The biggest difference between the British Transport Industry and our European ‘Brothers’ is that we are British…
So we drive on the other side of the road to them, this creates many problems. Foreign drivers have difficulty with positioning and blindspots, as do our drivers when abroad in RHD. It means manufacturers have to design and build special vehicles for our market, which not only forces compromises in the vehicles themselves, but also impacts on supplies and pricing.
Then we have our heavier than most weight limits that require vehicles with more axles. I cannot fathom the reason for this, maybe if our country was vast like Australia or Canada it would make sense, but most journeys are less then 200 miles, so the extra fuel, the added cost of designing, purchasing and maintaining the heavier vehicle and a million other factors just doesn’t add up up.
Vehicle dimensions, as above.
Maybe the above is a manifestation of island mentality, maybe it’s because the people in the corridors of power are completely removed from the real world? I don’t know, but neither make any sense.
VOSA being privatised, now that is utter madness, the policing of anything should be done by the POLICE! It is a civil service and should therefore be paid for from our taxes, it should never be self funding and there should never ever be any targets given to the enforcers, if it’s right it’s right, if it’s wrong it’s wrong, that’s the law and that’s what it should enforce.
Foreign owned companies? All part of the global economy, British Companies have interests abroad too, although not many are in transport I would bet.