Angry scenes follow collapse of Bell Lines

CONFUSION, anger and despondency abounded at the modern Belview Port terminal a few miles outside Waterford City yesterday as it became clear that the ripples of an apparently inevitable liquidation of Bell Lines would spread far and wide throughout the State.

Inside and outside the terminal, multiple stories were emerging of wage cheques not being honoured, hauliers' payments not being made and alleged agreements being broken.

A group of about 20 trucks and their crews gathered on the road outside the terminal. The crews said they would not allow any containers to enter or leave the port unless money due to them was paid.

About 100 containers remained stacked inside the port with goods due to be delivered to customers around the country. The hauliers said that they had not been given any information on what was happening. All they knew was that cheques which they had expected to, be waiting for them yesterday morning had not arrived.

They said they had been getting paid, by agreement with the Bell Lines examiner, on a week-to-week basis and were now owed three weeks' money. This was on top of money due to them and unpaid at the time the examiner was appointed. "All the hauliers' want is to be paid up to date. We're not letting anything in or out until the three weeks' money is paid," they said.

The drivers said that up to 160 trucks worked regularly out of the port for Bell Lines. Many were single driver-owned vehicles; others were part of small or large hauliers' fleets.

The consequences of the collapse would spread throughout the State, they predicted. "People view Bell Lines as being Waterford," one said. "But Bell Lines' containers are in Limerick, Cork, Sligo, Cavan, Belfast and railheads throughout the, country. All those depots have hauliers and staff who will be hit it's not just a Waterford thing."

Mr Philip O'Shea of Waterford Transport, said his company had six trucks which had been working almost exclusively for Bell since 1968.

"We were owed a substantial sum prior to the examiner moving in, but now we re owed more and it looks like we're not going to get that either," he commented.

Asked if this development would threaten the survival of his business, he said: "Well, there will be five or six lads let go immediately, probably by the weekend, because we'll have no work for them, and there will probably be repossessions of some trucks." Most of the drivers here are really up the creek. They're in trouble with VAT, getting letters from the sheriff and that sort of stuff."

The hauliers claimed that the port operations had been wound down over the past couple of months. "A month ago there would have been something like 1,500 containers on the quays. Now the empty containers had all been shipped out as if somebody knew something," they said.

"When this goes, we're all on the breadline 40 or 50 local drivers at least, and maybe 150 throughout the country. Some have worked for Bell for more than 30 years. When you're working with Bell, you're totally with Bell - you're not allowed take other work."

Confusion was similarly rampant inside the terminal yesterday afternoon. The 100 or so Bell staff working there had received their pay cheques yesterday morning. Some had succeeded in cashing their cheques as soon as the banks opened. But others who did not get to their banks until 11 a.m. or later had their cheques rejected, according to colleagues.

Again, no clear picture of what was happening could be gleaned, but all seemed resigned to the fact that their employment by Bell will end" today. The longest serving employee, Mr Paul McEvoy, of Waterford, joined the company in 1969. "I finished the Leaving Cert on a Friday and started here on the following Tuesday. "I never missed a day," he said.

The Bell workers were bitter and suspicious. "The important point to make is that what is happening is not down to the staff," one said.

"They worked overtime without pay for months to help the company after last year's storm damage. There is a hidden agenda here somewhere."

The workers complained of an in a formation vacuum, with one story after another emerging in recent weeks about possible buyers.

The general manager of Waterford Harbour Commissioners drove out of the terminal and his car was surrounded by hauliers, who pressed him on the chances of another carrier being found to use the terminal. "I'd say yes," he told them. "We can't afford to have it closed."