30 Sep Kevin Rooney, Traffic Commissioner for the West of England, made a plea to operators to prioritise the health and well-being of their drivers.
Kevin Rooney, Traffic Commissioner for the West of England, made a plea to operators to prioritise the health and well-being of their drivers, during Logistics UK’s first Transport Manager Conference
“Drivers are your greatest assets,” Rooney said, “We all need to lead them and control them and get them to do the right thing.”
During his keynote speech at the conference, held at The Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet, the Commissioner shared a story about taking his colleague Miles Dorrington, now Acting Traffic Commissioner for the West Midlands, to a roadside enforcement check. During an ADR check on a passing tanker, the examiner asked the driver to set out his PPE.
“Within about 90 seconds everything was neatly set out, neatly arranged and he accepted what he had and what he needed to have and checked it off, and I thought that is a really professional driver,” Rooney said, “That’s what you want, drivers like that, but we need to look after them.”
It is imperative to look after your drivers’ mental health too, the Commissioner stressed.
“I think they went through a hard time during the pandemic,” he said, “I’ve been out there, and I’ve seen a lot of drivers that have had some really traumatic experiences and been really badly treated.”
Rooney shared a story about a driver who had been refused access to toilet facilities at a distribution centre and had to journey 10 miles along the road to the nearest services, thereby incurring a daily rest infringement.
“Why wouldn’t you let someone who is clearly in discomfort back in to use the toilet?” he said, “We need to look after our drivers, they’ve been through a hard time.”
Source- Logistics UK