AS ROAD haulage operators arrived with their bulled-up trucks for the annual industry gathering at Truckfest Scotland, one of the major talking points, in addition to high fuel costs and new vehicle availability, was the recently perceived insistence by safety authorities that youngsters should not be allowed to travel in truck cabs, writes Alistair Vallance.
Every haulier interviewed by Transport News at Ingliston reckoned it was regular local trips in the cab by their young offspring that sowed the seeds of interest in developing a career in road haulage, which in the vast majority of cases rose within the structure of the family company.
DIESEL IN THEIR BLOOD
A straw poll of hauliers at Truckfest suggested that at least 60% of Scottish road haulage companies are family owned and all of those questioned are incensed that ‘totally unnecessary’ safety rules have apparently been brought in to preclude young family members from an early opportunity to ‘get diesel in their blood’.
