Regulations on lorry drivers' working time harms the haulage industry
1 July 2010
SIR – In June, the European Parliament voted to include self-employed lorry drivers in the scope of a 2002 directive regulating the working time of lorry and bus drivers. This means that drivers will now be limited to working a total of 48 hours a week, including all the loading, maintenance and administrative work. Previously, self-employed drivers could spend up to 56 hours a week actually driving, so long as they drove no more than 90 hours over a two week period.
The supporters of this change had cited road safety as their main reason. However, there are already two strong measures to guarantee road safety: the tachograph and the need for the self-employed to keep their operating licence, which is reliant on the reporting of their tachograph.
The European Commission had aimed to exclude self-employed lorry drivers. Certain MEPs have now set a dangerous precedent by interfering in the manner in which the self-employed organise their working time. This vote is the last thing wanted by a road haulage industry that is already suffering from over-regulation, high fuel prices and the recession.
We therefore urge the European Commission to stand firm and ask MEPs to think again.
John Walker
National Chairman, Federation of Small Businesses
David Frost
Director General, British Chamber of Commerce
Tina Sommer
President, European Small Business Alliance
Fiona Hall
Leader of the UK Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament
Timothy Kirkhope
Deputy Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group
Leader of the British Conservative Delegation in the European Parliament
Stuart Agnew
United Kingdom
Alexander Alvaro
Germany
Marta Andreasen
United Kingdom
Tom Antonissen
Secretary General, European Confederation of Equipment Distributors (ECED)
Liam Aylward
Ireland
Burkhard Balz
Germany
Bendt Bendtsen
Denmark
President of the SME Circle of the EPP Group
Sharon Bowles
United Kingdom
Philip Bradbourn
United Kingdom
John Brazier
Managing Director, Professional Contractors Group
John Bufton
United Kingdom
Martin Callanan
United Kingdom
David Campbell Bannerman
United Kingdom
Daniel Caspary
Germany
Jorgo Chatzimarkakis
Germany
Giles Chichester
United Kingdom
Derek Clark
United Kingdom
Trevor Colman
United Kingdom
Jürgen Creutzmann
Germany
Earl of Dartmouth
United Kingdom
Diane Dodds
United Kingdom
Leonidas Donskis
Lithuania
Dr. Christian Ehler
Germany
Lena Ek
Sweden
Sari Essayah
Finland
Vicky Ford
United Kingdom
Jacqueline Foster
United Kingdom
Ashley Fox
United Kingdom
Michael Gahler
Germany
Pat the Cope Gallagher
Ireland
Julie Girling
United Kingdom
Ma?gorzata Handzlik
Poland
Daniel Hannan
United Kingdom
Malcolm Harbour
United Kingdom
Chairman of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee
Marian Harkin
Ireland
Roger Helmer
United Kingdom
Jolanta Hibner
Poland
Nadja Hirsch
Germany
Vincenzo Iovine
Italy
Danuta Jaz?owiecka
Poland
Sidonia J?drzejewska
Poland
Elisabeth Jeggle
Germany
Filip Kaczmarek
Poland
Sandra Kalniete
Latvia
Dr. Syed Kamall
United Kingdom
Sajjad Karim
United Kingdom
Arturs Karins
Latvia
Sean Kelly
Ireland
Dr. Wolf Klinz
Germany
Chairman, European Parliament Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis
Dieter-Lebrecht Koch
Germany
Prof. Lena Kolarska-Bobinska
Poland
Eija-Riitta Korhola
Finland
Jan Koz?owski
Poland
Holger Krahmer
Germany
Jacek Kurski
Poland
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff
Germany
Baroness Luford
United Kingdom
George Lyon
United Kingdom
Emma McClarkin
United Kingdom
Gesine Meissner
Germany
Gay Mitchell
Ireland
Ray Muscat
Director General - Sectors & Business Development, The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry
Mike Nattrass
United Kingdom
Bill Newton Dunn
United Kingdom
Norica Nicolai
Romania
Paul Nuttall
United Kingdom
Phil Orford
Chief Executive, Forum of Private Business
Sirpa Pietikäinen
Finland
Britta Reimers
Germany
Frédérique Ries
Belgium
Olle Schmidt
Sweden
Nikki Sinclaire
United Kingdom
Timo Soini
Finland
Renate Sommer
Germany
Laurence Stassen
Netherlands
Peter Stastny
Slovakia
Dirk Sterckx
Belgium
Struan Stevenson
United Kingdom
Dr. Kay Swinburne
United Kingdom
Hannu Takkula
Finland
Dr. Charles Tannock
Michael Theurer
Germany
Ivo Vajgl
Slovenia
Peter van Dalen
Netherlands
Geoffrey Van Orden
United Kingdom
Oldrich Vlasak
Czech Republic
Graham Watson
United Kingdom
Renate Weber
Romania
Cecilia Wikström
Sweden
Corien Wortmann-Kool
Netherlands
Roberts Zile
Latvia
Joanna Skrzydlewska
Poland
Monika Hohlmeier
Germany
Dr. Paul Rübig
Austria
Michael Nielsen
International Road Transport Union
Comment, The Daily Telegraph