UK - bad for business?

[movietub]

I have been travelling around a lot the last few years and its struck me that the uk is really falling behind other places in Europe when it comes to running a business and getting things done. In particular West Germany is now streets ahead of us.

I think the problem is our infrastructure.

Here's a few recent examples:

Transport

Transporting my exhibition display tank (6m x2m x2m) 600 miles is the uk cost more than taking it 700 miles from Aberdeen to exhibition in Germany. I asked my haulier and he pointed out that once its in Germany everything runs like clockwork and low margins are possible. In the uk it's impossible to rely on good traffic flow and trucks are frequently delayed - this requires him to draft in late notice trucks for the following pick-up becasue the first won't make it. Time+money wasted.

It's also incresingly difficult to be personally punctual - the delays I suffer when travelling are common but varied in length!

Public Transport

Clogging up the roads in your community in order to very around people who mostly don't work - holding up those trying to do some work. A bus lane is the ultimate admission tht the government forgot to build big enough roads for heavier traffic flow.

Trains are unreliable, buses are disliked, its even proving difficult to expand our airports. We need more runways, again we are falling behind due to bickering commities blocking effective, timely action.

Internet

Online storage and streaming is going to grow explosively in the next few years. Also other services such as VOIP, Tv on demand and cloud computing will become mainstream. Our infrastructure cannot cope. Already their are huge problems caused by the likes of BBC's Iplayer hogging bandwidth. Again we are light years behind the speeds and bandwidth possible outside the UK.

All in all we are making life very difficult for ourselves by refusing to update. If we continue to drop behind neighbouring countries when it comes to efficiency and reliability how are we expected to compete globally?

All this noise of rescuing the economy - what for? We don't seem to have a long term plan anyway.

I used to be very proud of this countries history and what we stand for - since working with companies overseas its all gone

 

[Cornish Steve]

We've never been that good at planning our infrastructure. Airports are often nowhere near the main rail routes. It's certainly convenient to arrive in Amsterdam or Geneva, for example, and hop right on a train. Arriving at London Gatwick or Heathrow, in comparison, is a royal pain - even with train connections to London. Arriving in Paddington, for example, you must carry bags on the Tube or wait forever for an expensive taxi. Trying to use the bus system is even worse.

At this point, I'm not sure that much can be done about it. The roads and rail tracks are where they are.

 

[BeautyScientist]

I think we need to raise our game a lot on this sort of thing. Quite apart from all the other problems it has caused, our over-reliance on the financial sector has blinded us to some of the basic issues you need to be successful like decent roads and infrastructure.

 

[An Oasis]

...I used to be very proud of this countries history and what we stand for - since working with companies overseas its all gone

Seems to be a reoccurring theme for most business people in the UK. I've been surprised at how many clients we work with who now live outside the UK and only visit when they need to do business here.

To overhaul the transport network in the UK would take long-term vision and commitment and our political system operates on short-term basis, therefore, we will never have an efficient transport network. Unless politicians agree to set-up a joint/multiparty operation over a long-term period, say 20 years.

The emergency planning for roadside accidents is piss poor and needs a radical rethink by the powers that be. Again not difficult but it would require a dedicated team to sit down and create a best practise approach, rather than the ad hoc idiocy that currently exists.

Who the hell uses public transport? Certainly most businesses don’t and could not even if it were run as efficiently as countries like Japan. In addition, every time I have thought about it, i.e. meetings where we travel light it is more expensive and more time consuming than other methods. Unless you live in or near a city public transport seems to be for poor people, the elderly and the unemployed!?

 

[Philip Hoyle]

Have to agree. Unnecessary barriers are put in place everywhere these days. I have to travel to a city just 90 miles away, but it takes 2.5 hours by car or over 3 hours by train simply because there is no decent road or rail system between the two cities. It's the old story of funnelling you to cities you don't want to go to because of the legacy of travel patterns decades ago.

Re accidents, I just can't believe how long they take these days to clear things up. There's no sense of urgency at all. Just like the Kendal Pendolino train crash a couple of years ago - the line was closed for over a month. Go back a few decades and where there was a serious derailment, the line would only be closed a few days. Same with motoring accidents, it seems the norm for the entire road to be closed for several hours whenever there's a fatality - they bring in officers from miles away that take an hour or two to arrive and literally do nothing until they get there - the others literally just stand around and doing nothing - even though they know the road will be closed for hours, there is seldom any real attempt to help motorists by setting up proper signed diversions. This never used to happen, there were local officers who had the experience and knowledge to deal with things themselves. I think a lot of it is down to the unionised approach to "one man one job" - everyone seems so dumbed down that they need to bring in "experts" for everything.

