Complaint

I complained yesterday. In writing. Because I felt that if you are warned about a visit from traffic police who check up everything from driver's licence to buspapers and specifically tachograph discs, you don't expect someone who works for the company warning you, to tell you you have to go over your maximum amount of driving hours when it's busy! I could see there were hundreds of people waiting to get on board a bus, I knew there were three buses broken down, but still, that wasn't my problem! My problem would be having a check-up by traffic police while in England next week, being fined €900 and being chained up (the coach) because I had broken the driving rules! The bloke looked angry when I told him that, but didn't really seem to care. I later found out several of the other drivers had actually gone over the 4 1/2 hours! I also learned, I hadn't been the only one having words with him.

After my break, I started driving again and as soon as I saw him, I immediately told him I only had until 17.20 when it was the end for me. "Well, we will see about that" was his reply! Fortunately when I told the main person an hour or so later, he immediately told me to take another break. At least he had some sense!

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Now the reason for all those people waiting to get on a bus was the Army Days. Every year one of the army bases in the Netherlands is host to thousands and thousands members of the ordinary public who come and see what the army (and airforce, navy and military police) are up to, both in the Netherlands and abroad. It's mostly about the land army though and how they go about their work. Of course it's also a way of 'winning souls'. Like most armies who run on conscription only, it's not always as easy to fill vacancies and days like these help to gain new recruits (although you can't sign up on the day itself) and/or change people's perception about all the armed forces.