I WONDER how many people noticed the glib remark from a spokesman representing Somerscales Heavy Haulage after the cable reel on one of that firm's lorries hit a bridge on the A1(M) and fell onto the road (Echo, July 6)?

He was quoted as saying: "It's just one of those things - it is what you have insurance for."

If this represents the attitude to road safety among lorry firms, then God help us poor motorists. Do these firms get investigated after an incident like this? Is the Health and Safety Executive involved? Or is it another case of "it's on a road, so different laws apply, if at all?"

I bet the public is not aware that any railway operating company that delays any other company's trains has to pay the delayed company so much a minute.

What if that applied to lorry companies when their lorries cause countless delays to the travelling public in their cars? I doubt there would be such a glib remark.

So, if you miss an important meeting, or maybe a flight, due to a lorry on its side or on fire, etc, then put a claim in to the firm.

Seemingly, it is insured.

R Willis, Egglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees.

YOU quote a spokesman for the haulage company, Somerscales Heavy Haulage, of Humberside, saying: "It is just one of those things - it is what you have insurance for", after the cable drum on a lorry struck a bridge on the A1 near Scotch Corner causing chaos for many of us for hours (Echo, July 6).

It is not just one of those things.

In my view, this is not an accident, but the result of arguably criminal negligence by the haulier. Luckily, no one was killed, otherwise the driver could be facing a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

Only the road haulage industry can get away with this casual approach to health and safety.

More effort is made carrying out a risk assessment for a children's picnic than there is to hauling high loads. Bridges do not appear overnight, nor are their heights unknown. And if the haulier does not know the height of his load, he should find another career.

Finally, who pays for all the efforts by the emergency services for clearing up the resultant mess? I suspect it will be the taxpayer and not the haulier's insurance.

James Wright, Stanhope, Co Durham.