dealer I would be
stocking up with small vans as we
see the emergence of the overloaded
Berlingo.
Before I wrap up, I need to once
again congratulate the secret writer
on his contribution – well-spoken,
well written and well explained. On
this occasion he has referred to the
yellow van as an AA van and has
referred to management as Edmund
King; so we are progressing. As true
as his words are, I feel he on a loser
because I have heard it said that
some operators are pleased that
the AA don’t do smart motorways so
they can get the jobs themselves –
in other words, risk life and limb for
£45 – but well done anyway.
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