David; you miss my point, whereas I understand yours. No-one FORCES a small company or an owner-driver to take on JIT work. You sign on for the work perhaps knowing that you’re getting a bum deal, but then it’s your own fault, not the company offering the work. They are in business to make money, not to worry about your welfare, and if you end up losing money and feeling miserable, do something else!!
And as regards waiting on break, again, you don’t HAVE to sit there all nervous and worried. Why don’t you switch off the mobile and go to sleep or stay in the transport café or whatever. If you follow the rules, which after all were designed and impletented for your protection and the public’s protection, and as a result regularly miss your place in the queue, then you’re going to end up being fired or put on other work.
And how is your boss going to fire you for keeping to the regulations?
I keep a small digital recorder with me at all times to record phone calls from planners, and I also note the date and time when they send me a text message or an e-mail to the truck computer asking me to break the rules. It hardly ever happens, but when It does, I prepare myself as well as I can for a potentially lucrative day at the Industrial relations tribunal.
Look after numero uno is my motto.
Interesting that people agree on the BBC. I had a sort of nostalgic ‘jumpers for goalposts’ view of the BBC as I grew up believing it was correct in what it reported, but these days it is to a large extent unreliable and often untruthful.
And is commercial radio and tv any better?