Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-13-Speech-3-151"
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"en.20010613.4.3-151"2
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"Mr President, the aims of this report on improving road safety and guaranteeing minimum standards of health and safety for all road transport drivers are obviously worthwhile, but these goals need to be related to reality, for example their impact in peripheral and remote areas such as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
I have received many letters expressing a degree of alarm about the possible consequences of this proposal. For example, a haulage company in Arran, not the most remote of Scotland's islands, pointed out that many hours are spent on ferries to and from the mainland. This is an issue which may adversely affect tourist travel to, as well as from, areas like Scotland. A coach operator in Glasgow is of the view that if the Hughes proposals are fully implemented, mainland European coach operators may regard Scotland as a destination too far. In the case of Scotland's Western and Northern Isles, two or three ferry crossings may be required before reaching Scotland's mainland, often landing in areas very remote from the ultimate destination.
The report's conclusion also refers to achieving a level playing field with other transport sectors already covered. The reality, though, in much of rural and island Scotland is that no alternative to road transport exists. Indeed, a former Shetland Islands MEP was fond of pointing out that the nearest mainline railway station to Shetland is in fact Bergen.
Scotland's road transport sector is already being penalised financially by the UK government through punitive taxation on fuel. Some aspects of this working time proposal potentially threaten the already fragile viability of road transport. Therefore I cannot fully support the more restrictive proposals in this report."@en1
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