Dear Editor,
My brother works for an expatriate mining company that uses a trucking service to transport their workers. Seats in the tray of the bush trucks, and the journey on these trucks is really harsh on the body, and after that you have to go to work. Even when coming out of the bush my brother takes around two days to rest from the drive. When he questions why they are not using the buses that sometimes transport the workers, they are told that the buses can’t traverse a 6-mile stretch of the road leading to the camp. Yet when they are contracted or any important personnel come, they use the very same buses or they fly them into camp.
I would like to know if the Guyana Police Force allows this sort of conversion from cargo trucks to passenger buses, with no seat belts while travelling in the tray. The only cover is a canopy (like a tarpaulin) although there are tree branches overhanging the roadway, Even though the company always talks about enforcing safety, they still allow their workers to travel for about ten hours in the back of a truck.
When my brother asked the driver how many persons the truck was registered to carry, he was told three, including the driver as these trucks are in the G series. I don’t know about the insurance policy and if all the persons are covered, and what the Guyana Revenue Authority’s position is on this usage. These trucks pass several police stations along the East Bank and Linden en route to Omai Landing.
Yours faithfully,
Crystal James
