International

SP Member of Parliament Farshad Bashir wants to see a significant increase in the number of controls carried out by the Transport Inspectorate, the body responsible for checks on freight vehicles. ‘Dutch drivers and firms are experiencing a great deal of difficulty as a result of foreign companies supplying inland transport services – wholly within the Netherlands - at below the going rate,’ he says. ‘Cabotage regulations now ban this, but these rules are widely flouted.’

Bashir adds: ‘Every day I receive disturbing messages to the effect that firms are ignoring the cabotage rules. So enforcement must be greatly stepped up. The whole of the Dutch transport sector is experiencing enormous problems as a result of this. Drivers, especially people from eastern Europe, are being exploited, paid some €400 per month to camp out in their cab, people who are driving here and who should actually be covered by the Dutch Collective Labour Agreement for this sector.’

Earlier in the year the SP published the results of an investigation based on a survey of three thousand professional drivers. The report paints a staggering picture of illegal practices and unfair competition in road transport. ‘This represents a direct threat to the drivers and to transport firms,’ says Bashir. ‘If the enquiry made one thing clear, it is that there’s certainly no time to lose in taking measures to really enforce agreed working conditions and legislation.’.