MEP speaks up for haulage sector
27 September 2008
Statement by Traditional Unionist MEP Jim Allister:
The road haulage and coach sector is being subjected to increasingly burdensome EU obligations. Whereas some derogations on driving time and rest periods apply, for now, mostly to agricultural traffic, the complex rules which afflict our haulage industry are truly daunting, with cross-channel connections adding to the complications.
Attempting to bring common sense to these rules has been a particular frustration for me in Europe. Indeed, things are set to get worse as the number of road and premises checks increases under new EU Commission rules.
New Regulation 561/2006 doubled the number of checks required in 2008 to 2% of the total days worked by professional drivers, and in 2010 it goes up to 3%. This will produce a massive 7 million checks pa in the UK good for civil servant staff numbers, not so good for business productivity!
With only 1% of all checks revealing offences many technical it is hard to find justification for the frenzied focus on the haulage sector. No sector is more over-regulated and whereas road safety is very important this level of punitive nannying by the EU is out of hand.
