Driver 'shortage': new report, same old story

I think the full text of two points of the lady’s submission to the oxygen wasters warrants recognition, I get the impression that she is just as exasperated as we all are with the attitude of the industry: she said:

" I think many potential drivers don’t really get started.They turn up as an inexperienced agency driver to a client’s traffic office, where sometimes (…only sometimes. Before you howl, I do know there are plenty of good companies where this is not the case) they are treated with lack of respect by the person behind the window, by other drivers in the yard and then at the client premises they are delivering to. And that may be after they’ve already had the start time of their assignment changed from something they agreed to something else that suits a lot less, mucking up all sorts of elements of their family and social life. Then they have to use a layby. They realise that not only are they not King of the Road, but they’renever going to be."

AND

"Specifically, I believe that a reduction to the driver’s working day should be considered.
The driver’s day has gradually been lengthened through a number of EU related changes:
1968: Transport Act of 1968 - restricted the driver’s working day to 12.5 hours through what was referred to as ‘spreadover’, ensuring 11.5 hours off-duty.
1986: Amendments abolished the 1968 limits on driver duty when a driver was covered by EC rules - the new provisions on rest periods within the EC rules effectively limited the hours for which a driver could be on duty and any reduction in daily rest from 11 to 9 hours had to be made up by the end of the following week
2005: the Working Time Directive was applied to the road transport industry, with a very weak interpretation of PoAs (Periods of Availability) adopted in the UK
2007: EC regulation 561/2006 meant no rest compensation was required - from 2007, there has been no requirement to make up any reduction in daily rest, so there is no compensation required following a 9 hour overnight break
That change in April 2007 means that each and every week can include three 15 hour days. And after those 15 hour days, the driver needs to travel home, eat, sleep for a few hours, get up, shower, travel and report back to work.
A UK driver’s life often consists of much hanging around for one reason and another, and the Working Time Directive doesn’t really do anything to help - the weak interpretation of PoAs was accompanied by a casual approach to its application, in many ways turning what should have been protective legislation into just another administrative task.
Could a return to the past be helpful? Would limiting the length of the working day back to the 12.5 hour spreadover help to make the job more attractive? Should the Working Time Directive for mobile workers be abolished to cut red tape or should PoAs be beefed up to provide drivers with more protection? Certainly pay would need to reflect any change, as drivers will still have the same cost of living and current disincentives already create the illusion of a driver shortage."[/b]