Freight Emergency

Last June the law surrounding Cabotage changed and Uk companies were allowed to use drivers returning to European companies to deliver their goods. A lot of industry people thought that was a good thing, myself included until I started examining the laws regarding corporate manslaughter act.

Looking at in in more detail and reading and referring to an article on the Road Transport website, has left me in doubt that it’s not a good thing.

Do you really save money? What happens in the event of an accident? Who is liable if a foreign driver subcontracting for you has breached the law?

Subbing out work under cabotage rules can save on your costs, but who pays up if the foreign vehicle is not roadworthy or an accident occurs? Operators using cabotage rules to offload work on to foreign hauliers and save money are being warned they are setting themselves up for “astronomical” liability costs, unless they do their homework first. The rise in online freight exchanges for companies wanting to reduce empty running and subcontract work to minimise costs, coupled with escalating fuel prices, means using continental hauliers is seen as making good business sense.

But transport lawyers say it is so difficult to bring foreign-based haulage companies before a UK court if they are involved in an accident while working on your behalf and it is very likely your customer will pursue you instead. And alarmingly, due to a legislative loophole, foreign companies remain outside of the scope of the Corporate Manslaughter Act. This means that if they are involved in a death on UK roads, you could find yourself facing manslaughter charges. Hauliers carrying out cabotage journeys in this country operate under the conditions of carriage used by the UK operator, which often are the Road Haulage Association’s own guidelines. This limits liability of the haulier to any claim made against it and prevents it having to pay out excessive amounts of money to the customer in the event of an accident.

Obviously due diligence needs to be proved, and before subbing out work to a returning driving you should vet the company in question.  The Haulier who agrees the job with the customer is liable and not a haulier in another country who is a third party sub contractor.

It may be cheap in the short term, but the long term costs of not completing your vetting etc will put you out of business. You cannot claim limited liability if you do not have a system for checking those liabilities.

What can you do to limit you liabilities?

• Vet your subcontractors

• Check their references

• What’s their reputation in the industry like?

• Do they have a high turnover of drivers? -  a sure sign that the staff are not happy and the remainder of the team are making up the shortfall.

• Keep accurate records that you have done this.

It may take a bit of time, but it could save your business one day.

Sarah

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I was looking up some info on You Tube earlier today and I came across this video.

The commentary isn’t in English and it only lasts a few seconds, but it shows what could happen if you transport live fish.

Couriers are generally not allowed to transport livestock, although it is possible to transport live fish such as Koi, if they are contained correctly.

That must have been dreadful to clean up and the fish probably couldn’t be saved - they were being covered with some sort of sand towards the end of the clip.

The correct packaging can prevent a lot of damage if your vehicle goes over, so can the correct training of your driver. Saving money on packing is a false economy, if your vehicle goes over and your goods are damaged your customer is let down and your supply chain is broken.

Don’t let that happen!

Sarah