In the rant, authored by Gunvor Karlsson, it is claimed that the mission of the Swedish Transport Agency has “completely failed”. Karlsson also repeatedly slammed the organisation for its lack of competence, ability to understand road haulage, and deal with matters on a personal level.
The tirade comes after the Swedish Transport Agency announced increased charges for issuing driving licences, but as the blogger explains, was actually motivated by the case of a transport company being suddenly informed of its licence being stripped without warning.
Karlsson claims that the company, besides the odd infraction that has been paid and accounted for, has been run by the book. The haulier is said to be managed by a couple from southern Europe, but hires Swedish staff, pays its taxes in the country and also pays for its fuel in Sweden too.
According to Karlsson, the haulage company of 30 employees was informed by writing that its licence had been revoked with immediate effect. Karlsson wrote that the news came as a huge shock as the haulage firm had received no information of why it was being punished so harshly. To make matters worse, Karlsson said that the company had been told the information about its case would arrive by mail in a few days, and that the administrator had gone on holiday.
“I wonder if it was with pride that the official traveled to the holiday resort knowing that she had smashed yet another trucking company. Happy holidays to you! Did you get a bonus too? You just ruined at least 30 people’s summer,” blasted Akaren Sverige’s drivers’ hours advisor.
Clearly angered by the case and the apparent unwillingness of Sweden’s Transport Authority to deal with matters more personally, Karlsson added:
“Why don’t you want to go out to the hauliers? Are you afraid to face reality or are you afraid to see that things may not always be so clear cut in reality? I have repeatedly made the suggestion that staff at the authority could understand everything much better if they saw how it worked where it happens. But, no, it’s easier to make a decision, send a letter and take a vacation before it reaches the recipient.”
The blogger’s fury didn’t end there either, as he then went on to write:
“The truth is that in Sweden we have an authority that has no knowledge whatsoever about how the industry they monitor works in reality. We have an authority that believes that you plan according to the weather and if it snows too much in the morning, the trucks stay at home. We have an authority that believes there are parking spaces every 4.5 hours along all roads. And that the parking spaces always have room for another 24-meter crew. We have an authority that seems to love to harass and judge haulage companies by interpreting the law according to their own head and not talking to the haulage company even on the phone. Now they only send letters or emails. Letters are best because it takes a few days before it arrives and then you have time to make yourself unreachable before.”
Finally, Karlsson also alleged that the Swedish Transport Agency is “the biggest threat to Swedish haulage companies”. This, he argued, is because of the road transport authority having a soft stance on rogue hauliers from abroad while simultaneously issuing severe penalties for Swedish firms who commit minor offences.