How about the snow that stranded people overnight on the motorways. Ok, so the gritters got stuck, but what about all the other potential ways of clearing some of the stuck traffic. What about council vehicles, fire engines, farm tractors, local garages, etc - all have four wheel drive vehicles and could have been put to use in helping to clear blockages. No such luck, just the usual hand-wringing about lack of resources (i.e. bad planning). With a bit of organisation, there could have been a real community spirit. How is it that on a micro level, people fall over themselves to help out in times of crisis, but the local authorities seem to take forever to do the simplest of things?

The trouble is that those in power have a major bias against business. They've been brainwashed into thinking that all business people are tax evaders, have millions in the bank, exploit their staff, etc., and that the only "good guys" are the public sector. They're in for one hell of a shock when the recession gets worse and they need wealth creating businesses to pay their gold plated pensions.

 

[avantime]

I have to agree with most of the above points.

There are still some good bits of road. I deliver my furniture all over the UK. I go as far as Inverness (from Bristol) and once you get past Lancaster the traffic drops off and you can relax more. Once on the A9 past Perth then its brilliant!

Other countries have a better infrastructure than us but that should make us enjoy our good bits even more.

 

[Maslins]

The trouble is that those in power have a major bias against business. They've been brainwashed into thinking that all business people are tax evaders, have millions in the bank, exploit their staff, etc., and that the only "good guys" are the public sector. They're in for one hell of a shock when the recession gets worse and they need wealth creating businesses to pay their gold plated pensions.

Got to agree with the above.

However, wrt Germany, I'm too young to know too much about it, but I heard that the war did a great deal of (long term) good to Germany. Most of their cities were heavily damaged, and post war they got lots of funding from Europe to help them rebuild.

This meant they could build things like their road systems in a way to suit more modern day living. As has been mentioned above, in the UK, the roads & rail are where they are, and moving them would be massive expense for slight improvement.

 

[Red Eye Media]

No one has mentioned the law slowing business down.
There seems to be so much red tape these days with the simplest of tasks.
What ever happened to a firm hand shake and a bit of trust between a supplier and his customer?

 

[An Oasis]

No one has mentioned the law slowing business down.
There seems to be so much red tape these days with the simplest of tasks.
What ever happened to a firm hand shake and a bit of trust between a supplier and his customer?

We're all tax evaders and money launders these days, don’t you know. It took me 45 minutes to book out a 7.5 ton van from a hire company on Monday! Including both portions of the driving licence, bank statements, 2 forms of ID and a utility bill. Bureaucracy gone past the point of madness, we are now in a country that is run by the militia.

Trust, what’s that?

 

[movietub]

No one has mentioned the law slowing business down.
There seems to be so much red tape these days with the simplest of tasks.
What ever happened to a firm hand shake and a bit of trust between a supplier and his customer?

I was going to but this didn't seem to fit under 'infrastructure'!

But yes the law, red tape, beurocracy. Ultimatley means that most businesses have a choice. Do it text book properly, or do it in a common sense logical fashion and for a decent competitive price.

Labour have introduced literally 1000's of pieces of EU legislation the the rest of Europe largely ignores!

So it difficult to get to work, can't do much when you do get there becasue you are a) not allowed to b)internets running slow c) more expensive than the competition in Germany.

 

[movietub]

However, wrt Germany, I'm too young to know too much about it, but I heard that the war did a great deal of (long term) good to Germany. Most of their cities were heavily damaged, and post war they got lots of funding from Europe to help them rebuild.

This meant they could build things like their road systems in a way to suit more modern day living. As has been mentioned above, in the UK, the roads & rail are where they are, and moving them would be massive expense for slight improvement.

Yes thats exactly why. It did make their life easier in that respect.

However although not as easy for us how long can we ignore their example? they have PROVED good roads and trains make a country more productive and efficient.

Our problem is we can't knowck anything down to build new roads. English Heritage and other commities.

Trying to maintain 100% of our history while also modernising is like going out dressed in jeans and trainers bottom half and dinner jacket top half. Sometimes you can't have it all and need to make a clear national decision as to where we are heading for.

 

[avantime]

We're all tax evaders and money launders these days, don’t you know. It took me 45 minutes to book out a 7.5 ton van from a hire company on Monday! Including both portions of the driving licence, bank statements, 2 forms of ID and a utility bill. Bureaucracy gone past the point of madness, we are now in a country that is run by the militia.

Trust, what’s that?

Hope you were'nt hiring that out for business - I trust you have an Operators License - anything over 3.5t you know!