Onzon wrote:
Hardly surprising though given the compelling circumstances!
If I put myself in the position of an owner driver, who having invested such a considerable amount, in good faith, in their business and who then finds the value of that investment several years down the line under threat, then I can quite easily understand how they might feel.
And the fact that the trade in general is quite happy to have the goal posts moved without a corresponding compensation package being organised first means that those drivers have little option but to defend their position as best they can.
Whilst I fully agree that de-restriction is the proper way forward, I can also understand the feelings of abandonment felt by these owner drivers.
It is also clear to me that the split that this has caused is seriously weakening the coherance of the trade as a whole, which in turn further lays it open to the various exploitations that it has always been vulnerable to.
That's my humble opinion - how accurate it is I do not know but that's how it appears to me.
I'm agree with your general sentiments, but at the end of the day I think the vast majority of those buying plates know that they are taking a gamble. I recently counselled one person against buying a plate, for example, but he reckoned that he would buy anyway because even if de-limitation did come about he would probably have gotten his money back by the time it all went through.
Now, if it does come about, do you expect him to say that he's not bothered because he knew the risk and he just decided to gamble anyway?
I doubt it - it'll be all the usual stuff about pensions and the like.
Login
Register
FAQ
