02/10/2021
An email I sent to the RHA this afternoon, im not expecting a reply.
Sir,
I am a Class 1 hgv driver and have been for the last 38 years. During my time on the road I have seen our wages, terms of employment, roadside facilities and treatment by employers, customers and the general public descend to a level which is frankly no longer acceptable.
The RHA during the last 38 years have done absolutely nothing to ensure driver welfare nor have they done anything to ensure drivers are paid fairly, in fact quite the opposite, the RHA have been instrumental in the descent to the bottom.
It is quite clear from your current campaign alongside the FTA to re-engage drivers who have left the industry and to recruit new drivers that you do not understand the problems you have created for your membership.
One of the major reasons apart from poor wages that drivers have left and one of the major hurdles to recruiting new drivers is the dire lack of good quality roadside amenities for drivers.
Your membership are still largely of the opinion that it is acceptable for a driver to park overnight in a layby with no facilities at all, for hauliers to expect drivers to pay extortionate parking fees out of their own pockets and for drivers to act as unpaid security guards for your members vehicles. I personally know one driver who was disciplined for having been away from his truck for too long resulting in 800 litres of diesel being stolen, he happened to be on an 11 hour daily rest at the time.
Trying to convince us that such things as ongoing training, driver cpcs, diversity and other such soundbites will make our lives more acceptable is quite frankly laughable, it doesnt. If you really wish to promote the success of the industry and that of your members then your starting point should be driver welfare, put a stop to drivers in laybys overnight and put a stop to overpriced, filthy, pothole strewn so called truckstops. Until this issue is addressed then you will not be recruiting anywhere near enough drivers to replace those of us who have had enough and left or are about to leave.
Sincerely
