On 27/3/08 21:01, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:58:52 +0000, Sacha wrote:

On 27/3/08 17:18, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:06:58 +0000, Sacha wrote:

On 27/3/08 16:49, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On 27 Mar 2008 16:16:32 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 27/3/08 14:32, in article
,
| "Martin" wrote:
|
| The reason there is legislation is that workers are obliged to agree
if
they
| want to work.
|
| It's 2008 not 1908 everybody is entitled to a rest of two days a
week.
|
| I don't think anybody's arguing about that.
| This is a quote from the article and below is the link to the whole
article
| "Bus passengers on some rural routes are being forced off their
vehicles
| part way through their journey because of EU rules.
|
| Legislation forbids bus drivers from travelling for more than 30 miles
in
| one go.

And people are pointing out that article is telling porkies. 'Tain't so.

It is truly amazing that bus companies are still repeating this EU myth, 9
years
after Neil Kinnock tried to put it to rest. Maybe nobody believed him. )

http://ec.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/pr.../myth10_en.htm
Euromyth: Driven crazy by barmy bus driver Brussels ruling
snip

I'll forward that to the local paper and see if they take it up. BTW
Martin, I've emailed you with a request to translate something for me from
Dutch into English. It's a friend of Ray's who's died recently and while
we
can get most of it, there are a few vital words we'd liketo understand! If
you didn't get it, can you email me or tell me here? Many thanks.

Orange thought you were a spammer. I have answered your e-mail.

I've got it and thank you - flowers have been ordered. Myzen thought you
were a spammer, too but your email did get through! Thanks so much for
that.

No problem and thanks for giving us a laugh with the buses. )


Not my laugh though it's interesting the local paper pounced on it so
quickly *and* have found people apparently inconvenienced by whatever IS
going on!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In article ,
says...
Sacha writes
On 27/3/08 10:38, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

But this is applying also to small, local services, most or many of which
won't ever see a motorway. If I can drive e.g. Two hours to Chepstow and
back again in one day, as I shall do tomorrow, I really do not believe a bus
driver is at risk any more than I am.

Isn't that what the new regs are doing? Suggesting that a bus driver
should drive 2 hours to Chepstow, then have a break before driving 2 hrs
back again?

Snip

We're talking about small local
buses whose passengers have to get on and off in rain, wind, sleet and snow,
lugging shopping, babies and pushchairs each time.

If my bus driver is concentrating on driving along narrow country lanes
in rain, sleet and snow, I would prefer him/her not to keep going for 3
or 4 hours without a break.

Snip

The requirements for a long-distance coach driver going from Holland
to Scotland cannot possibly be the same as a bus driver going from Exeter to
Truro which is 87 miles and takes about two hours!

But they could be very similar to a bus driver going from Exeter to
Truro and back again, then having half an hour break for lunch and then
repeating the whole thing over again.


That has always been the case, the change is that if he does longer
journeys he/she has to work a five day week not six, which means
employing more drivers as the standard working week in the industry is 6
day, the rules also require a taco graph to be fitted to check driver
hours on the longer routes, it is a clear case of the bus companies being
bad employers and shifting the blame onto Europe in the hope that public
pressure will get the rules changed. We already enjoy an expensive
service that fails to meet demand in country areas despite public
subsidy, one would have at least hoped it was a safe one.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

In article ,
Charlie Pridham writes:
|
| That has always been the case, the change is that if he does longer
| journeys he/she has to work a five day week not six, which means
| employing more drivers as the standard working week in the industry is 6
| day, the rules also require a taco graph to be fitted to check driver
| hours on the longer routes, it is a clear case of the bus companies being
| bad employers and shifting the blame onto Europe in the hope that public
| pressure will get the rules changed. We already enjoy an expensive
| service that fails to meet demand in country areas despite public
| subsidy, one would have at least hoped it was a safe one.

And treated its workers decently.

But The Powers That Be in the UK believe in Victorian values - in this
context, see under Tolpuddle Martyrs.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Martin writes:
| On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:50:20 +0000, Sacha wrote:
|
| I think the post from Martin re the Neil Kinnock letter clears this up.
|
| A first for Neil Kinnock? )

Actually, he has done first class work in the EU. As a Leader of the
Opposition against Margaret Thatcher, he was her greatest political
advantage.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 28/3/08 10:13, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On 28 Mar 2008 09:07:21 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


In article ,
Martin writes:
| On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:50:20 +0000, Sacha
wrote:
|
| I think the post from Martin re the Neil Kinnock letter clears this up.
|
| A first for Neil Kinnock? )

Actually, he has done first class work in the EU.

He certainly did well for his family and the Labour Party by moving there. )

As a Leader of the
Opposition against Margaret Thatcher, he was her greatest political
advantage.

True.

How he lost Labour the election must surely go down in history in any "How
Not to Win at Politics" book I would think
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'