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The DfT's forthcoming review of the Working Time Regulations will give fresh impetus to union demands for a change in the way drivers' working hours are defined. Guy Sheppard reports.
A year ago, David Carnegie was one of several hauliers in north-east Scotland protesting about the impact that the Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations was having on his business.
Local MPMikeWeirtook upthecase.calling for a parliamentary debate into how the 48-hour week apparently discriminated against operators in remote areas because they had further to travel to reach their main markets.
But employer discontent with the regulations now seems largely to have evaporated. As Carnegie, director of DM Carnegie in Laurencekirk, Aberdeenshire, now admits: "It's not as bad as it seemed last year."
According to James Hookham, policy director of the Freight Transport Association, any tinkering with the regulations is the last thing that employers want."Our members have spent a huge amount of management time last year and this year implementing the legislation and making it work."
Heavy burden
He argues that the introduction of digitachs this year and changes to rules on drivers' hours in 2007 means employers have more than enough to cope with as it is."We're already dealing with the next heap of responsibilities that the government has dumped on us. Let's move on."
Few signs of discontent have emerged among drivers either. Road Haulage Association policy director Karen Dee says: "We don't sense any great complaint from drivers about abuses of the system."
Jason Bradley, operations manager of AK Worthington in Manchester, says drivers can actually resent the way the 48-hour week limits their earnings. "Some get into financial difficulties and they can't do another...