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The Government is allowing tractor trailers to operate in breach of the law by carrying loads normally specified for Bermuda's small truckers.

The situation has proliferated because the Transport Minister has routinely allowed tractor trailers connected to government building projects to carry construction aggregate, even though it is against the law.

The practice has sidelined the island's small truckers, depriving them of work and hurting their businesses. Their complaints to Government have been ignored or turned aside.

This is an extraordinary example of the PLP Government favouring big business over small business, and an indication of how much they have lost their way when it comes to the protecting the interests of working men and women.

We call on the Minister to enforce the law as it is written and to stop his practice of allowing big business to squeeze out small truckers.

Truckers take issue with a provision in the Motor Car Act that says tractor trailers can operate with the approval of the Minister to carry loads "which may not be safely carried on a truck..."

They maintain that the Minister is breaking the law because the construction aggregate being carried by tractor trailers is the kind of load that can be "safely carried" on their trucks. Indeed, the trucking of construction aggregate is a staple of their business.

Power of discretion

Small truckers began registering their concerns after numerous sightings of tractor trailers carrying construction aggregate.

The Government replied that the Minister has the power of discretion - the power to decide - under the Motor Car Act to "exercise a general supervision and control over matters concerning or connected with the use of motor cars in Bermuda..."

This is a grossly misleading interpretation of the Minister's power, giving him in effect the authority to do as he pleases. It is misleading because it does not recognize the provisions in the Motor Car Act that were specifically designed to guide the Minister's actions in this matter.

Sidestepping explicit restrictions on what tractor trailers can carry - in this instance "loads which may not be safely carried on a truck" - in order to pass on more work to tractor trailers owned by big companies working government projects is illegal.

The truckers responded to the Government's interpretation of the Act by asking transport authorities to advise them if the Motor Car Act had been changed to allow tractor trailers to operate in the "same capacity" as trucks, and to see the change in writing.

We can say categorically that the Act has not been changed to allow tractor trailers to carry ordinary aggregate and, as long as the Minister allows that practice to continue, he is aiding in breaking the law.

For the sake of hard-working truckers, we urge the Minister to stop the abuse and do the right thing.

Shawn Crockwell MP is the United Bermuda Party Shadow Minister for Transportation.

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